Wilmington daily gazette., 1874-05-26
FIRST EDITION.
New Castle County Court
THE ELLERSLiE ACCIDENT CASE
ON TRIAL.

W. IL Il. RR Co.-oPFNiNG or THE CASE AND [
EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES. {
(RepOrted for the Daiiy Gazette.) /,
NEW CASTLE, DEL, May 90. 1874.
Court opened at the usual hour Judges Gilpin,
Wooten aud Houston on til bench,
In the case Of NJ. LalIy vs. Henry 8. Truilt, )
Messrs. Spruance and harrington IN turn ad-
dressed the jury, the Couit charged aud the jury
retired and after some deiberalion returned A
verdict for defendant Of $G995
Next came Ella Meredith Va F., w. q Il. l.
Il. Go. Messrs Lore and Swayne <of ;he Phil
adelphia Bar for the plaintiff. and Mess,s, Cor
don aud Bayard for the defendant. The jury
was empannellcd and MIR. Swayne opened for
the plaintiff by stating summary OF the accident
at Ellcrslie which occasioned the present suit
and the details Of which will appear iii the tts-
.imonv.
n. w. Gookn swore substantially That he
was dispatcher OF trains on The T., W. " Il. RH,
Nov. %, 1872
The Schedule tins Of Philadelphia and Wash !
ington Express To leave Broad and Prime / 80
l.. NJ. Darby Improvement train left at LID, |
| the New York and Washing ton (Sonlh) train
should leave Gray's Ferry at y. NJ, the Phil
| adelphia and Washington Express was the one
| teescoped It's schedule time at Chester was T. oG
A. NJ; New York .G Washington, (South) %
A. NJ; Philadelphia & Washington Express
l
and the New York S Washington (South) about
I4iA A. NJ. That night was IN charge of des
ualchug trains; heard nothing Of accident until
| ) 50 or A. NJ. Had heard from the trains
| prior but no Instructions were asked Ia my know
| ledge. Spare engines are Kept at Wilmington
| except one or two al each end Of the road, in
case Of accident 1t is the custom for conductors
TO telegraph here but they can take an engine
from any freight train without oomn.uui. ating
IA h.
CINE .n the coilded trhin, but she WAS 4 iiist
class engine, the Darby Improvement had q
socopd class eDeine hut equal 10 the task VI pull
ing the Phiadelrh, and Washington train,
New York and Washington Express S-uihl
had first class engine.
John Gram W as engineer ot the New loik
| and Washington Express on the night OF Nov.
u, 1872, when II ran into the Fhiladelphin and
Washington E2rress lett Gray's Ferly at oS,
\. M, minutes late reached Chester at 81,
A. M, minutes late, and was three minutes late
We passed Bellevue and the siIhc near IllcI5lIG
there we've nine cars on my train, very heavy
ones; they were provided with ordinary hand
| brakes good Of the KIND there were two brakes
men, Two baggage masters ana the conductor ON
| tho tram. the fireman and | On the engine all
| on the train braked generally and always five
| in case OF emergency. This ght was clear
F | but the track was slippery; first saw the dan
| ger at Red Clay Gu; ; got no news OF II at Chester
tinwood or Chymont; | was sgnalled hy th'
o engineer of the New oik and Washington Tx
u press (north) by the waving Of light; had nI
,f notice If dcny ID trains about that point Torpe
N does were in use hut Houe We're useil that night
e there were Westinghouse brakes in u7a but nom
Y | ON my tram. They check a train IN IL hait mile
70 hand brakes in mile. In two minutes iron
~ the time first saw danger, collided the pas
sengers could not have got ou.; my speed W.
id thirty forty miles per hour; my engine strucl
the rear OF hIud ear raised it anl lowered th
% font, and tue second car elescoped it one-thir
down; tle seats were masked and passengers al
+ jammed up, steam escaped from headlight pip
Il | and filled the did not Miss Meredith
my engine was No. 81, lst class l62l4 cylinder
the engine of tram struck Was No. II with lbA2
cylinder; IL wes used a an accommodation IL
glue between Philadelphia and Lamok,n don
know her conductor, there are telegraph statioi
at Chester Linwood and Thurlow. Ne were
minutes late waiting for New 10rK tram Ii
hand -bra,es were the best kind OF WestingLou:
brakes were then on trial and usel only on Il
commodation trains | tIled them day HI
them failed with me all through trans hay
:, them now hay1 known that enl no Ia nal
n time with fourteen cars don't know Why II
failed tins time; | stand at my post ddI ug II
collision.
Court hero adjourned nutl : O'Clock
AFTERNOON SESSION.
Elias NJ. Surgeant Was engineer that ni.,
OF the New York erd Washington Express (noIt
y left Wilmington at liza, a, Al. first saw /
Philadelphia and Washington Express at Ellels
as | crossed the BmndywIne undgei III thr
OF tour minutes passed her and IN two minui
reached the signalling point about 1000 It. abo
ElleIshe where si2nallcd The New York al
Washington Express lsouth) about 100 on 100
above uie 1 stopped When / si9na'led no sign
q was given 10 Inc but | thought l saw IA /
y light the collided train WAS mol iuH slowly.
Milton Jackson i was on the co'lded Tn
with Hiss Meredith and Wm. Gordon b0ua
Miss Meredlth's ticket for her W. got on
Broad aud Prime streets, Philadelphia, at ll;j
was delayed few minutes at Grays ferr
went on TO Chester when We were delayed IA
mi nules, thence 10 Lamokin and was delay
there few minutes and went thence - Eli
slie; did not stop but moved very slowly.
= About car length or 80 beiow Eiors
tho train stopped. Tho up train here das h
by and looked out the side of the @;
The next thing SAW was two passeEgt
behiud me rush past towards tie front
ny the car. Looked back and tho hoad lag
line | of tho cHllidng tram was 50 closo 90
cluiel could not escape. Tho Two III
VINO passad ne only got 10 tho front end
= the ear, Alter tho collision, | could not
> my companions, Miss Meredith aud
G1riDn wnb ND baan s6itel aero
the aisle from mo. The rubbist was neal
mp to tho bell rope. The mont oil tho
ahead of ouis was jammod. Uuc-hali al
way In our car seats were smashed.
doors broken and tho lights nearly all .
and tho passengers tossed UP together. 1
air was close and tho ear WAS fuil ol siea
---~ Heard outcrios after the collision. aud
cry OF lire was raised helura any one
taken out. Next saw Miss Meredith III
car taking ns 10 Wilmington. Sho was
labie 10 speak, her clothing disordored, n
sno was ly,Ag on s,at breathing VI
hard. Al Wilmington sha Was carried /
tho ladies' room, where | next SAW Il
We were uext taken TO 2!2 Market stteo
Miss Mereditt's lips were cat and s~