Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1869-10-20
GEO. B. aooDLANDER, Proprietor.
CLEARFIELD, PA.
TRIAL OF ENGINEER GRIFFIN,

Tho great railroad disaster which
occurred on the New York and Erie
Railroad, in Pike county, in this State.
and the trial of the Engineer has
attracted universal attention through.
on. the country. Below we repro.
duce, from the Port Jcrvis On. "
Gazette, the leading facts in the case :
The September Term of the Pike
county penn Courts opened at Mil.
ford on Monday, the 10th ultimo. his
Honor George r. Barrett, President
Judge Of the 22d Judicial District.
presiding; George P. Heller and vii
liam Westfall, Esqs Associates.
The case of Engineer James Griffin,
under arrest for criminal negligence in
causing the railroad disaster at Mast
Hope, on the 14th of July last, by
which seven lives were lost, was
brought to the attention of the Grand
Jury, by John d. Biddis, Esq, District
Attorney. The Grand Jury came into
Court on the 2lst Tuesday, having
found an indictment against the said
Grillin for misdemeanor, ,underrailroad
law OF 1865; conviction under said act
involving the penalty OF imprisonment
in the State Penitentiary for a term
not exceeding five years and fine not
exceeding $4,000.
On the 22d { Wednesday, Griffin was
arraigned, and pleaded mot guilty"
to the charge, and the trial was com
menced. A formidable array of coun-
sci appeared in the case-for the Com
monwealth, j. ID. Biddis, Esq, District
Attorney; Hon. ID. NJ Van Auken, of
Milford; William II. Jessup, ESQ. of
Montrose, and S. 4. Dimmick, ESQ.
of Honesdale. George E. Rust, Esq,
an officer of the Eric Railway Com
pany, and J. NJ. Allerton, Esq, an
attorney for the Company, were pres
ent in Court assisting in conducting
the prosecution. The prisoners coun.
sci we're: Hon. Geo. W. Woodward, of
Wilkesbarre Ralph W. Little, ESQ,
of. Montrose, and John Nyce, ESQ.
The following persons were impan
nelled as a jury to try the case Peter
Wagner, Joseph G. Littimore, Randall
Kelly, Isaac W. Van Gordon, George
Pearson, John p. Lee, John Gould,
John W. Frazier, Nelson Dewitt, Frank
Riley, Albert S. Jaeger, Oliver Pellet.
The Court room was densely throng-
ed with spectators, among whom were
many ladies', and the deepest iniercs,
--as .->--;r--s~a In the rasa Annno-
those present were Griiiin's wife and
two children, and q number Of his
friends from Susquehanna Depot,
where he resides. Griffin himself, a
well.appearing, middlc-sized man, sat
by the side of his counsel, paying close
attention to the proceedings, and
evidently anxious in mind as TO the
result
Mr.. Jessup opened the case for the
Commonwealth with a brief statement
of the alleged facts in the case as bear.
ing against the prisoner, which the
prosecution expected TO prove, and
upon which they would ask for the
prisoners conviction OF the misde-
meaneOr as set forth in the indictment
Testimony Of Chas Coffee, engineer
of the passenger train:
Charles Coffee sworn SAYS: ] was
engineer running train west Lett
Port Jervis at l0:40 p. m; was 2S
minutes late. | ran the distance from
Port Jervis to Mast Hopes miles
in one hour When ! came to Mast
Hope, | gave the station signal, a long
whistle; about half or three-quarters
of q mile from the station, should
Judge. saw freight train standing
on the switch When | passed the
caboose | did not see anything wrong.
Could not at that time see head Of
freight train. ] don't think that / was
over forty feet from freight engine
when | saw her. ! did not do any
thing, it flashed across my mind there
would be smash up 1t was almost
two seconGs from the time ! saw
freight engine on the frog until the
collision My engine struck the for
ward part Of the cylinders Of the
freight engine, about seven feet from
the bumper. At the time Of the col
lision was sitting on cushion on my
scat. We were upset, and ! was
thrown ! don't know how. / found
myself on my head and shoulders, with
my feet up, near my engine. / got
out and stood up; next my fireman
appeared before me, his overalls and
clothes 10 flames. ] put out the blaze
with my hands, and next thought to
put out the fire from the coal.box,
which was near the engine. The ex-
press and baggage cars were on fire
| went TO get over fence near tho
depot, but was so weak | could not dc
il. ran around the depot and went
TO the hotel TO get pail of water.
hallooed and raped on the door foI
water. Finally lady got up, let me
in, gave me a pail, told me there was
wster in The kitchen. Took the pail
ran TO the wreck, and threw water on
the FIRE, and then ran for another pai
of water. Then saw the fire wa,
burning too rapidly for me TO put out
alone; called for help, but received
none. Then went TO getting out bag
gage and express matter. The fire
was not in the smoking car when
got back with my second pail Of wa
ter; at that time the fire was at casl
end of depot, between engine and cars
smashed. / worked at taking oul
baggage till the fire drove me away
must have occupied about five min
utcs. After ] was driven away by
the fire, went TO rear end Of my train
and saw that the third sleeping coach
alongside OF freight engine, was catch
ing fire thought we could save it, raj
lied tho men, got water from the tanl
and saved the coach. The front enc
was badly burned. know ther,
were persons killed by the collision
After daylight saw the remains.
counted four bodies. They were badly
| hovpod savv riecce of hurnt fcsl