The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-01-31
In RAILWAY CIRCLES.
The Inquest on the Bodies of
Young and Walker.
THE CAUSE OF THE TRAGEDY .
murrage Scheme-An Important
Man-GeneraI aud Personal.

early yesterday morning, in order tina
he might inquire into the facts attend.
ing the death OF Joseph A. Young anG
George Walker, who met such tragic
fate in Red Butte Canyon, The jury
consisted of Messcs. P. w. Madsen
Henry Puzey and Joseph D. Lyon, who
after viewing the mangled remains al
the undertaking rooms of ]. w. Tay-
lor, went to the Office of the railway
company, where several witnesses were
! examined.
William R. Watson, the conductor oil
THE ILL-FAT TRAIN,
was the first witness examined. Both
he and the other members OF the crew
present were much affected at the
terribly tragedy, and it was with con-
siderable difficulty that they checked
their emotion. Watson said tt at when
the two young men, Dung and Walker,
| boarded the train, he endeavored to
dlssuade them from going to the
quarrIes, by saying he did not expect
TO return until after dark. Il DIDN'T
like to tell them they could not go,
however, and so they went with us.
| When we reached the quarries, we
hitched on the eight cars loaded with
rock and two empty ones. The cars
were loaded when we arrived there, and
they were IN good running condition.
| The brakes were all set wnen We got
there, but for the greaIer safety, they
were reset; We had hauled loads
q
| fore and always came down in perfect
safety; asked the engineer to give
US sard going down; we mad
! just got out of the switch when I sig
nailed the engineer to stop, and each
| sprang at the brakes: the train kept
slipping, however, and after we had
gone ABOUT two blocks l found that it
| would be impossible to stop the cars
| when | halloed for them to lump the
train was going at about
THIRTY MILES AN HOUR:
yelled for them to jump, but they did
not hear me, I suppose; after going
about three blocks, left the train;
Heber Chatterton, the fireman, followed
me; l was thrown head over heels; |
got down on the brake beam on the
rear end of the train; besides being
badly Jared, was uninjnred; Chatter
ton, believe, jumped from the engine;
Louis Pope, the brakeman, was the
next done to leave the train; he was
slightly injured near the knee cap; [
should say that We all three left the
train within a distance of about LOO
yards; / do not know whether
the four men remaining On the
train when I left made any attempt
to jump or not; they were under the
wreck when 1 reached them; Charles
McCarty, Joseph A. Young, George
Walker aud J. w. Mcdonald were the
names of those who stayed with the
the track and the cars all piled over it;
the engine and the cars are
A TOTAL WRECK;
when found George Walker. he was
dead; and lying about fifteen yards
from the train; it looked to me as
though he had jumped from the train
and that rock had fallen upon him
and killed him; his face was buried In
the snow, and when [ raised him up |
saw that ne was dead, and that The
back of his head was crushed; Joseph
A Young, was lying on his back under
the engine when found him; when 1
saw him last alive, he was twisting a
brake on the third Car from the engine:
he was badly cut in several places; 1
don't think he attempted to jump; J.
w. Mcdonald, the engineer. told me
that he got down on the step of the
engine and supposed he was caught by
q brake beam and dragged.
THE ENGINE LEFT THE TRACK
at curve, it going one way and the
tender the other; I should judge that
Young's age was about 20 or 81 years;
George Walker. who was also killed,
was resident of Sugarhouse Ward;
road at the time OF the accident;
think plan could be adopted by which
1t would be safe to con rinus hauling
reck from these quarries; the accident
was caused by the slippery, frosty rails,
and the heavy grads; no one was to
blame; the rock train has been running
all along this fall and winter; have
brought down as many as ten loaded
cars and caboose: | didn't want the
boys to go up with me, but did not
like to come right out and tell them
that they could not go; both, believe,
had been employed on the load before;
Young was a nephew of John w.
Young, the president of the road none
of the parties on tho train had been
drinking that know of; We remained
at Wagener's half an hour, but the engi-
neer never left his engine; do not
know of any precauti0n that could be
taken that was not taken under the
circumstances; think that If the rails
were ssnded about one hundred yards
from the switch so as to warm up the
trakes, they would hold better;
WE HAD USED SAND
both going up and coming down; one
of the sandpipes- on the engine was
stuffed up: L should judge that when
the cars left the track they must have
been going at the rate of about fifty or
sixty miles an hour.
Louis K. Pope, the brakeman, cor
roborated the testimony of the conduc-
tor to q great degree. 1--WE had never
hauled loads as large as the one in
question in such cold weather, but We
have done so under circums taDces Very