Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-01-27
A SAD ACCIDENT.
l Young Girl Killed by
the Cable Dummy.
THROWN OUT ON TIE TRACK
The Jury Exonerates the Gripman
From ALI Blame-The Horse
SHE'D on the Bridge.

tn1rteen-year-0lO Qaughter OF Alexander
Simpson, machinist in the employ oi
the s. P. r. R. Co., was run over and
instantly killed by train of cable cars
on the Downey-ayenue bridge, under
circumstances of very distressing ma
ture. Mr.. Simpson, who resides at No.
Al North Walnut street, East Los An
geles. was driving with his daughter in q
buggy towards town and had reached
the top of the bridge without adventure,
when switch engine of the California
Southern R. R. Go. passed beneath, and
the horse, of which it's driver knew very
little, SHE'D at the steam which was
blown up in front of it. just as the loco.
motive had passed, train of cable cars
going east approa ched, and when within
a few yards Of the horse the gripman
sounded his gong. Mr.. Simpson, who
had taken the left hand side of the bridge
with the idea that his horse would be
less likely to shy at the cars if they
came towards him than if they
crept up. behind him, urged the
animal on; but it stood still for
a moment in doubt as to whether to
spring forward or push backward. At
the sound of the gong, however, and Just
the vehicle, the animal whirled around
suddenly and rushed right in front of the
car. In doing so the buggy was cramped
and it's occupants thrown out, Miss
Simpson falling across the track and
right in front of the dummy, and her
father being thrown few feet farther
away. At the same instant almost the
Car struck the left hind wheel of the
buggy, but the horse turned and ran
down the bridge towards Downey avenue,
where it was stopped. The gripman, R.
]. Lindsey, Immediately released his
grip from the rope and applied both
brakes, and the conductor, W. w. Boeken,
applied the rear brake to his car, but in
spite of their efforts the dummy passed
over Miss Simpsons body, which became
entsngled in the grip and was dragged for
several feet, before the train was brought
to standstill. Mr.. Simpson was struck
in the ribs by the end of the dummy,
but fortunately rolled on one side and
escaped with few bruises and torn
clothing. Considerable difficulty was
experienced in removing the body Of the
young lady from beneath the dummy,
but with the assistance of some of the
mechanics who were summoned by the
conductor from the power-house, the
grip was taken 10 pieces and the dummy
lifted from the track, after about twenty
minutes work. In the meantime the
police patrol wagon had been telephoned
for and on it's arrival the body of the
unfortunate girl, which was terribly
mangled, was conveyed to the morgue,
death having been almost instantaneous.
Her left foot was broken at the instep,
her left arm almost severed at the shoul-
der, the humerus being crushed into
splinters, her mouth was badly bruised
and cut, her right ear was almost torn
off, and her face and head were swollen
and disfgured. During the afternoon
several thousands of curious people vis-
tied the morgue.
Punctually at 7:30 O'Clock Coroner
Meredith and his jury filed into the
office of the former, and, after tie usual
preliminaries, the proceedings COM
menced with the examination of Mr.. A.
Simpson, the father of the unfortunate
young lady.
An unusual amount of interest ap-
peared to be taken in the sad affair, as a
large crowd Of people of ali classes as
sem bled at the moreue, and not only
packed the rooms, but also blocked the
sidewalk in a vain endeavor to look
through the window of the front office.
Superintendent j. @. Robinson and his
private secretary were present during
the investigation on behalf of the cable
railroad company.
Mr.. Simpson detailed the circum.
stances surrounding the accident as re-
corded above, and stated that he was of
the opinion that the ringing of the gong
by the gripman caused his horse to shy.
He did not know whether the dummy
struck his buggy after he and his daugh-
ter were thrown out, and did not see her
at all, as she was thrown from the We
hicle behind him and was under the
dummy before he realized the situation.
He had examined the vehicle since the
accident at the stable and was unable to
discover single scratch on it. He did
not remember how far the dummy was
from him when he fell, but from the fact
that he was struck in the ribs almost i'm
mediately after striking the ground.
thought it must have been quite close.
He did not have time to notice whether
the gripman applied his brakes or not.
The deceased was his daughter. She
was 13 years of age son November 18th
last and native of England.
]. Il. Stokesberry, carpenter residing
at 80 South Water street, East Los An
geles, was sitting on the bridge looking
up the river at the time of the accident.
but hearing scream, turned quickly and
saw the buggy struck by the grip.csr
and it's occupants thrown out. He
watched the poor girl after she fell across
the track to see whether the Car passed
over her or not and did not notice the
gripman or Mr.. Simpson. The buggy
must have been pushed about three
feet by the car before the horse got clear
and ran away.
w. Gaum, a baker at $50 South Spring
street, was also locking up the river from
the bridge, and turning at the sound of a
scream, saw both Simpson and his
daughter thrown out right in front of the
dummy. Noticed the gripman particu.
larly. He did everything in his power
to stop his cars.
w. Walker, a laboIer, testified that he
was walking along the track of the Glen.
dale dummy line, and looking up or
hearing noise, saw the horse apparently
under the dummy. A child was thrown
out, and the dummy ran on about fifty
feet before it was stopped. He helped
to extricate the body afterwards.
G. s.. Bennett, clerk reading at the
st. Nicholas hotel, stated that he was Oh
the dummy at the time Of the accident