The New York herald., 1879-03-26


fSGrxEER cLARK's STORY.
W. p Clark the engineer of engine No. &c. gave the
following explanation of his share in the
to HERALD reporter. who met him at the
company's repairing shop, on the Bowling Grcen:-
81 left the Battery At noon.' said he. "and il was
just about twenty minutes past twelve p. Nj. when
Stacked mp for the Forty second street sta
tion. Just as was approaching the point
at considerable speed. instantly reversed my en-
gne, but IL too late to avoid the crash, and the
o s sss ssss Has
struck her about the smoke box and also smashed
the front platform of tho forward car. You
win remember that the engines run backward
going up town. and so the head Of the
engine caught the force Of the blow.
was seated on the right Of the engine-that is,
were running on-so that saw the other train the
moment she on the switch. But the time was
The shock was considerable. but not enough to
throw my locomotive on the track escaped injury
entirely. as the blow fell on tn. end OF the engine
switch before came up to it. and am certain that
it was In no way misplaced. II the other train had
not gone wrong am certain we would have run up
to tile station in the usual manner. was running
on time. The cause Of the accident in having
train to be shnnted on the turn trask OF the Grand
Central Depot crossing, and collide with my engine
So far we engineers are concerned we are not to
steady, competent man. and don't think he can be
in any way in fault"
NJ. F. Kidder. the engineer of the other locomotive
No. 11s, also seen ut his residence, corner Of
Third avenue and Ninety-fourth street He said
that had left Harlem at twelve O'Clock and was on
time at the Forty-seventh street station. "While
stopping there he went on II noticed that the red
danger fiag was displayed the platform of the
Forty-second street station and that train in
to tho Grand Centra, terminus. As I nearcd the
station the fagman standing on the platform signed
% tl,of fhA ock cIo oItn than nQya
my attention to stopping my train, watching the
platform so that l might not run too far: was
tive, and was therefore, on the far side
from the switch on to which subsequently
ran. When came to deod stop the forward part OF
my engine was right over the extremity of the switch
and concealed it from me. that when started
had no means OF foreseeing that was about to run
however when reeiised the situation and instantly
shut of steam and tried to stop. My train
had. naa almost mo come to pause NV when ZEN ,dt IT
further In starting put on the usual pressure Of
steam and my train had Just got moderate i'm
iision rnder thirty fect. have been nnc years
working ais locomotive engineer and never had an
accident before. 1hsve been seven months in the
employment of this company"
WHAT Tfic Bw1rcHMAN SAYS
Many absurd rumors were afioat during the day
concerning the whereabouts of Joseph J. Davenport,
the man who was in charge Of the switches when
the accident occurred. 1t asserted by that
he had left the city soon after the affair. and by
others that hc was in the city, but could not
be found. None Of the employees OF the road seemed
able to tell Of his whereabonts Mr. Davenport lives
last night tho following account OF his
connection with the accident. He is switch
man. regularly employed At the City Hall Hall
the day except noon when he relieves the switch
man on the northbound single switch at Forty
second street and Third avenue. Yesterday. as had
been his custom. he remaiued at this switch while
the man he had relieved was at his din
ner. His dinner finished. the man in turn
SO Davenport relieved another switchman who at
wS he sag his OF The
the train on to tho south bound track.
the south bound track. to tho Forty second street
track Davenport had been there about half an hour
avenue station signalled him to allow an ap-
proaching Grand Central train to come
in The train came came up the ,uS, north ;..S t,.st
these switches are crescent-shsped and tho lever
works sideways from side to the other. the han
turning the switches stood at the south onc the
south track. until the train. passed to the
Grand Central Depot He then turned the
proceeded to tiiS north oIe and did the same.
This was to allow south bound train to pass. This
avenue station letting of and receiving passengers.
across the track to his switch house. which was to
s house 'ss and then % noticed tn that si the north
switch was wrong The handle was not in either
sprang forward to Ak the switch. In the meanwhile.
the dispatcher who stood at the station whero the
down coming train was standing. had seen him 90 to
the switches amt then leave them. He there.
upon tagged the down train to proceed on its
way. It was about one cars length from the
the switch he found the train upon him. He could
not get in front Of it. He thereupon hallooed
to- ns sossss to % the sn
engineer told him that he heard his shout end
the engine The distance to tho end of the
wheels OF tho engine throw the rails wide open, and
the train ran across the crosscut ON to the north
bound track. where the north bound train
was of course inevitable. Davenport said that
he could not explain the cause of the acci-
dent. The handle Of the SWITCH he says, fits firmly
into the notches. but this occasion must have
lcaped from s resting place back to the centre OF the
curve.
The swttchman Is twenty-cight years OF ago and
unmarried His appearance and msnners are those
connection with the 'I road he served seven years
ploys Of the Toledo. Peoria and warsaw,
the Hannibal and st. Joseph railroads. From these
companies he has testimonials OF good character and
ago. and was employed as clork. Ho went on tho
..L' road nine months ago % watchman. Early on
the morning of December 81. 1873. when the
attending to the first train out from the pocket.
he fell to the sidewalk below. He FIRST struck tho
ground his foct and then on his hip and side. Ho
sustained u scvcro confusion of tho hip and
taken to the Chambers Street Hospital.
The next day he was to have been appointed
conductor. but tho accident laid him up for some
time When he recovered ho was unable TO stand
long upon HIS feet owing to his INJURIES and could
not continue at the braAD. .Hew was then given tho
less sriuous, although moro responsible position
Of sw1tchmsn. During hts service the road
complaint has boon IN ado against him. and he Is
huv
and faithful discharge OF his duties. As soon as no
had that ono wa seriously injured. he pro-
cccdcd at once to the Central Once and reported
thcro He then resumed work, and. when relieved
ut the regular hour, went home.
THE BRAKEMAN AND OFFICER.
Patrick Muligan the brakeman, and Oniccr Ter
ence Gallagher, OF tho Twcnty-hrst precinct. tho
sformer bleeding from ugly cut tho head and
the latter with hands badly acerated wcro taken 70
tho Fast Thirty-ffth street station house.
Word Of the disaster had in tho meantime been
carried carrie to the police station and before
and was in waiting. Bandagcs and surgical nstru-
ments lay ready the station house for instant
n required. but no ambulanccs had been tcle-