The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1891-09-10
VERDICT OF THE JURY.

Nc IOtIoA NY - t'C NSltiNt vi tiiS
| jury as to the cause OF the railroad
wreck near Statesvile:
The jury finds from the evidence.
! and our own personal examination that
| the above named maming the kllied)
persons came to their death by the
wreckine Of the train on the Western
North Carolina Railway bridge over
Third creek, in Iredell county. y. c..
on Thursday morning, August q.
1891. The said wrecking Of the train
being caused by a loose rail. the bolts
and spikes Of the same having been
taken out by some person or persons
unknown to the jury, with tools or inn
plements belonging to said railway
company. which said tools or imp!e-
mcnts were, by gross negligence on
| the part Of said railway company, left
in an open shed accessible to every
passer by.
I'VE also find that several of the
crostics at and near the break in said
railway track where the said loose rail
was displaced, were unsound and should
have been replaced, and that the super
structure Oh the bridge was i'll part de-
! fectivc and unsafe.
''Furthcr. that the high rate of speed
maintained in running trains over this
| bridge deserves and has the censure
and condemnation Of this jury. Z. c.
Carlton, foreman: Geo. I. Shepherd.
5. Stcpllany, j. L. Lambrecht, NJ. c.
Williams, J. 5. Ramsey, jurors; e.. w.
Cleg@, coroner
Mr.. J. s. Ramsey, of the jury, signs
the report but does not believe any rail
was loos ened or misplaced before the
wreck.
The Charlotte Meas publishes the
following as bearing on the same
matter:
The members of the State Railroad
Commission in conjunction with the
railroad officials and railroad experts,
yesterday completed the investigation
into the causes of the disastrous wreck
near Statesville, a week ago last night.
The ground was thoroughly gone over
and every particle Of evidence obtain
able was carefully considered, and it
was established in the minds Of all that
the real cause Of the wreck was a rail
missing in the track, two rails length
east Of the bridge.
Col. Douglas, chief engineer of the
Baltimore & Ohio road, and Mr.. D. II.
Lowell, an expert from the Pennsyl-
vania road, were there to aid both the
Railroad Commission and the railroad
officials in getting at the true cause Of
the wreck. The investigation was
methodical and complete. The Rail
road Commissioners have not yet made
an official report, but they express
themselves satisfied that rail had
been taken up.
The details of the investigation were
given to a Neacs reporter this morning,
but it is quite 4 difficult matter to pre-
sent them to the average readers with
out the aid of diagrams or cuts. But,
to begin with, the rail was not taken
up from the bridge, but was taken from
the track on the eastern approach. 1t
was the second rail on the right hand
side of the track from the bridge on the
east. Under that rail were Il crossties.
The tie next the end of the rail from
which the wheel dropped was not
touched. Thence on, every tie bore
the marks of car wheels to the point
where the train, gradually veering to
the right, tumbled off the bridge. The
ties Oh the approach to the bridge were
not moved out of position, and remain
there to-day as they were when the ac-
cident occurred. The entire train be-
came derailed on the bridge and the
wheels and beams tore up the parallel
beams, crOssties and rails. The track
over the bridge had to be relaid, but
that where the rails had been taken up
was left intact. and as the commission
ers examined it, it was just as it ap-
peared after the wreck. The second
rail from the bridge on the cast right
hand side. was taken up by the exam-
liners, and along the tops of the l6 ties,
in line that would have been occu-
pied by the rail, were the marks Of the
wheels. The end of one crosstie was
rotten. All the other ties were sound
to the end. The examiners on taking
up the rail, ran car down the track.
The wheels took course over the ties
exactly in the track made by the
wrecked train. They found that the
track over the bridge was as safe as
any known to science. There were
heavy cross beams over the bridge.
Across these ran parallel beams. Over
that came the crossties, six inches
apart, and on the ties the rails were
double spiked. The party visited the
Catawba station bridge, which was
built at the same time as the Bastian
bridge, and pronounced it as safe as a
| bridge could be made.