St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-12-12
CALL IT CRIMINAL.
The Coroner's Jury Holds the
Omaha Engineer and Con-
duetor Responsible.
An Appeal Comes from Da-
kOta in No Uncertain
Tones.
kilvington's Garbage Scheme
to BE Given Ninety Days
Trial.
The Poor Supervisors Last
Meeting--An Infringe
ment Suit.

Yesterday morning the mangled
bodies of Edward Todd, of Sioux City,
and Mrs. G. E. Slayton reposed on mar
bic slabs in Gleason " Byorum's
morgue, awaiting the coroner's inquest.
Nearly dozen witnesses had been
summoned, and the taking of their testi-
mony began shortly after o'clock. The
jurymen were Peter Rauen, j. L. Man
nix. r. Ertt, Theo Hayes, Arthur w.
Mills and c. II. WOODBURY.. The first
witnesses were c. E. Slayton. husband
of one of the victims of the grinding en-
CINE wheels. and J. Z. Todd, of Sioux
City. nephew OF Edward Todd. This
was the saddest part of the whole days
proceedings. Both men were visibly
affected. but when Mr.. Slayton
told the jury that he had last
seen his wife on Wednesday
morning his voice shook, and the tears
rolled down his cheeks. But the law
takes no cOgniZance of human feelings,
and Mr.. Slayton had to visit the Geld
death chamber, and identify the bodies
of his dear ones. Then p. Ii. Flo0dy,
who was engineer of the short line
train. told what he knew of the disaster
that cost three human lives.
When pulled in at the university" said
he, Il saw the Omaha train, No. 81, coming.
and discovered that it was not going 10 stop.
1t was coming too fast 10 stop. l stop there
about S:35 every morning. l sometimes
meet the Omaha train vest and sometimes
east of there. When they are on time they
are due at the East size station when we're
due at the university"
Did you stop when you saw the train COM
ing"
ted
How fast was the Omaha train running?'
about twenty-five miles an hour
You say you never meet the Omaha train
at the depot?"
Not usually. l have met it there at a
standstill occasionally"
when they were on timer
"They couldn't have been on time, or we
would have met at the west of the station"
when came TO a stop" continued the
engineer. Il whiStled in warning to the
passengers, but l did not look back. for
knew some one was going 10 be HIT and
didn't want to see it. After they were struck
/ went back"
The witness said he knew of the rules
of his road forbidding trains to run by
each ether at stations. and DR.. Towers
showed the printed rules to the jury.
Have you ever known of a case like this
of an engineer not stopping his tram when
passing another at station? was asked.
Tie significant answer was: Il remember
an Omaha tram passing me once at St An
thony Park. and told the conductor then it
ought to be reported"
How soon after striking the people did
the Omaha train stop?'
Il think after running about two train
lengths"
w. f Smith. the conductor of the
short line train, next told his story,
which did not differ materially from
that told by Engineer FlO0dy. The
nf no Nm
pelling trains to come to full stop be-
fore passing station at which another
train is receiving or discharging pas
sengers were brought to his atten-
ton. Coroner Towers asked if Con-
ductor Smith understood that those rules
applied to all roads running over the
Great Northern tracks. The conductor
replied that he so understood the rules.
They had been in existence as long as
he could remember. The significance
of the question was obvious. The Great
Northern officials want to wash their
hands of all responsibility for the cas-
ualty.
Miss Mabel Ulmer. the station agent
at the University station. next sworn,
was also an eyewitness of the disaster.
She said she had seen from her window
the danger the people were in, and
lopPOO VII ~ W Wal II oiOah. u0 OiIditt
train, she thought, was not running any
faster than usual that morning, but it
was ''going quite fast" 1t was a few
minutes late and the Great Northern
was on time.
do you remember any other instance of
the Omaha train passing the Great Northern
at that point?" asked Juryman Haynes.
Yes sir: one Sunday a few weeks ago.
The Great Northern short line was just pull
ing into the station. The Omaha train at
that time ran slowly past it. but 1t did not
come TO standstill.''
w. j. Johnson, paper hanger living
at 401 Fourteenth avenue southeast,
said that his attention had been attract
ed by the quick whistles. He saw the
disaster, and corroborated previous teS-
timony. He had noticed that through
trains always ran faster passing the sta
ton. because it was down hill there.
Omaha Employees Testify.
In the afternoon the first witness
called was F. E. BlaSser. of 1913 Dayton
avenue. st. Paul, the conductor of the
Omaha train. Ills testimony was as
follows:
The conductor and engineer Jointly have
charge of train. Our train yesterday was
made up Of eight cars. Our time card re-
quires US TO make the trip from st. Paul to
Minneapolis in thirty minutes. The time
varies, however. l knew that the Great
Northern train was due at the University
depot at S:35. / do not know the exact time
when the accident occurred. 1t was S:l3