Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1888-10-15
aaa 9akataiaa
Responsibility Placed.
An rvarNEER MAKES SOME START
LING ADMISSIONS OF
CRIMINAL CARELRssNEss.
Had he Been Running IN Accordance
with Prescribed Rules the Lehigh VAL
ley Horror Would in All Probable
ty Have Been Ave rted.

WLKEsBARRE, Pa, Oct. J3.-Now that
the excitement over the great railroad
disaster has begun to abate, the work of
impartially investigating the causes of
the catastrophe is being carried out in
earnest. An important statement was
made by Engineer Cook, which will be
brought before the %coroner's jury. 1t
was Cooks engine that crashed into the
rear of the section ahead of him. The
statement is as follows.
81 left Penn Haven junction on the
engine No. 452, as The helper of engine
466, just ten minutes behind the section
which preceded us, expecting to make,
as did all other engineers on the e1cur-
sion trains, the time of train No. 8, be-
tween the junction. and Mud Run,
which is twenty-four minutes for the
run of about ten miles, which would
bring us TO Mud Run at 500, and / knew,
and the men in charge of the train
ahead of MS must also nave known, that
the time of No. & must be made to en-
able us to get out of the wayof train No.
II. which is due at Penn Haven juno
ton at 1850, and at Mud Run at S:12, q
run of twelve minutes We were ran
ming along all right and / wa contiuu-
ally on the alert for caps or other sig
nails that might be placed for us. When
we rounded the curve below Mud Run |
shut off steam, as Jul instructions were to
come into all stations with the engine an
der full control, and allowed my engine
to drift along. Tom Major, the engineer
of 466, whose helper / was, and who had
charge of the train, blew one blast of his
whistle for signals at Mud Run, and as
the target showed white, call right he
Immediately blew blasts Tor 'tup brakes,
go ahead,s / supposed, of course, that
Tom had applied thu air-brakes suff-
GENTLY to control the train, and don't
know that he didn't, but at all events
we were then running at about twelve
miles an hour. l was on the alert for
signals, as is customary when nearing a
station, but saw none. To see the station
flag at the point where we should be able
to see 1T, it was necessary for me to
climb upon the ratchet, which l did, and
saw no signal on the station signal
pole, where such signals should hang.
Had there been a fiagman there with q
signal lantern, we should both certainly
have seen it, and ii not both, 1t is reas-
enable to suppose that at least one of us
would have seen it, as there is certainly
no cause for excitement until there is O
signal of some kind of danger. The
trouble is, there was no signal lantsrn,
nor even n cap east of Mud Run
station. When we were about 100
feet from the station I was lean
Ing out of the cab window and saw
q white aigna1 being swung on the sta
ton platform in the usually en-
ployed to step trains or engines. The
lantern was being swung much more vio-
Ibntly than when brakemen are signal
~ In ~ tnrp atry{f fr,~ r -
nteIy whistled down brakes, and an
piled my steam brake. This extended
no farther than my engine, as the other
engine had charge of the train. / asain
looked for the cause for the SIGNALS and
saw the red signal lanterns on The plat
form and pulled my lever back as far as
possible to reverse, but too late to avoid
the catastrophe. / had done all that I
possibly could with brake and steam. and
could only await the result. which / aid
remaining on my engine until stopped In
the wreck, and then I started to pull
the fire from her. Then Hughey came
up, after having assisted in carrying the
injured brakeman, Poyle, to the station,
and we both worked at the fire until we
were driven from the cab by the steam,
and ! must have jumped out over the
Suard-rail to have injured my neck and
ankle as l did. AS the target showed at
Mud Run Station, and with no signal by
lantern or cap cast OF the station, we
were right In running two rail lengths
y the station by our instructions.
Az the ~coroner's inquest Engineer
Major made some startling admissions.
He confessed that his train was running
Twelve miles an hour, and had 1t APP
preached Mud Run under control, as the
rules require, or running four miles an
hour, the accident could have been
avoided. Major could not see ahead, on
account OF the steam and smoke from
Gook's engine ahead of him,
The case OF Michael Barrett, whose
a.'u1aiiy saosone', Two months ago
nv my " ~ sons was kliled IN q mine
Li11od maeAs " ano.neE Was a~cciaentally
4hat h,s ,,,;sa u s,aa aHa snorliy after
lost their Iiyes nn Ma5nas Smu suns who
iast - ~ 80 Houhesuay were seae
AaSg = .no iahliiJ.