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


The 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 Jervis On. W
Gazette, the leading facts in the case /;
The September Term of the Pike
county PENN Courts opened at Mil
ford on Monday, the goth ultimo, his
Honor George r. Barrett, President
Judge Of the 22d Judicial District,
presiding; George p. Heller and vii
liam Westtall, Esqs Associates.
The case Of Engineer James Griffin,
under arrest for criminal negligence in
causing the railroad disaster at Mast
Hope, on the nth 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
ionnd an indictment against the said
Griliin for misdemeanor, under railroad
law of 1885; conviction under said act
involving the penalty OF Imprisonment
in the State Penitentiary for term
not exceeding five years and a fine not
exceeding $4,000.
On tho 22d (W Wednesday) Griffin was
arraigncd, 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 d. Biddis, Esq, District
Attorney; Hon. ID. NJ Van Aul1en, of
Milford; William II. Jcssup, ESQ, OF
Nontrose, and s. Il. Dimmiclx, ESQ,
Of Honesdale. George Il. Rust, ESQ
an officer Of the Eric Railway Com.
pany, aud J. NJ. Allerton, ESQ, an
attorney Tor the Company, were pres.
ent in Court assisting in conducting
the prosecution. The prisoners coun.
sci were Hon Geo. W. Woodward, OF
Wilkesbarrc; Ralph W. Little, ESQ,
of. Montroso, and John Nyce, Esq.
Tho following persons were impan
nellcd as a jury to try the case Peter
Wagner, Joseph G. Littimorc, Randall
Kelly, Isaac W. Van Gordon, George
Pearson, John p. Lee, John Gould
! John W Frazier, Nelson Dewitt, Frank
Riley, Albert $. Jaeger, Oliver Pellet
The Courtroom was dcnsely throng
ed with spectators, among whom were
many ladies', and the deepest iniercs'
was manifested In fhe rnsn hmone
those present were Griliin's wife aud
two children, and a number Of hi.
friends from Susquehanna Depot
whore he resides. Griffin himself, d
wellappearing, middle-sizcd man, sal
by the side of his counsel, paying clos,
attention TO the proceedings, and
evidently anxious in mind as to th,
result
Mr.. Jessup opened tho case for the
Commonwealth with a brief statement
of the alleged facts in the case as bear
ing against the prisoner, whic' The
prosecution expected to prove, anC
upon which they would ask for Tn,
e prisoners conviction OF the misde
meaneor as set forth in the indictment
Testimony Of Chas. Coffee, engineer
of the passenger train;
T Charles Coffee sworn says: ! wal
engineer running train 3 west. Lei
Port Jorvis at 1910 p m; was 2
minutes late. | ran the distance lrou
) Port Jervis to Mast Hopes miles
in one houc When / came to Mas
Hope, ! gave the station signal, long
whistle; about half or three.quarter
Of a mile from the station, shonll
Judge i saw a freight train standing
on the switch When ! passed III,
caboose ! did not see anything wrong
Could not at that time see head o
7, ! freight train don't think that wa
], over forty feet from freight enginl
when | saw her. did not do any
thing, II flashed across my mind Their
would be smash up IL was almos
two SECONDS from the time ! saw
freight engine on the frog until tn
collision. Ny engine struck the for
ward part Of the cylinders of tn
a freight engine, about seven feet fron
the bumper. At the time Of tho col
lsion | was sitting on cushion on IN,
1 scat We were upset, and ] wa
4 thrown don't know how. / founI
- myself on my head and shoulders, wit
;, my feet up, near my engine. | 60
out and stood up; next my frema
appeared before me, his overals an
: clothes N flames. put out the blaz
. with my hands, and next thought {
put out the fire from the coal boz
a which was near the engine The cs
press and baggage cars were on fir
T" | went TO get over fence near th
depot, but was 80 weak | could not d
il. ran around the depot and wen
r. to tlre hotel TO get pail of water.
o. hallooed and raped on the door fo
he water Finally a lady got up, let IN
y in, gave me a pail, told inc there wa
water in the kitchen Took the pai
" ran TO the wreck, and threw water o
n the tire, and then ran for another pm
of water. Then saw the fire WI
burning too rapidly for me TO put OF
alone called for help, but receive
none Then went to getting out bal
gage and express matter. The fiji
:, was not in the smoking car when
on got back with my second pail Of VI
ID. ter at that time the fro was at cai
A a end of depot, between engine aud chi
:. smashed. / worked at taking OF
us baggage till the FIRE drove me ava,
ny ! must have occupied about five mi
utcs. After ! was driven away b
= the fire, went to rear end OF my trai
and saw that the third sleeping ooac
alongside OF freight engine, was cate
r ing fire; thought we could save il, ra
~ ,rs lied the men, got water from tho tau
es and saved the coach Tho front er
he was badly burned. l know the
y, 'd were persons killed by the collisio
y. After daylight saw the remains.
counted four bodies. They were bad
burned. saw pieces Of burnt iel