The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1866-02-10
RAILROAD SLAUGHTER.

The Disaster ut Rloomhcld, N. J.-In-
quest ON the Body or Milton b. Holt
TesttaoAy - TO Uns0und Railroad
structures-The Jury Charge che Com
Pany with Gross and CulPable Negli-
gence, &C., Sc.
An inquest was held yesterday at the village of Bloom
feld Essex county, N. j., upon the death Of Milton b.
Holt the young who was killed on Thursday in the
railroad wreck which occurred near that place by the
breaking down of a bridge the Bloomfield and New
ark Railroad as reported in yesterdays HERALD Coro-
nsr Sanford, of Newark, opened the proceedings at
halfpast O'Clock, the following sworn jurors being
present:-Joel NJ Hubbard, Horace Pierson, Horace
Dodd, Samuel Moore, James McCracken, A. H. Hubert,
E. Is. Crane r. N. Dodd, J. s. Colfax, J. G. Post
The testimony as given by several witnesses our want
Of space prevents from publishing in detail. Il
appears the young man was at wedding party in
bloomfield the evening previous, and while return
ing to business in Newark was so frghtfuliy
inangled as 10 be recognized only by paper in
his pocket which bore his name 1t appears that the
timbes OF the bridge Were entirely unsafe, being
affected by dry rot which defects noticed two months
ago by the engineer only remedied by putting in
new cross beam underneath the long tmbers whose
was thirty feet Two experienced master builders tes
fled that they thought the rotten long strngers should
have been taken out altogether The Bridge Supernten-
dent OF the company testified to his being notified by the
repairs made at The sme would have been different had
he known the decayed condition the timbers
since the accident He said he had tested their
soundness, except with the eye master builder Of
Bloomfield aud others testified that the decay could have
been discovered by sounding or boring. Some blamed
the iron supporters as being affected by the frost
otherwise defective.
THE VERDICT.
The Coroner then instructed the jury and they retired
After celebrating two hours they returned the following
verdict:--
That the said Milton B. Holt came to his death on the
sth day of February 1885, at about eight O'Clock A. NJ,
at Bloomfield In the county of Essex, New Jersey, in
consequence OF injuries received while riding rail
way car OF the Newark and Bloomfield Railroad Com
pany his death being instantaneous the said being
precpitated through bridge Tony's brook in
sequence of the breaking Of the tmbers forming said
bridge, the said mbers being rotten and unsound; and
that the said company guilty Of gross and culpabe
neglect In not employing competent persons to
and keep in repair the bridges on their road.
JOEL NJ. HUBBARD, Foreman.
The inquest consumed all the afternoon and evening
good many citizens went from Newark to witness
the proceedings and much interest manifested. 1t
being very late when the conclusion reached, and
the village being Isolated as regards railroad travel after
a certain hour some difficulty had obtaining
vehicles TO reach Newark.
The other sufferers by this accident getting
favorably under treatment There six eight in
ALL most Of them being residents Of the village and
vicinity Mr. Davis is the most dangerous case being
injured internally; but he is expected 70 recover.