Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-11-16
CALIFORNIA AND COAST.
4 Woman Murdered by Indians in Los
Angeles County.
THE OREGON RAILROAD DISASTER
Mysterious Proceedings Attending
the Capture of Ivett's Slayers-
Races at the Bay.
RBmAL DrAroHx TO THE nsooan.uxos.,
CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT.
Positive Proof That Rail Had Been
Removed


Removed.
SAN FRANCISCO, Novem Der l5th.-General
Manager Towne, when questioned to-day
relative to the cause of the accident which |
occurred on last Thursday night, near
Salem, Or, expressed some hesitancy in |
impartiDg all the information he had re- /
ceived, lest it might interfere with the /
officers OF the law in ferreting out and ar.
resting the miscreants who were the au-
thoTs OF this dreadful accident. He finally
said, however, that the fact that rail had
oeen removed for the purpose of wrecking
the express train had been established !,
vond question. This, he saws, Dc.
sontb. non.d train from Portlap as a.
Francisco, " Gan
The statement of passengers and others
thst ,ne alarm whistle was SD ,rnIv sonndeSs
Immediately prior to the a' ,cidept seems to
clearly lndleate ma. e engineer saw by
the aid OF ms neauA ,nt far enough ahead
to warn him Oh tn' impending danger, and
that he mace q great effort to stop the train
by the appiic -tion of the automatic brake
and the evefssl of his engine before it
reached me point, 43O feet from the north
end OF the trestle, where the east rail had
BEEN removed and thrown over the trestle-
work upon the west side, down on to the
ground, distance of more than twenty
feet. The application of the brakes and
the reversal of the engine only partially
checked the momentum of the train in so
short a distance.
The shock referred to by passengers on
the train was undoubtedly caused by the
locomotive running of on to and crushing
through the trestle-work at the point where
the rail had been removed This caused
the baggage, mail and express cars to fol-
low, falling through on to the ground,
taking with them ten or twelve bents from
near the middle of the structure, thereby
greatly impairing the strength of the trestle
upon which the remainder of the cars were
standing. The weight of these cars, to-
gether with the momentum of the train,
naturally forced southwark and downward
the standing bents which, as may be
readily understood, had lost their longi-
tudinal support by the engine crushing
through at the point where the rail had
been removed; hence, that portion of the
standing trestle under the sleeping cars and
coaches, north of the break, was forced
over southwark, falling to the ground, all
the coaches, however, remaining in an up
right position after reaching the ground.
When asked if he had any further evil
dence than the finding of the removed rail-
Mr.. Towne said: Yes, this rail was per-
fectly straight and without mark of any
kind, as were the four angle plates found
near it, while the other rails were more or
less much bent and battered up. The ties
from which this rail was removed clearly
show that the inside spikes were drawn or
removed, while the outside spikes yet re-
manned in the ties. The ties also clearly
show the indentation of the heel of claw
bar used in pulling the spikes. There was
also sufficient evidence on the ties and
stringers, where the wheels of the forward
engine truck first struck them. A telegram
Just received advises that the claw bar used
in pulling the spikes and the wrench used
in turning off the nuts were found this
morning about two hundred feet from the
wreck"
WAS this structure generally in good
condition."
Eyes, sir; this portion of the trestlework
was rebuilt only short time ago. As fur
ther evidence of the security of this trestle-
work, will add, four gentlemen, not con-
nected with the company-two eminent
civil engineers and two well-known bridge
contractors, all having large railroad expe-
rience-went to the wreck from Portland
yesterday, reporting that the timbers in the
structure were all in such condition that no
one can possibly assign to this the cause of
the wreck; in fact, all the timbers, which
are considerably broken up in the fall, are
perfectly sound"
THE KILLED AND INJURED.
SALEM, Observation-Disclosures number
of persons killed in the railroad accident
at Lake Labish is four, aud the number
more or less injured 126. 1t is thought that
the train carried about 140 persons, includ-
ing the train men.
Four of the rear cars have been run up
on the embankment, the fifth being raised,
and the mail, baggage and express cars
being removed slowly. An effort will be
made tomorrow to get the engine up. a
temporary treslle is being constructed
around the wreck It is expected that this
will be completed and ready for the regu-
lar passage of trains by Tuesday or Wednes-
daV