The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-08-02
ARE STILL PROBING.
Did Carelessness Cause the Death
of Louis f. Webb?
SOME MYSTERIOUS MOVEMENTS.
The Engineer and Fireman viii be Asked to
Explain Them to the Jury
This Morning.

The examination into the cause of the
death of Louis T. Webb, the unfortunate
young man who was killed at the Rio
Grande depot on Tuesday evening, was
continued before Coroner Taylor and "a jury
yesterday morning.
THOMAS E. REED
was called as the first witness: Am car re
pairer and inspector at the Rio Grande
Western shops, where have worked for
about six years l was acquainted with
the deceased, he having worked with me
about two years. We had inspected train
%, when Webb and myself We're called to
attend wreck. A draw head
had been pulled out of refrigera-
tor car and coupling was being made
between that stock car by means of
chain. The train backed up, but the coup
ling was not made the first time, and the
pin or link fell, the cars remaining sta
tionary. The cars pulled ups little, when
Webb stepped in between to pick up the
pin and the cars came together. Heidi
not try to couple the car. 1t is the brake
mans duty to do the coupling. 1t is not
unusual for another party to step in. The
car repairers are not required TO do any
coupling at all. l have never coupled any
cars myself, and have never been requested
to do so by anybody. / was right behind
Webb when the accident occurred, and it
was that pulled him from under the cars.
He made no remark whatever. / considered
it dangerous to go in, because [ knew they
were endeavoring to couple the cars. He
stepped in and the act was so quickly ac-
complished that hardly had time to think.
He seemed to act on the impulse l could
80 rnn+l CSC ~
given. There were men on the other side
of the train. If the draw head had been on
the car he would not have been hurt. He
died instantly, and remained in
STOPPING position until l put my
arms around him and pulled him out. He
was a young man of good moral habits
He could not have been under the influence
of drink, because he was not drinking
man. So far as / knew him, he was model
young man. | do not know who had charge
of the train, but / believe it was Conductor
Mold. If the drawbacks had been all right,
he would have had no occasion to go in.
The work was all done except .i tol, Iof ling.
The car needed repairing, army person person eng
coupled in order that it ,nn MT sbould nSide-
tracked. The rule is thafinaS e5istribufan
does the coupling. Wher "a iESaM. is
broken the chain is used + a9hf%4A
whether there was any niT co,.iiss 9f
pdIU VI tilN OuG. DCCduSC lsAlrlicra.
one part of the train. zoe Si, on
To Mr.. Rawlins-Neither Webb ar lny-
self had any right to make any sienafs, and
l cannot say who did do it The engineer
has no right to back up until he Is signallea
After we had put the chain on, our work
was done. When the pin or link dropped
dropped down, the cars separated again.
and stood in that position for a short time
Just as he stopped down the cars came to-
gether.
1 heard no signal yand saw no signal
There might have been signals on the other
side of the train and / would not have seen
them.
CONDUCTOR GEORGE MOLD.
/ am conductor OF train %. | have
worked on the Rio Grande for about one
year. did not know the deceased, save
by sight. l was in charge of the train at
the time the accident occurred. After we
had pulled the drawhead out of car 154 1
got chain from engine 20 and put the
chain on car 154, in order to make coup
ling. After the chain had been put on l
gave the signal to back up and stopped the
cars about eighteen inches away. While
Brownlee, Webb and l were making the
coupling, from some cause-what l cannot
state-the engine Stacked back Brownlee
felt the cars coming back and lodged I'M
derneath. Webb was caught between the
cars. 1t was about three minutes between
the time when the cars stopped and when
the cars came together. The engineer is
not present. He is an experienced hand at
his business, having been on the road two
or three years. l think it was merely an
accident. 1t is not usual for cars to be
moved in that way without signals being
given.
To Mr.. Rawlins-Webb had no business
in there at all. There was no reason to APP
prehend any danger. because it was sup
posed the cars would remain there untilthe
signal was given TO back. Kinney had been
firing on the road and switching in the
yard. He was not a regular engineer. 1t
was the first time he had even pulled my
train. have not the slightest idea why
the train should have come back have
seen similar cases before. The service
Webb was doing there was purely yolun-
tary on his part. / never knew of Kinney
being intoxicated.
THOMAS BROwNLEE.
/ was in between the cars with Webb
when he was killed. We were making up
train 90 to go out, when draw bar pulled
out gave the engineer signal to back up.
The draw bar went underneath and broke
the break beam. l signalled to stop. Con-
ductOr Mold came up and went for the car
repairers. He got the bull chain from the
engine and put it on the car that had the
draw bar out of it. The engineer was sig
nailed to back up. He did so, and when he
had approached near enough to make the
coupling he stopped. AS the cars stopped
got down on my knees on one side of the
train and Webb on the other. We were in
the act of fastening the chain when the
train moved back. l saw the train moving
back, when yelled to get out of the road.
With that ducked my head and drew my
self out AS | arose to my feet,
saw that Webb had been caught
between the timbers. We signalled
to the engineer to slack ahead. He did so
and Webb fell forward on his face Reed
then pulled the body from under the car.
can give no explanation why the cars
moved back as they did. Such a thing does
not often occur. No signals were given,
but the cars could not have moved of them
selves, not on that grade at least. 1t would
have been almost impossible for me to have
made the coupling alone.
This concluded all the testimony on hand,
but the jurors having expressed a desire to
examine the engineer and fireman, an ad-
iournment was taken until 10 o'clock this
at what time their testimony will
be taken.
CHOLERA IN MICHIGAN.