Evening journal., 1890-03-12
THE HAMBURG INQUEST.
The Conductors Story of His
Fatal Carelessness.
TMREE PRECAUTIONS NEGLEcTED-

the Train at the Mercy Of just such An
Accident as occurred-He Pulled ths
Bell Rope only.
BUFFALO, ~ ", March ls-The inquest
on the six passengers who lost their lives by
the Bayyiew accident last Thursday was
begun in the morgue building by Coroners
Kenney and Tucker. Ex-Senntors d. H.
Mcmillan appeared for the railroad. state
Railroad Commissioner Rickard was also
present. Conductor Houghtaling, who had
charge Of the wrecked train, was the first
and principal witness. II have been CON
ductor on the Lake Shore road eight years."
said he ''On March was running train
No l2 from Cleveland 70 Buffalo We wera
fifteen minutes lase leaving Cleveland. The
train was pronounced all right by the i'm
spector at Erie All was well till we got to
Dunkirk After 'oiling up at Dunkirk
gave the order TO pull out The engineer
backed for start, and when he did stars
the train broke in two.n
Hls Fatal order.
The witness saw the head brakeman read
just the coupling. It seemed TO be all right
and he so reported The brakeman arranged
the air hose and steam connections where
they had been broken. "Then the signal to
back up was given and the drawheads cams
together oil right so far as could be seen
The inspector loil mani came along, and
asked him II he had any air hose He said
he had and | sent him for IL. When he got
back and crawled under 90 connect IL, 1
called out and said: Never mind; we've
got six cars with air brakes and they will
hold us all right.
The story of the Wreck.
Coroner Kenney Then the first cars could
only be handled with the air hrakesi
"That's all, sir, replied Houghtaling, II
believed this 10 be safe. We ran along all
right without stopping till the accident 90
Cured.
Coroner when you felt the train stopping
did you pull the bell cord or the automatis
brake cordi
Conductor-The bell cord. We stopped im-
medintely, a very quick stop. Then / ran
out and saw them coming. signaled with
my lamp and yelled 20 the engineer TO go
ahead He didn't start They came to-
gether The day coach telescoped the
sleeper.
As the conductor gave this evidence the
silence wus impressive
lie wanted No Delay.
"The full length Of the day coach went
inside the sleeper Salina,n said he huskiiys
sit was driven right in
Coroner-Wil You swear that you yourself
| did not pull this automatic cord and apply
the air brakes yourselfi
'Yes, sir, 1 SO swear. pulled the bell
rope only"
'why didn't you let that man put on the
air brake connections at Dunkirk when be
was ready 20 do itT
Mr. Houghtaling answered that he consid-
cred the train perfectly safe, and added; ia
would have delayed usn
Coroner-Suppose you had placed one
brakeman on the Salina and one on the dag
coach, facing each other, would the accident
| have been avertedi
"Yes, sir, l think 80.
"If you had allowed the inspector or oiieB
at Dunkirk 10 put on the air brake connec-
tions would it have made the train perfectly
safer
Three Precautions Neglected.
al think so. II the train had broken with
the connections all properly made the rear
portion would have stopped still on th@
track
"suppose you had run what you call
straight air through the sleeper to the rear
car, L would have set the air breaks on the
rear carsT
''Yes, sir.n
''You had authority 70 have this done"
Eyes, they were all under my orders
'Then, In reality, there are three precau-
tiona you could have used to prevent this
accidentF go,
, Yes, SIR said the conductor. sfaii
"Dont you believe, Mr. Houghtaling. y
asked the coroner in conclusion, 'sthat by
doing any Of these things which you mighh
have done, this accident might have bees
avsftsdF
-,"Thsre are chances that il would" was
the reply
The Engineer restihea.
Edward Mooney, tho engineer, next testi-
ned that he has been an engineer on th@
Lake Shore about nineteen years When
about . mile west Of Hamburg the auto
matte brakes were applied to the cars, tha
sudden checking Of the train throwing hin
into the front part Of thg cab. Conductor
Sullivan, who was riding on the train, ran
up and cried, "Pun out or the hind end
win be into you
/ He Was PowerIess.
Mooney said; II am perfectly powerless
as the brakes have been applied from the
train and / cannot release them While
trying to start the train the rear cars
crashed into the forward cars, but did not
move them more than two feet
Mooney stated that in his opinion il this.
conductor had permitted the inspector TO
put on the new rubber air hose and the
break had occurred the two sections would
not have been flfty feet apart before they
would have stopped Had the air brakes
not been applied there would have been n
possibility that the witness could have
started at slow speed 50 that the crash
would not have broken the platforms