Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-09-02
THE LAST RAILROAD MURDER.
Who is Responsible? A Iu'y Of Inquest
After the 0sreIiCts.
Massachusetts, Determined 10 Make an E1.
ample and Establish a Precedent.

| BOSTON, September 1.-The inquest
on the Eastern Railroad disaster was
continued to-day; Ashbel Brown, en-
| gineer of the Pullman train, sworn.
To the best of my knowledge it was
/ twenty-five minutes past eight O'Clock
| when the collision occurred; started
at five minutes past eight from BOs-
| ton; after ] was ready to start, the
| conductor gave a motion to go; Liant,
| the depot master, came alongside the
| engine in a hurry and says to me,
"LOOk out for the Sangus train )"
I said all right; / then started, and the
| first stop I made was at Prison Point;
started and then stopped at the BOs-
| ton and Maine Crossing; started from
| there and run to Mystic river bridge,
the first place that l saw light IS a
| signal of danger; the first light saw
was swinging from the train going In
the opposite direction; l whistled for
the brakes to be applied, and we came
nearly to s stop; knowing l had my
train under full control, 1 whistled of
brakes, ran a little way, and saw a
second light swinging in the middle
of the track; soon after l saw red
light on a pole at Sangus Branch,
which was hauled down, and the train
that Wss ahead Of me crossed the
switches to Sangus branch; after the
switches were set the light was run
uD, and as OUTS was up and another
going up, this gave me the right of the
road; was no reason to suppose there
Wss another train within six miles of
me; 1 ran along, and the first signal
of danger / saw was after leaving
Overhead Bridge; then l discovered
two lights looking me in the face;
1.-THE witness was affected to tears, and
could hardly. 90 On); Immediately
recovered my engine and Whistled for
the brakes; having done all in my
power to stop my train, L made prep
arations to leave my engine, thinking
sheiwOuld run into the rear end of that
train; when ] got within four or five
rods Jumped OF, and was thrown on
my face and scratched & little; 1 got
up as quickly as 1 could; my first
thought was whether my fireman got
of or not; / went up to my engine; she
was blowing of steam so that l could
not see into my cab; as soon as the en-
CINE got rid of the steam l looked into
The cab and called my fireman, but got
no reply; went around to the other
side Of the train near where l jumped
of to see if 1 could fud him; think
that when coming back I met him
and asked If he was hurt; he said no;
then went to the train to give all the
assistance I could, and assisted several
persons out Of the wreck Of car, stay
ing around about two hours and half,
when I heard that train was going
to Boston, and, having done all that 1
could, went home; think it was half
past twelve when I entered my house;
I knew nothing Of any train after leav-
ing Everett that did not have twenty
minutes start of me; I did not expect
that the train ahead Wss running over
twenty miles an hour when il passed
the Overhead Bridge; the rate of
speed when l jumped was ten miles
per hour; the color Of the lights was
white; saw no red lights; l saw no
lantern swung; being 80 near on to
that train, coming SO suddenly, and
knowing that train was there, my at
tentiOn was turned away, to stop
ping my train as soon as I could;
knew that the Beverly train was half
an hour behind time; had no Difficult
" III 6CCAlS tAAC PIX AaA II : IA NAlss II ub
did not try to make up lost time; al
ways run carefully; sm positive il
was the Saugus Branch train th6t was
tOlOok out for; can positively swear
that there was no train in sight on
the straight track that night, know
ing that the Beverly train had to start
in twenty minutes Of me, and think
ing that they were leaving Revere
ahead, was starting; had no anx-
iety about it. 1t was my duty to look
out for the signal light at Revere; do
not expect a light there without
there is danger, there was no light,
though.
William +. Simmonds was sworn,
and his testimony was corObOrative Of
the engineers evidence.
Adjourned,