Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1870-06-01
THE ST, LOUIS r.. r.. SLATGHTER.
Location OF the acknowledgements of
the Two Conductors,

Location or the acknowledgements OF
the Two Conductors.
The responsibility for the unhappy dis
aster is laid on Oder, the conductor of the
freight train. There are some statements
about difference of time in the watches
of the conductors of the two trains; but the
more reasonable presumption is that the
freight train was guilty of fatal indiscre-
ton. The express was in charge of Mr..
George j. Dubois one of the most discreet
and self-possessed conductors on the road,
who has been for years in the service of the
company. It was an hour and ten minutes
behind time when it reached Jefferson City
but by the time it reached Eureka it had
reduced this arrearage to forty-five min
utes. It had the right of way, and, pre-
Stunning on this regulation, did not antici-
pate any danger, as it was the duty of
freight trains to keep out of its way. The
freight train, before it left st. Louis, was
informed of the express being behind, and
the road mentioned to Mr.. Odor, conductor
of the freight train, that it would be safe
for him to take thirty minutes of the ex-
press time, or, ia other words, that he
might run against thirty minutes of the
express time without danger of meeting it.
It is said, also, that the freight conductor
in accepting this extra time exceeded it,
and used forty five minutes, when he should
have used only thirty, and thus brought his
train to point where 1t had no right to be.
He tried to reach Eureka before the ex-
press arrived there, and this fatal mistake
was the cause of the accident. Mr. Tracey
was the engineer of the freight train.
STATEMENT OF GEO. ]. DUBOIS, CONDUCTOR
OF THE PASSENGER TRAIN.
We were running with the freight train,
using thirty minutes Of our time by special
order; they were allowed to come some
thirty minutes after we were due at the sta
ton. We left Eureka thirty five minutes
late, at quarter past five o'clock. The
freight train should have been there five
minutes before we left, ten minutes past
| five o'clock. AS they did not come bv that
time, as the order gave them permission to
do, we did not expect them we expected
| they would go back on side track. We
saw the freight train as it turned round the
curve. I was on the engine, and the en-
gineer whlstled to put down the brakes,
and he reversed the engine. [ only re-
ceived few scratches. TIE crash was
terrible. The baggage car and two pas
senger cars were almost completely demol-
ished. The ladies' car was not injured at
all; it careened, but did not upset.
STATEMENT OF VIM. ODER, CONDUCTOR OF THE
FREIGHT TRAIN
| I started from St. Louis with an extra
| freight train at 2:30 a. M, bound to Gray's
Summit, about forty miles from here. 1
should have met the express passe niger
train at ST. Paul, five and O half miles from
Eureka. We laid back there for the express.
My head brakeman, Ell. D. Sullivan, said
the train was coming. 1t proved to be the
through stock train, and had orders for me
| II e
I left st. Paul at AS, which gave me
twenty-five minutes to run the five and a
half miles against the express. We collid-
ed about mile from Eureka. I was on
the engine with FL. d. Sullivan Joseph
Tracy, engineer, and the fireman, whose
name I do not know; brakes were whistled
down when we saw the express train, and
the engines reversed; the trains were about
400 yards apart; we jumped off the engine,
and had my knee injured; / looked at my
watch and saw that we had eight minutes
to make Eureka before the express train
could leave Eureka; we were running at
a speed of eighteen or twenty miles an
hour; the trains collided forty or fifty yards
west of the cut, the express was coming
down the grade, we had run about 100
yards of the 400 when the trains cOllided
there were on board the freight train, in
addition to the person named, two brake
men, William Taft and David Upper.
| They escaped with slight injuries
after the collision. Dubois said at st. Paul
that he would not have grudged $50 if his
watch was running. We had twenty cars,
five loaded with merchandise, and fifteen
loaded with lumber. The merchandise
cars were totally ruined, and also one lum-
Der car. The express train was coming
with greater speed than we were running.
Before we saw the express We had left the
Meremac and gone around the rock cut. A
man at Eureka told Jackson, the engineer
of the express, that he heard another train
coming, meaning ours, but he went on.
The same engineer nearly ran into me at
Eureka, about two weeks since. / feel l
am not to blame.