The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1890-03-07
An Exeited Superintendent.

An Excited Superintendent.
In Wednesdays issue of the Press We find tb
following letter addressed 10 1.-THE public" TIL
writer also worked OF some of his spare energ!
In letter to THE TIMES which would have beer
given the public II this one had not appeared II
print. AS both are substantially alike, we Civ,
this one to show wherein Mr.. Conner has made
statements which the facts will not substanti
ate:
T., A. A. g. N. M. R'y Co.
| OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT
| Owosso, Michigan, March 3, 1880
| To THE PRESS: In the issue OF the Owosso
! TIMES OF the 2Sth ult an article appears head
ed Horrible Accident on the IT,, A. A. & N. M
| KY" In which II goes on cndeavoring to make
| the public believe that number of lives had
| been lost and that this company were endeavor.
ing to prevent the public press from getting the
| facts OF the unfortunate AFFAIR and winds up by
giving the officials of this company % very insult.
| Ing and uudeserved parting shot
That the public may understand the situation
| l ask your permission to present the facts "a
them through the columns of The Press:
| On the morning OF the 18th ut : o'clock / was
called to the scene OF the accident, and when l
| left Owosso had no authentic or reliable infor
| nation, as the wreck occurred one and one half
| miles from the telegraph Office there being no
telegraph office at the passenger station) and
| the only Information we had was q message
| from very excited brakesman, who believed
| everyone on the train dead but himself. MY ex-
\ porlence mas Taught me That little reliance could
be placed in such reports, and for the sake Of
I the families Of those employed on the train
| tried to avoid any false reports getting to the
! public therefore said to my clerks and 9TH
| ers II will give you the facts as soon as
get them, (Which did as soon as / reached the
scene OF the wreck until then say as little rs
possible and for the sake of the injured mems
families make IL as light as possible" Before i
| sent my report a boy was sent from THE TIMES
| ofhce who wanted the account at once. My clerk
III turn asked our train dispatcher for the facts,
| to which the dispatcher replied: 1--WE have
vet made"
The above are the facts from which the very
ungentlemany and vicious attack of THE TIMES
was made of which ask the public to Judge.
we VIII gladly give facts any time, but will not
! be forced to confirm the statement of an excited
person who had not had time to learn the facts
or make an intelligent statement of the same.
The public will get the facts when we know
| them TO be facts. We owe this much to the
| wives and children of our trainmen and to keep
from them false or exaggerated reports that are
| liable to be circulated, and reach this Office
| through excited operators
j.. b. CoNNFRs, Sapt
All! Yes Mr.. Conner, thanks for the free adj
vertising you give THE TIMES. Do so some
| more. Try TO get somewhere mean the facts
| next time, but anyway get our neighbor the
Press to give THE TIMES "a hatf column again
next week. Advertising pays we believe in ii
and are pleased TO get il Iree
Now as to the facts:
First: The word horrible did not appear in
| our article. MEASUREMENT No /.
second: There was not one statement in THE
| TIMES lin which it goes ON endeavoring to make
the public believe that "a number of lives had
| been lost" Mis-statement No 9. Fhere was
not one word in our article which could be con
| strued into any such statement. just the op
posite state of facts exists, We gave the name
of the man killed and of those injured, and did
| not leave the impression with our readers that
any one else was hurt. In order TO do this we
were obliged to telephone to Ithaca for particu
| lars. j. b., you must have been like the brake
man you speak Of ExCrTED, when yaN wrote
that. Cool off and write that statement over.
Do not give US such an ''undeserved shot"
Third: Mr.. Conner says ION the morning OF
the 2sth at : O'Clock was called to the scene OF
the accident" and that he told his clerks II will
give you the facts as soon as get them (Which
did as soon as I reached the scene of the
wreck Now then, that train went awfully
| slow or else authentic information was at
hand when refused ut your office, as it was Just
about II o'clock, standard time, when our re.
| porter was there.
Here are few FACTS, Mr.. c.. THE TIMES
was invited by telephone message from the II.
|
tell him about the accident" That message
came from clerk in your office. In response
we sent one of our employees fully competent
| to write up the sad acciden) who is not IA boy
to your office. He introduced himself to the one
| who telephoned US and he at once went to the
Office books to get the facts and had written
down the names Of those injured when he was
told by another employee not to give out any.
thinO m 10 lyaa stiI
was in turn informed that he could be given no
details. Thus, after being invited in he received
very insulting and uAdeserved parting shot,
mot from the clerk, however, in an unspoken
get out" He thanked the clerk for his endeav.
or to extend favors, and retired He did not rs
you say in your letter to US, demand" the facts.
An employee of the company volunteered tn
furnish them. Did you know this when you
wrote your article: Furthermore. the clerk did
not ask the train dispatcher for the facts nor
did that gentleman say one word to our report
er. Facts are stubborn things, Mr. Connor and
these are facts. You will always find THE
TIMES courteous and gentlemanly not given to
making statements until they are known to be
correct. This will be n good practice for you to
| follow
! Certainly your attack on THE TIMES is ungen-
tlemanly and vicious or rs you say in your let
ter to us, insulting and outrageous" But one
official was referred to in our parting shot, the
assistant superintendent" as our reporter under
stood your clerk to call him. You say there is
no such offcer-well, then, no ONE was hurt
The principle of the thing is what we were driv
ing at. We believe your report had been made
to the Office here when we were asked to come
down and get the facts. If 70 why were they
not GLADLY gven!'
The public has right to expect from any en-
| terprising newspaper the details OF an accident
where the life of citizen of the town has been
| lost. This is all we wanted. II the gag law
had not been put upon your clerk we believe the
FACTS would have been given to us.