The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-09-04
THOSE DEADLY SHANTIES.
p. R. R. HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR
CULLOM'S DEATH.

Vain Efforts to Make 1t Appear He Was
Drunk or Shot Himself--The Danger
Gus Structures Are Only a Foot from
the Track
Joseph Cullom, a passenger on the
Pennsylvania Railroad, as readers of this
paper know, was killed on the train. He
leaned out of the window and his head
struck against the roof of the flagman's
shanty at Varick street. His skull was
fractured and the brain protruded. The
accident occurred on the night of August
"a. Coroner Brackner held the inquest
last night at the Court House.
j. NJ. Tyler, a Newark policeman, was
the first witness. He testified that he
saw a man who he believed was Cullom
In a drunken sleep in the depot at New
ark. He awoke him and Cullom begged
the witness not to arrest and disgrace
him. He said he belonged in Brooklyn
and had visited Newark to collect bill.
He had received part and the man he
called on had got him drunk. He boarded
the 1924 train for Jersey City. The wit
ness was not positive that the man he
referred to was Cullom.
ID. b. Tice testified that he saw Cullom
enter the train. He did not appear to be
intoxicated. The baggage master in
formed witness, when the train was be-
tween Brunswick and Varick streets,
that man had had his brains knocked
out. The witness went into the coach
and found Cullom's head extending over
the window SILL Witness lifted him in.
formed by two passengers that they had
heard the report of q pistol, and thought
the man had committed suicide.
Owen McGinty, the night watchman at
the Market street depot, Newark, deposed
that he had noticed man in a drunken
mr. inf ,aA x>f
the fact
George B. Roe, the engineer of the
train deposed that when told that a.man
had been killed he went back and saw the
deceased, whose head was hanging out of
the window. A lady passenger told him
that the man had shot himself The
train was running at the rate of thirty
miles an hour. The witness said he had
his head out of the cab window all the
way down
County Physician Converse testified
that he made the autopsy. He found a
scalp wound about two inches long. The
wound did not affect the skull. There
was a wound about four inches long on
the top of the head, through which the
brain protruded. On the left side of the
head was a fracture eight inches long, and
q piece of skull two inches square hac
been driven into the brain. This fracture
and injury to the brain caused the mans
have been done with a pistol ball." said
the witness in answer to the question of
juror. The witness theory is that the
left side Of the head was forced violently
against the side of the car.
Charles Neigert, the fireman of the
train, gave unimportant testimony
John Coyne, the gateman at the Varick
street crossing, said he knew nothing
about the accident but noticed on the
morning after the accident that the corner
of the shanty roof was turned up. His
opinion was that the shanty was three feet
FROM the track
G.. Frank Sutherland testified that with
Coroner Brackner on last Saturday he
visited the Varick street crossing and
measured the distance from the most
southerly rail to the shanty. 1t was eleven
inches The top of the shanty is on a line
with the car windows. At Jersey avenue
the shanty is foot from the tracks, and
at the other crossings the distance be-
tween the shanties of the gatemen and the
nearest track is about fifteen inches
The jury deliberated only short time.
They rendered the following verdict
The jury finds that Joseph Cullom came to his
death through the neglect of the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company in having the fiagmans
shanty at the Varick street crossing too close to
the tracks. We also find that the safety of
human life demands that the same and other
shanties at other crossings below be placed back
further from the tracks.
The deceased leaves a widow and two
children in England. A suit will be en-
tered against the railroad company.