The Portland daily press., 1891-05-28
He ACTED FROM FORCE OF HABIT.
Bonney Himself Tells the Story OF
the Collision.
Judge Synonds Speaks of what
Constitutes Reasonable Care.
County Attorney Robinson Urges the
interests Of the Public.

FORM OIL passenger car at tne time Oh tue accl
dent. Saw Bonney wringing his hands and
crying.
Freeman Gowan testified that he had Q
talk with Bonney two days after the acci
dent. Bonney said he could not tell how II
happened, but he alone was to blame.
This closed the government evidence.
Judge Symonds then proceeded to open
the case for the defence. He spoke Of the
honorable and useful life of Mr.. Bonney and
said it was strange sight to see such q man
confronted with a grave criminal charge, in.
volving possible confinement in the State
prison. He thought the proceeding harst
on the part OF the government. He did no
doubt the power of the legislature TO provide
penalty in such a case as this, but 1t Is moi
a common law offence, because the element
of criminality is lacking. BY common law
manslaughter Is high crime. The statute
provides that any man conducting a train,
whose carelessness shall cause loss OF life
shall be punished by imprisonment In Jail
for not over year or by fine. Some ques-
tion will arise as 10 whether Mr. BOnney was
conducting the train or whether the conductor
was In charge. The statute Is passed by and
the Indictment charging felony Is brought In
stead of charge of misdemeanOr. The
government thus acts harshly; also by
!
when the conductor had the authority to
start his engine or to stop it, Mr.. Williams
said that Mr. Tuttle had charge Of the en-
gine, and added too. that he was directly In
Communication with Mr.. Bonney. He would
not charge that Mr.. Tuttle Is guilty Of the
charge brought against Mr.. Bonney; In fact,
he thought that Mr.. Futile was not guilty.
de thought the county attorney wrong In
maintaining that negligence may constitute
the crime of manslaughter. In criminal law
the intent constitutes the crime universally.
To constitute manslaughter there must be a
criminal state of mind, or an indifference to
or disregard of the rights of others. If the
court rules this way, the worst enemy of Mr..
Bonney most certainly would not say he Is
guilty. But the government contends that
this is not the law with regard to man
slaughter. AS he could not assume what
the ruling Of the court would be, he would
proceed as If the government view were cor
rect. He called attention to Mr.. Bonney's
broken appearance, but said he would detail
the facts as they are now present In his
mind. he said his negligence was uncon-
scious negligence. No man can drift uncon-
Rowland b. Bonney. the defendant. then
took the stand.
I have been, said he, locomotive engineer
about SO years. Was first employed on the
Grand Trunk. for ten or more years: then
went on to the Portland u Ogdensburg and
Maine IA years ago. During that 36 years
have been employed at all hours of the day
and night. l never met with an accident to
amount to anything until this one. A man
shackling may have got finger jammed, but
no serious accident. Previous to this acci-
dent used to leave Kenneblnk at 100, ar
rive in Portland at sos, then left for Bidde-
ford somewhere about 900 o'clock,
following train 20, an express, which left at
8.45, to go TO Biddeford to do shifting there.
l would get through there at 400 or 4.30.
come bacK to Portland and take the passen-
ger train leaving at 6.15 to Kennebunk. This
morning of the 22d of January, arrived In
Portland about on time. 1t was wet, nasty
morning. l got my engine ready. got coal
S fSev dn ha nf waited f96 e6 6s
nal station to find out the reason. The oper.
ator said the wires were working badly and
he couldn't get them. went back to the en-.
gine and waited until Tuttle came with the
orders. | don't know whether asked, as
he says, IL he had got them, but that is my
right, and he said yes. pulled my throttle
and we moved out. / put my lever up la the
six-inch notch, next notch to the centre,
where | generally carry 1t when l have no
cars, aud she ran right along, just as
usual until we got to Scarboro crossing
where came to stop. l looked out of my
side window, but l saw no blue flag. Ii 1t
had been there couldn't have helped seeing
It, There was none In sight. l started
again and l don't think when | got to the
station was going 10 miles an hour. l put
my lever and throttle in the position l usu-
ally carry them. and Of course she gained a
little in speed as we went along. At the
crossing 10 the woods whistled, and then
when was at the usual place this side Of
the overhead bridge l gave good long
whistle, and always was q pretty good
good hand to whistle.
Witness here explained the semaphore
signal in use on the Grand Trunk, which
consists of a red arm with white bulls eyes
in it. being raised a quarter OF a mile each
Way from the station whenever there Is a
train at a station and no train Is allowed to
approach except with great caution when
such signal is displayed There are no
such signals on the Boston Il Maine. Ahead
of me it was very thick and fcggy. l was
running along in that way until We got way
up under the bridge, and Tuttle says, "TheIe
they be-" jumped up and grabbed hold OF
my lever, pulled 1t back to reverse the en-
gine and think | got 1t back three notches
from the centre and at the same time
pulled the throttle out giving her steam In
the back gear which would aid in
stopping her. but is wasn't
struck the train. With one hand L held the
throttle and the other the reverse lever and
when we struck it threw me forward, clos
ing the throttle aud throwing the lever in the
head gear. 1 never saw thing until the en-
CINE got pretty well through the bridge-not
until we were within two or three hundred
feet of the train-when Tuttle hollered. II
seemed to me had hardly time to think.
Q-NOw. so far as you yourself are con-
cerned, will you give TO the jury any expla-
nation you have as to how or why this hap
pened?
A.-Tnat is mystery to me. have asked
q great many times where my mind was
why / didn't think of that train. My mind
was altogether on following No. 20 and II
seems as If the others were IN the same mind
as l was.
Q.-So far as your own consciousness, your
mental condition was concerned, during all
that time where were you?
Al was following No. 70, or thought
was. That is the train that l usually fol-
lowed.
l don't think we were going over 20 or 25
miles an hour when We went under the
bridge at the time of the accident. said to
Tuttle at the tlms of the accident, For
Gods sake, why didn't you think of that
trainW
Cross-examination-l saw Cousens's train
go out that morning. 1t seemed to me Y
started six or seven minutes before we did
it might not have been so long. The engi
neer is required to sign the orders received
as we'll as the conductor, but didn't always
do 1t In case of a wild engine. Tuttle signed
1t for me. In case Of running q train he
wouldn't sign for me.
usually followed No. 20 about half mile
or mile behind. l could see their smoke In
q clear day for mile ahead all the way tC
BiddefOrd. On this morning l didn't run
over ten or fifteen miles an hour through the
yard limits. 1 think the yard limit is hall
way TO Scarboro Crossing. On being showr
the rules Of the road which say the yard in
cludes the tracks at Scarbor0 Crossing tht
witness said it used to be half way there.
The county attorney called his attention
to several answers he made before the C0ro
ner's inquest contradictory Of his state
ments here. One to the effect that he could
not say whether there was a blue flag Al
Scarboro Crossing or not; that No. 10 wa:
usually four or five miles ahead Of him wher
he followed that train that his business a
Biddeford required him to get there as quicl
as he could to do any work, especially or
this morning, because he was so behind ir
getting started; that he used to run to Bid
def0rd as quick as he could and get to work
that there was no special time; that Tuttlt
had no authority to regulate the speed o.
running-to all of which Mr.. Bonney replied
that he did not recollect Of making sucl
statements, but may have made them; tina
he has made many statements since the acci
dent that may be wrong.
Redirect: His eyesight Is as good as tha