The record-union., 1891-11-05
Afternoon Session.

At the close of Cashin's testimony a
recess was taken for lunch.
Afternoon Session.
When court reconvened in the after
noon, attorney Tuttle asked permission
of Justice Gwynn and the prosecution to
place a. n. Towne, General Manager of
the Southern Pacific, on the witness
stand out of order. Mr.. Towne was
very busy man and was anxious to get
away. The request was granted.
Mr.. Towne said that he had offered
reward of $1,000 for the arrest and con-
viction of the Colfax wreckers. 1t was
customary for the company to offer such
rewards. A similar reward was offered
for the arrest Of the Lake Labish wreckers,
in Oregon, recently. He was not salts
fed, he said, that that affair was an acci-
dent. 1t was clearly the work of wrecl<ers.
The company employed number Of de-
tectlyes, whose business it was to detect
criminals who preyed upon the COM
pany's property and to look after the
companysS interests generally.
On cross-eXamination Mr.. Towne said
that the reward was offered in the interest
Of the public as well as for the company's.
The company had to protect its patrons,
as its interests were in common with the
pubGc's.
HOW IT WAS DONE.
Mr.. Towne was excused, and the de-
fense recalled Section Foreman Cashin
for further cross-eXamination. Atthe re-
quest Of attorney Chamberlain he ex-
hibited a track-walker's wrench and a
claWbar. He illustrated how angle bars
could be removed with monkey-w wrench.
He then showed how the spikes were
taken up with the clawhar, and how
rail could be moved with erowbar. The
crOwbar that the defendants are alleged to
have pried the rail over with was also eX-
hibited. The witness pointed to some
marks on the bar, which he said were
made by some one prying up a rail. He
compared the piece of clawbar found at
the scene of the wreck with claWbar of
his own, and found that the former was
much smaller and inferior than the latter.
At this juncture two long rails were
brought into court by gang of section
men, and were arranged on the floor. Mr.
CaShln then gave q complete and inter-
esting demonstration of his theory of
how the wreckers did the job, and fixed
the rails in the same position that they
were found in at the scene OF the wreck
The whole train, he said, passed over the
point where the rail was lOosened, except
the sleeper that went down the bank. He
could not account, he said, for the fact
that some of the cars remained on the
track while others went off.
THE RoADMAsTER's STORY.
Thomas Ahern, Roadmaster of the
Southern Pacific Company, testified that
he went to the scene of the wreck on the
morning it occurred. He was telegraphed
for by Mr.. Cashin. He found that the
track had not been touched since the
of it and too notes. His description of
it was similar to that given by Mr..
Cashin.
In answer to questions by District At
torney Robinson, Mr.. Ahern said that he
never heard of spikes working up out of
good, solid ties. Even if the rail had
spread the spikes would not have come
out. 1t would have been an utter i'm
possibility for the spikes to have gotten
out of the ties at the Colfax wreck with
out having been drawn out. He exam
ined the piece of clawbar found at the
scene of the wreck, and gave as his opin-
ion that the original bar was made by a
novice. The curve where the wreck oc-
Cured was what was known as a four
degree-radius curve, and was intended
to balance train going at q maximum
speed Of fifty miles an hour. The object of
the incline was to equaliZe the pressure
caused by passing train-that is, to
| throw the weight over and upon the in
side rail. Mr.. Ahern said he had taken
some measurements at the scene of the
wreck. The house where the Roberts
brothers lived is 303 feet from the rail-
road track; 1926 feet from the spot where
the rail was loOsened; $500 feet from
where the engine stopped after the wreck.
and about 10000 feet from Colfax He
had also
EXAMINED THEIR DWELLING
And the room the brothers occupied.
There was window looking out from
this room, which was quite close to the
ground. There was table standing in
front of the window in the room He
| thought it would be a very easy matter
to leave or enter the house by means of
! this window. A person could walk from
the Roberts house to the scene of the
wreck in about ten minutes. The wit
ness said he had experimental since the
! wreck for the purpose of ascertaining it
! it were possible for one man to loosen q
rail by removing the angle-plates and
leave the track in the same condition it
was found at the scene of the wreck and,
if it were possible, TO ascertain how much
time would be consumed lie had sec
tion hand do the work, and the latter
moved the rail, took off the anticipates
and left the track as the wreckerS did in
just seven minutes.
The witness, continuing, said that he
! found the crowbar which had been
shown in court in the brush near the
scene of the wreck. It was found on the
/ side Of the track nearest the Roberts
! brothers house. He examined the bar
closely. 1t bore evidences of having
! been used recently in prying over a rail-
/ 1t was rusty and did not appear to have
! been used for some time prior to its be-
/ ing applied to the rail.
! THOSE EXPERIMENTS.
! On cross-eXamination by Mr.. Tuttle
I Mr.. Ahern said that the experiments he
( had testified TO were conducted with the
assistance OF practical railroad man.
/ who was armed with modern appliances,
4 and the experiments were conducted in
/ the daytime. He had not experimented
/ with an inexperienced man at night who
/ had inferior tools. He met with no oppo-
/ sition from the Roberts brothers father
when taking measurements at the house.
! He was quite willing that he should pro
! ceed.
/ On re-direct-examination questioned
! by Mr.. Jones, the witness said that the
crowbar found in the brush near the
wreck was not one of the conpany's
/ bars. He was quite sure that if a person
should shout .'Wreck! wreck Y, in the
/ Roberts brothers room it would be heard
all over the house, as the partitions were
/ thin. Even conversation in an ordinary
( tone of voice could be heard all over the
/ house. The ground had been freshly
( broken at the place where the crowbar
/ was found, indicating that the bar was
4 recently thrown there.
Being cross-examined by Mr.. TuttIe
/ again Mr.. Ahern said that he could not
saw positively that the crowbar found was