Lateral thinking puzzle

[soxfan[$]]

I don't think we've done one of these in a long while*, so here goes:

A man stepped out of a speeding train to his death. There was no one else in the compartment (nor had there been), and the only object in the compartment was a large white handkerchief. If he had not been on the train, he would not have committed suicide. Why?

*For lateral thinking puzzle newbies: to figure out the situation, ask questions that can be answered only by "yes", "no", or "irrelevant".

Ailsa

[theworm[$]]

Was it his handkerchief?

[theeye]

Was the man a railroad employee?

[soxfan[$]]

Was it his handkerchief? No.

Was the man a railroad employee? No.

[theeye]

Did he see something from the window that led him to decide to jump out?

[theworm[$]]

Was the man blind?

[soxfan[$]]

Did he see something from the window that led him to decide to jump out? No.

Was the man blind? Yes. (Good one, Wormie. )

[theworm[$]]

Does the handkerchief have anything to do with his dying?

[theeye]

Did the man know that he was on a train?

[soxfan[$]]

Does the handkerchief have anything to do with his dying? Yes, but indirectly.

Did the man know that he was on a train? Yes.

[theworm[$]]

Did he accidently slip on the handkerchief?

[theeye]

Did the man know that he was stepping out of the train?

[soxfan[$]]

Did he accidently slip on the handkerchief? No.

Did the man know that he was stepping out of the train? Yes. His death was intentional.

[amykhar]

Was the train going somewhere bad? As in a concentration camp or KKK lynch rally?

[theworm[$]]

Did the handkerchief belong to someone important to the man (ie: his wife, girlfriend, mother, father, etc)?

[soxfan[$]]

Was the train going somewhere bad? As in a concentration camp or KKK lynch rally? No.

Did the handkerchief belong to someone important to the man (ie: his wife, girlfriend, mother, father, etc)? No.

[theeye]

If he had had the means to kill himself while remaining on the train, would he have been likely to choose to do so?

Was he trying to save and/or protect some other person?

If he could somehow have exited the train without killing himself in the process, would he have been likely to do so?

[theworm[$]]

Was the train out of control?
Did he jump to avoid being in a train accident?

[amykhar]

Was the handkerchief tied over the man's eyes?

Did it have any symbols or markings on it?

[amykhar]

Was the handkercheif meant to cover the man's face? Like a mask?

[soxfan[$]]

If he had had the means to kill himself while remaining on the train, would he have been likely to choose to do so? Hmmm ... given what he was thinking, I'd have to say yes.

Was he trying to save and/or protect some other person? No.

If he could somehow have exited the train without killing himself in the process, would he have been likely to do so? No.

Was the train out of control? No.

Did he jump to avoid being in a train accident? No.

Was the handkerchief tied over the man's eyes? Yes.

Did it have any symbols or markings on it? No.

Was the handkercheif meant to cover the man's face? Like a mask? No.

[theworm[$]]

Did he think that someone else was on the train with him?

[amykhar]

Were the man's hands tied?

Was the man a criminal?

Was he a railroad employee?

[theeye]

Ok, I've got a guess of sorts.

He had been blindfolded and when he removed the blindfold in the train, he realized that he was (either newly or still) blind and killed himself for that reason.

Is that (at least part of) the story?