New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-07-01
the broken rail about twenty-five feet north of the
south end Of the bridge.
William A Mccall told the following story:

bridge. | the coach behind the smoking car jump
aud with that / stepped into the smoker. As
| stepped In felt the jar CT that car going on
e 80 as to pI Ss out eas0e Of the door
hold OF the seat the car gave way ana iSund yss ~
over; / jumped to catch the brake-cOrd on
the rear platform Of the smokingrcsr' and s%d
applies the brakes to ali the cars in the train visited
the bridge after the accident The rails were az torn up
would have gone down long before we DID. Did
not notice whether the rail was thoroughly spiked.
Edward Leek gave the following account OF the
accident;
was baggage-master on train No OF the Long
Branch Division yesterday morning aud the bag
gagecar when tlc accident occurred the brakes wero
applied instantly noticed It just after we entered on
the end OF the bridge. The baggagecar left the
track but did not fall into the water I0e speed OF the
did not examine tue condition Of tie track the ac
cident ana not personally acquainted with any OF
the persons injured L have raloaded nearly Tour
years In my Judgment the train ought not to nave
stopped before it did the brakes were in good order
THE SECTION FOREMAN ON THE STAND.
Michael Welsh, foreman of section OF the Long
Branch Division, running from Long Branch 10
Little Silver station, testified as follows:
My section includes the bridge which the accident
occurred have no written Instructions as 10 what my
duties are, have printed ones and reee,ue sTuo
uOns from the trtcknastef, ". III. Maishan., lhey
keep that part OF road safe ana in good repair
and to do all 1 can avoid accidents On the morning
Of the accident was WORKING on llances CROSSING
work the bridge after the early part OF ihe MONTH
about the first week in June. Then lined
this we always draw the spikes ain lining up" bridge
We always spike every other tie. TINS was seneiaI
rule some times two ties would be passed. When l
" lined up " tae bridge removed the rails only at the
crooked places one of these crooked places III tue early
part Oh .hs month was near tne southern EN-, wben
ned tue extreme end OF the bridge last sunday When
walked over 1t. 1t nad not been touched since
repaired it. There were no spikes drawn then. We
only skip two Ties when they very close together
ana do tbs distance between the spikes Is not
greater imam When every Vther ue ls spiked. Aom
every other tie Oh the bridge was spiked except IN
cases where The Ies were very close Tue WOOD Oh Sne
Ties was niue weAther-DeaIen On up o
the heart was pretty sound The last " ,iss
were sound when Ell them. sumo Work was done ON
BRUCE this week by another foreman, Alexander
my uuy 10 inspect the WOrA ana repair IL tneie Was
any'nns dansei1s IN IT, cs a'e Tell hi Sas finished
before Wednesday afternoon. L did not IN
spect it ali, aud nave not been over inc
the nOrtn-bOund to the sOutubOund track 10 put
Ill such switch ii necessary 10 move some OF the
bridge-how far do know. Tne company permits
me 10 send trustworthy man over the work r "hen
cannot 20 personally. nd this every night Inc hsht
before my brother, EDWARD Welsh, over lne
bridge
At this point the coroner and after him two OF
three OF the jurors attempted TO get the witness 10
tell how far the new switch extended on the
bridge, and fix the time when 1t was
put down. On neither point could he give an an
swer with any directness Finally he said he
wv
on the bridge and that 1t must have been
put down Wednesday forenoon. lie did not
know whether any express trains had
crossed the bridge before the one that
was wrecked. The patience of the coroner and
jurors seemed almost exhausted with his unmean-
ing answers and finally Coroner Cooper SAID: -" L
should like to hire you TO be section fore
man for me. Why, YOU don't know anything"
In reply to other questions the witness said that
he had never noticed that the passage OF trans over
the bridge worked The spikes out of the Timber Inc
ties little rotten just at the top, Dut preIty
sound III the middle
On your Judgment were those ties safef A'-ies
(hesItatingyD; tIink they were.
HOW THE SWITCH WAS PUT IN.
The next witness was Alexander kler, who said
Gm foreman of the floating gang on The Long Branch
dent happened week from Tuesday last worked
Wedny sday suriacing III" the track III the morn
Ing. the switch entering the rce-course track
ana tie south-Dound track pu1 the s"ltch IN on tne
tIc s Tm an was
finished when the accident occurred, and don't
The ralis Of the nOrth-bound track was present
al tne tiuio .i'iS was We P t -. l
was done Wednesday noon The switch was not per-
manently fastened 10 the Dr.ge.
Q.-Nny was 1t not finished I Al lacked some ma
teriAl tc nnish 1t and VAS waiting Tor it to arrive
Q-NHaJ maoerial did you lacA I A.-Countersunk
spikes for the side plates. had of them.
Q-liad you sent Tor tnose spikes A-Yes. sir, the
Road Master, william IL. Marshall, at Rcd Bank or
dered "Wednesday OF last week after starting
work, making memorandum o. all the materials
neeued received All but the cOuntersunk spikes.
Q-What did you about itl Al
ASKED foreman on the gravel tram why he dilnt
Orlmg tie OlI Inc they nad nOhe out nid sent 10
EllzaOetnport to have them / sent again four
da after tna aud wed 10 answer TO TINS message.
That the day before the accident-the DAY me
Glow many spikes were put in the rail beyond
th, switch A.-Io OF my belief. every other
te spiked. We had removed Ut cen feet ahead of
the point drawing Only the INSIDE spikes
tell why tram left Lae trac~ Al cannot; 1t Is
entirely beyond my comprehension Ine switch Was put
in Wednesday anu ali trails passed over safely up TO
No. Of thursday forenoon.
GLOW m.ily OF taose trains express trains
APeunsyva No. 27S. due at Little Silver at 45O
D. was an express TRAM and at 10 a. n express
Oh our jud slnent, from what you noticed drlv
ing the spikes "hlIe putting IN tue s"ltcn were
Iuat is d critical question. IN my Judgment they
were not nrst-ci Ties, yet they ire
quently used, and might nave las,ed loAg time.
for rpikug. V zen ties have been respiAed several
unes II Is almost impossible 10 make opAes mold IA
tn.m. Inc track on the OIdge had been nned up
tunes since the new bridge was DuiG along
side, ana noticed that the driving OF ples for
new bruge beside the old ones Is always
injurious old bridge. Ihe old piles re disturbed
and tracks wont remain long III Ine
Later the witness SAID that he would not
slider the ties hrst-class second third class
One-half of all the yellow pine used for ties was not
worth anything; the spikes would not remain
in it, In illustration mentioned that
IN LAYING the special track which President Gar
field was taken to ElberOn, yellow pune ties were
used and though the track was a new one three
locomotives had forced out the spikes and spread
the rails. lie thought the train on Thursday morn
ing was running at tue rare OF forty-nve or htty
mics per iiour 1t entered on the bridge. If
the section foreman that the switch was I'M |
safe it was his DUTY to put II IN order Hls theory
If the accident was that the third car from |
the rear of the train had left the track
first about SIX feet north of the |
was found on the oa,e of the rail that The engineer
in putting on the brakes hard mad caused the |
wheels to tear up the ties ana bent the rail The |
Z. L. =. I'M a.