The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1889-03-16
THE MUD RUN ACCIDENT
THE rnronrrUr Story TOLD AGAIN.
Engineer II snry Cook on Trial for c.Imin-
al Negligence.


al Negligence.
The opening Of the Mud Run trials OF
Monday recalled The frigh'ful circu instance
of the Inflated cx, lrsjsm lrtins ,,f Octobe
10, 1888 No trials ~'ace the IS mus Moll
| Mcguire tria ot decade since have At
tracted such Wide s9r ad interest an,
brought hither such lror Z ~ PERSONS in
terested one way OF another in the result
Perhaps two-thlrls of those present OF
Monday were railroadcrs or railroad off
cials, and up to to-day the attendance hai
been unusually iarge The accsued em
ployees, Engineer Henry Cook, Fremer
Hugh Flannigan and James Hennigan
whose criminal negligence it is charged re
suited In the holocaust, were represented
by General Mccartney and w S. Mclean
of Wilkesbarre. and Fred Bertolette, oi
town. The Commonwealth is represented
by District AttOrne' Rapsher, Hon. Michae
Cassidy, ex-Judge Harvey. OF Allentown
Hon. Allen Craig, and G. G. Donovan, OF
Scranton. Court convened at IL: 80 a. IN
with Judge S. S. Dreher and Associates
Seidel and Stroh, and after brief session
adjourned until 2 O'Clock, when the follow
ing jury was empaneIled:
Frederickson, Chas., laborer, Uauto.
Whitaker, F. j.. farmer, Franklin
Bowman, Fulton, laborer, Millport
Button, Thos., farmer, Towamensing
Bradwell, John, miner, Nesqnehoning
Boyer, Levi, farmer, Little Gap
Horn, Thos., farmer, Mahonlng.
Fritz, VIM, merchant. NesquehoniHg.
German. p. A., clerk. '.ehis shton.
Campbell, A., laborer, Weatherly.
Herpel, VIM, coachman, Mauch Chunk
Johnson, l.. NJ, blacksmith, Packertom.
The first case called was that of Engineer
Cook. Hon. Michael Cassidy opened fol
the prosecution in an able address lasting
half an hour. All the fine points in the
case were brilliantly brought out by Mr..
Cassidy. General Mccartney objected to
the prosecution setting forth the manner
in which they intended to proceed to con-
vict the defendants, but he was not upheld
by the court.
The first witness called for the prosecu-
ton was Henry c. Weir, of Tunkhannock,
a civil engineer in the employ of the Lehigh
Valley company. He testified to having
made survey and maps OF the tracks and
territory in the vicinity of Mud Run at the
solicitation of the officials. The purport OF
his evidence was intended to establish the
grade of the track near the station, the dis
lance from the station at which It could he
seen by an engineer in the cab of a locomo-
motive approaching from the east, and to
further prove that the red target or lantern
could be seen by any one approaching who
was looking in that direction. The witness
after carefully describing the localities and
railroad appurtenances, such as switches,
frogs, lights, boxes, etc., was submitted to
a searching cross-examination by Gen. Nc
Cartney. Cooks counsel. The learned coun-
| sci, who has the reputation of being one of
the best criminal lawyers in central or north
eastern Pennsylvania. was unusually caustic
| in his questions and caused sensation when
| Mr.. Weir admitted that he would not swear
that the station could be seen from curve
near the depot, and that the survey from
which his maps had been made was made
entirely while on foot and at no time from
locomotive cab. The defense believed
that this was a point gained, inasmuch as
the evidence of the civil engineer failed tc
establish that the station could be seer
from the curve east of IL, although it wa:
| meant to do so.
| John Franks, of Wilkesbarre, was the sec
two draughts of engines 456 and ASP, which
were in charge of Cook and Major wher
the accident occurred. The draughts were
presented in court and submitted as evidence
Supt. Mitchell was on the stand wheI
court adjourned. He testified to the excur
sion on the 10th of last October. to the mum
Der of cars it consisted of, the special ant
general orders issued to explores on tina
day, the make and quality of Cooks an,
Majors engines, his appearance at th
wreck, the number of killed and wounded
His testimony as to the quality of the ma
terial in the wrecked cars was ruled ou
because he was not an expert witness
On resuming the case Tuesday Superin
tendent Mitchell said that the train mus
have been going at high rate of speed t
have telescoped. The defence elaine
that the light from the fire box of Cook
/ engine Blinded the engineer of the secon
engine Witness admitted that the neares
point at which he could see a signal was
distance of 230 feet. The most iInportan
, testimony given was that by j. w. Slocun
agent and telegraph operator at Mud Rur
= He said he was not sure that the train /
E question had red and green lights or mol
| He had stopped No. 8 section by sigma
The limit of ten minutes that the train
were to be kept apart was oyerrun by frol
] seven 10 eight minutes. He saw Section
e coming up the track. There was a re
light placed on the platform by John Ler
: non
: After No. came up the red light wa
: put on edge of platform. Lennon is IL
o night operator. A fagman at end
= double track stood and waved his red ligl
e as the train approached. The Hagman
name was Hannigan. One of the engin
= blew two whistles and then the hagms
i started for his train. When he start,
Slocum took up the red light and haged u
trains that had passed him. SThe red ligl
had been there nearly an hour, Mr.. Lem,
was on duty. There was no obstrue il
between the red light and the approachlI
train. Hannigan stood out of the line {
thered light at the time the train was b
tween the mile post and the sawdust.
was at the sawdust when Slocum tagged
He said: 81 waved the lantern until L
trains passed the station" He was su
y .knt Ii ma a ROD lioL4 a.. La No.. .l.a n.