The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1857-01-21

DAY. JANUARY q 1857.
knsw that I tss no longer II the .mpIovrept of
| the Compan1f Why did be ssppysss he net that
| had resignsaf Does not his conscisnce teII him
that his statsmsnt not only supprssses what Il
true, but suggests Whist Il not true Very true.
he did write his letter Of dismissal bat II d stiI
more true lin effecD that had already resirped.
/ and that his "dismissal," }" however "painfui~ ~
himself, could operate with no greater effect upou
| me than It could upon "the man in the moon -
Perhaps he was anxious TO exercise the little au.
thorisy" he was dressed with, (would for the sake
/ Of the Company, 1t were briefly Whatever the
motive of Col F. was, his statement was well cal.
culated to make the impression that retired from
the service f the Company, only, by reason Of his
dismissal and upon this point leave the forego
| my character) to speak for ITSELF
But, udy be told that the Board unanimously
approved of my dismissal; and so it seems from
their proceedings, as published In the Enqurer OF
yesterday Why they ratify my dismissal, they
do not condescend to sayi They knew the facts,
or most Of them, already stated, well as l do.
They knew Of my resignation, and they also knew
| that wasnot to blame for the collision They
had adopted q resolution, declaring that the colli'
sion was not caused By the siding, turn out, at
Melton's, nor by the schedule, but was caused by
the want Of due caution In Capt. Swift, the con-
duetor of the down train OF course, then. would
not be biAmed, even though had been in the re-
gulAr employment of the road Now, have no
quarrel With the Board of Directors; on the con
trary have great respect for them, individually
and collectively. 1t does seem to me, however,
that In publishing their action they ought also TO
nave nave puDf,shed their reasons for that action
Their published proceedings show abundant rea-
sons against it, but nothing whatever in its favor.
And now, q few words "a to my reason for re =
signing my situation as superintendent of trans
portatiou. Col Fontaine charges me with ''insub-
n fnFau tRufrr ~sA
| time tables and rules as they (the board) had di-
rected !" Now let it be remembered thar this di
reciion Of the board, if given at ALL was given at
their Dscember meeting. after they were fully
spprsed that had resigned my place, as super
out OF courtesy to the directors and friendship for
Mr. Hunter. Under the circumstances. did moi
chose to make myself responsible for an arrange
ment, 40 to the Melton turnout time table, &c,
that had always thought dangerous and against
which had protested from its very inception: even
when was regularly in the employ of the compa.
ny. Mf. Hunters statement (before siven) abun-
dainty shows all of my connections with that mat
ter. ln addition to this, Col F. has, immedistelv
afier the adjournment Of the boari, on or about
the 10.h Of December, furnished me with several
memoranda, in his own hand writing (and new in
my possess:on) from which he and the board. /.
presume expected me to arrange time table. l
called Ia Messrs. Hunter and Garrett to make on,
. proper table, but we could not succeed-lookine
both speed and TO the time of the meeting of the
various trains. / therefore wrote to Col +. in.
forming him that could not make out q proper
timetable according to his memoranda, and re
questipg him to do it bimsel as he could probably
do, with the assistance of Messrs. Hunter and Gar
rstt; and from that time washed my hands of the
whole matter. Upon this point / again refer to
MIR Hunters certificate, which abundantly speaks
for itself, aud which fully shows that positively
declined to have anything to do with this new
schedule. My reasons have been already suff
ciently explained
In what then did my characterization" consist ?
Why simply in the fact that could not correct the
manifold blunders of the president Cf the Compa
ny; and If Col. Fontaine's objection prove any
thing, it only proves that the Company (or iss
board,) in appointing a Superintendent of trans
portatoD, ought to charge him with the duty of
experimenting the president of the Company also
This was duty that was unwilling to under.
take; and, so refused sign the new schedule
as is shown by MIR. Hunter. / did, it is true, sug.
gest TO Mr.. Hunter change, but had nothing Of
icially to do with its dsamputation. The printed
schedules were in the Office of the Superintendent
and informed one of the conductors that he could
get them there.
And now as to the "Turn out" at Meltons and
the passing OF the day mail-traius at that point
The first change ordered by COL Fontane was
from Gordonsville to Trevillians Subsequently
he ordered another change to Bonds (betWeen
Trevillians and Melton's) and directed me to SEQ
up the materials to construct q new turn out at
this place. Accordingly, prepared and sent up
to Bonds everything necessary, but just As we
were ready to commence work. Col. F. ordered
another change to Metons three and half miles
only from Gordonsville. There Q new turnout
was constructed, At . heavy expense, and two
negroes kept there to attend the chapg pging the
switches, &c. Ihave already said that protested
against these changes from the beginning. They
involved frequent, dangerous changes of time t.
hles, ,&c and saved nothing, in my opinion, in any
way whatever, to the company; but on the con.
| trary, involved very considerable additional e1-
pense to our road, as well as harrassng and unne.
cessary delays to the mail trains of the Orange
and Alexandria Road. :
Now, it is well known that not only but the
members of the Board of Directors were opposed
to and protested against the change to Treviliians
have understood (and presume there ia no doubt
of the fact that they (the Direetors) addressed
letter to Col F., requesting change back to Cor.
donsville, whereupon the Colonel threatened to
resign. Subsequently, he visited the Directors
| or most Of them, at their homes, and obtained
their consent to the change to Melton's. And lei
1t be observed that Col f. himself had to give up
| Trevilian's, as the passing point ordering 1
change first to Bonds and then to Meltons, within
| five minutes run of Gordons vile-always coming
nearer to this last point, and indicating indsputa.
| bly, that GOrdOnsville was very nearly the besl
passing point. Now, the Directors all knew of my
| uncompromising opposition TO any change from
| GQrdonsville So strong was that opposition that
/ Il led to difficulties between COL r and nv self
| as was well known to the Board. Istated my OBJ
IJectlons 10 them ud1vIduay and collectively And
yet It seems am to be censured for not taking
sufficient pains to point out the dangers of The
/ new schedule! ! Injustice can 20 no further.
have said that Melton's is within Eve minut tes
run Of fGordonsville That then is the whole nos
/ sible saving in time, between Richmond and Gar.
/ donsviile-a distance of sevent1.six miles I'm,
| they save nothing. Both trains must continue e
i stop at Gordonsyille, and under The new arrange.
ment, both necessarily stop At Melton's The loss
Of time then, in this new stoppage and in runniua
into and out of the turnout, must from the very
necessities of the case consume al least ss much
I time ~ would be required to run three and bal
miles, while the injury to machinery, produced by
/ stoppages Consequent upon reversing engines
| &c,) is well known. All this is throwing the cues
ton of dangers out of view-infnitely more impor
i tant than anything else, certainly. Away,
dreaded collision between Melton's and Gordons
/ ville-and have now In my possession statement
i Of gentleman of high standing Tay.
lor, Esq, that told him, the very day that thu
late collision did take place. and long before it WA
possible to have heard of It in Richmond, that
greatly feared that the two trains had run into
each other about the point where It actually oc
/ Cured Indeed was In constant state of anx
4 iety about IT, and frequently expressed myself
but let results speak for themselves. who believe
that the collision was not caused by the new ar
rangement, or that 1t would have occurred, had tn
trains met at Gordonsville instead Of Melton s.
30 great were my apprehensions of danger, tha
eaye orders that the uptzain should wait at Mel
toms until the down.train arrived 20 ~ to avoi
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