Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1890-12-17
Mr.. C0I.vl6'S REPLY.
Of One Of the Railway Com.
missioners In Answer 10 Prof.
Starr,
SALEM. Dec. L.. lSNn.


some time ago (Dec. lst) IA com
municatlon In your paper over the
signature of Professor 5. A. Starr
which did not reply to at the time
for the reason that did not have
time and for the further reason that
| wanted to examine the Professors
sworn testimony before writing an
answer. Ordinarily any citizen has
The right to criticise the acts of a
public officer and l find no fault
with the gentleman who wrote this
article for anything in 1t which re.
hects on ME as member of the
board of railroad commissioners, but
when lie gets out of the record and
attempts To malign my private
character as u witness feel that
have right To vindicate myself be-
fore the public from the unjust and
uutruthtul attacks of Professor Starr
or any other person. In his letter
of Dec. lat Mr.. Starr says:
Now, Sir, say that the import of
the above statements have been de-
MED, and were denied before The
rNilruad commission. T.ere are Il
number of men as Intelligent rs MIR.
Colvig, men who made as thorough
examination of the facts as did MIR.
Colvig who have denied the state
uIeut. Mr.. Colvig made the mis-
take of measuring and counting all
the rails from one end of the wreck
ed trestle to the other. One might
as well measure aud count all the
rails from Portland to Eugene to de-
ternline the case. l measured all
the rails in the immediate vicinity
of the gap where the mil was claim.
ell to he missing, and u number of
others did the same, and We know
that 4 rail was missing from that
place.
The import OF the above state
ment means in plain English that
the Professor counted the rails. He
says ~ measured all the rails In the
immediate vicinity of the gap = ="
and we know tbat,a rail was miss
ing" How could he know rail
was missing without counting them
10 see ii each rail had mate" He
evidently wants people to believe in
this statement that he dit count
them aud any man who reads his
article could not come to any other
reasonable conclusion. He makes
this statement to show that as u
witness have either sworn falsely or
that my evidence is unworthy of
| belief.
Professor, you are stranger TO
me. l know not how my evidence
will weigh in this community v
against yours but l find from the
sworn evidence on file that you held
up your hand and solemnly prom
ised the board of railroad commits
sioners you would "tell the truth the
whole truth, and nothing but the
.truth, as you should answer to
God"
I find that this question was
asked you by myself:
QUESTION. Did you count the rails
that were involved in the space
between the wrecked engine and
! the first coach that remained on
the track?
! ANSWER. did not.
1t is unnecessary to comment on
statements so widely divergent and
/ leave the Professor to recon, lie
them between his conscience and
The readers of your paper.
I did swear that / couDted the
rails and found enough to FL out
the wrecked track without the one
lying on the west side.
II il not true that the only count
l made was across the whole length
If the structure. / counted from he
coach to the wrecked en- inc and
found 6 rails iu the wIeckaee, not
counting the one on the west. The
professor stys: "All the ent. for 50
feet, or little over so feet, fell to the
west between the wrecked engine
aud the coach.
This 80 feet would take q rail. to
fill out the track. This corroborates
my evidence that there were only 6
rails required. To make use of the
rail on the west and To support the
cOmpany's theory there should be
120 feet or 8 rails.
/ counted all the rails from the
Chernawa side t" the north approach.
I.Ound ii took 8irails on each side and
fuundSi net counting the one onthe
west. Mr.. Lowell and Frank Miller
Of Albany measured the trestle after
it was up, with instruments. Their
measurements corr0bOrate me sub.
tiantialIy, that 1t would take 81 bars
OH side to MI out the track.
Mr.. Basey, Of Salem, Mr.. Brown,
of Brooks, also each corroborate my
evidence about the number of rnils
found in the wreckage. Respect
fully, G. w. CoLviG.
HORsE FELL on HIM.-The IL
ear-old boy of VIM. Stephens. who
lives few miles south Of Salem,
met with a painful accident
late ON last Saturday evening
while returning home from a debat-
ing society. He was riding along
when the horse slipped and fell on