Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-02-11
THE WRECKED TRAIN.
TRIAL OF RoBT. H. HOPKINS.

Testimsay Bsfsrs yudss Hsiladav In the
Hasstsss Csnrf ~ ia fhs. Accident or
Juas 19th.
in the Hastings Court yesterday was
commenced the trial Of Robert II. Hop
kins. who stands indicted for murder
that is to say, he and Robert Whitlock,
it is charged, on the evening of the 18th
day of June last displaced q switch on
the Chesapeake and Ohio railway Just
beyond the corporate limits, and there
by threw an express and passenger
train from the main track upon
side track, where it ran into lot of
empty freight-cars and caused the death
Of Alexander Hall, the engineer Of the
passenger train. Both Hopkins and
Whitlock have been indicted separately,
and the former was brought to the bar
yesterday and pleaded " not guilty."
Judge Holiday, of the Chanccry
Court, presided in the absence Of Judge
Atkins, who is detained at home by a
rheumatic attack, and the following
gentlemen were sworn as jurors to try
the case : Louis A. Behle, w. S.
Simons, David Mitteldorfer, A. OPP
penheimer, Henry G. Graves, Charles
E. Richardson, Emanuel Currant. Ed
win A. Smith, Levin A. Whiting,
Richard II. Duke, 0ctavius A. Francis,
and August Blenner.
Mr.. Edgar Allan and Mr.. Anderson
appeared for the defence, and Mr..
Samuel b. Witt, the Commonwealth
Attorney, for the prosecution. The
court was in session till s P. NJ, when
it adjourned until II NJ. to-day. In
substance the evidence elected for the
Commonwealth is the same as the state
ments heretofore published in the Dis
patch.
Hopkins had admitted to Justice
Holleran, of Henrico, and to Officers
Baker and Welsh, Of the city police
force, that they changed the switch. but
thought they had replaced it in proper
position before they left the spot.
So far as the testimony was taken
yesterday it appeared that on the eve
ming of the 10Th of June Mr.. Baker, in
his official capacity, went out to the
neighborhood of the switch with Hop
kins and Whitlock to apprehend some
girls who had left their homes and were
in the habit of congregating near there.
For time the two men were separated
from Mr.. Baker, and the idea is that in
that interval the switch was changed.
Both Whitlock and Hopkins had been
employed by the company, and were at
that time either suspended or dis
charged.
Mr.. Baker testified that Hopkins said
when arrested II did it with Whit
locks key but | think put the switch
back" And he further said that he
would "get out Of it,
Mr.. Baker is one of the chief witness
es in the case, and he was subjected to
a long and tedious examination. For
the first time he was yesterday able
satisfactorily to fix in his mind the fact
that the day when he went out to the
switch with Hopkins and Whitlock in
search Of the girls was the day that the
accident occurred-the day the passen-
ger train was thrown from the switch
and Engineer Hall killed. lie remem-
bered that, while standing by the side
of the track, he saw train pass him,
and in the cab of the locomotive was
man whose face made an impression
upon him. The man he did not then
know, but yesterday he saw him in the
City Hall and ascertained that it was
the brother of Engineer Hall, and Mr..
Hall told him that he (Mr. HalD came
in on his train on the 18th of jane
about an hour before his brother, the
engineer, was killed. The prosecution
seemed to think this an important point
established
The defence, it is understood, will
have some evidence which. it is claimed,
will throw new light upon the case.