The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-12-14
TRAINS RUN TOO CLOSE.
Coroner ParsloW and a
jury Enquire Into the
Central Railroad
Accident.
EVERY PRECAUTION TAKEN.
Only a Greater Interval Between
the Trains Could Have Prevented
the Collision.
EVERY PRECAUTION TAKEN.

In Roche's Hall last evening, Coroner
Parslow began an inquest into the death
OF George B. Lawson, of Elizabeth. VINO
died at the City Hospital, from the effects
OF the injuries be received in the collision
at the Central Railroad. on the Green
vile Station last Thursday. Prosecutor
William NJ. Wins, of Monmouth County.
and Messrs. Hawkins & Durand, LAWYERS.
OF Ashury Park, were present. Prosecutor
Wins WAS said TO be guarding the inter-
ests of the New York and Long Branch
Railroad. whose train ran into the high
Bridge train, and Messrs. Hawkins &
Durand were there to protect Eugene
Durand, the father of the one of the firm,
and the man who was at the throttle of
the Long Branch locomo tive when the
collision occurred. They, however, sat
with the spectators and took no D art in
! The proceedings.
The testimony. as far as ia ken last
| evening, showed that the only thing
which could have prevented the accident
under Gthe peculiar combiDatiou of cir
| cumS1aDces which existed at the time,
was greater interval between the traius.
1t was plainly shown that the company
| runs Its trains too close together
| Inc Intelligent Juror cropped out as
|
| pair of gold trimmed spectacles, and look
| Ing wise, asked several questions, which
GhreW very little light upon the inquiry.
| Fred Nissan also got an idea through his
| head that the accident was caused by the
| train that was run into, trying to get ont
| of the way of the train following, when
| some one called out TO the engineer TO go
| ahead, He cross-questioned the witness
| to ascertain if the trainmen had a right
10 go ahead when every body told them
| to.
TWO MINUTES HEADWAY.
The first witness was Robert A. Null
| ford of Elizabeth, train dispatcher of the
| Central Railroad. He said that train No, g
| II. the High Bridge train. left the Jersey
! City station at 1l:54. and the Long Branch
train 1855 Train No. IL stopped at
| Greenville station, for what reason he
| could not tell. All he knew of the acci-
dent was that he got word from the
| operator at Greeuville That the train was
in collision. He knew nothing of its
! cause. All the men in charge of the
| trains were competent men.
Oscar j. freeman of Easton, Pa. was
conductor OF train No. II. He testified
that he left jersey City at 11:54. A short
| distance east of Greenville his engineer
blew an alarm whistle and applied the
| brakes.
II hurried out on the platform, he
continued, 'and saw woman at the sta
tion and man bending over her. holding
| her down. My train pulled by ana
| stopped little west of the station.
| thought that my engine had struck some
! one. l Jumped off before the train came
| to stop and ran back to see that my
| Hagman was going out. ran back, per-
| haps two car lengths of my train, and the
| hagman of the station ran toward me,
| shouting that the woman had only
| tainted and TO go on. / then went back
to my train. but before reaching it, train
No H,,Ir rrrTf y,
| Went out of Jersey City just one minute
behind train No. 51l. the five hour flyer
| to Washington"
To Judge Davis, Mr.. Freeman said that
| the weather was thick and foggy so tha5
| he could not see the length of the train
Richard WolvertoD. engineer of the
| High Bridge train, testified that he lived
! at junction, Hunlerdon County. On the
| morning of the collision he was ruuniug
train No. II on the block system and the
weather was foggy. Before he got TO
Greenville the fog was thicker than it
| was at Communipaw. West of Green
| vile station the signal to stop was given
him and he stopped the train. lie heard
| some one hello TO go ahead He started
and had got about thirty feet when the
| Long Branch train struck the tail end of
his train. When he stopped his train he
blew The signal for the brakemau to 60
| back and flag No. 800.
THE FLAGMAN WENT BACK.
Andrew j. Hubert of High Bridge, the
brakeman of train No. II, who gave the
| signal to stop the train, was next sworn.
He said that as his train ran by the
| Greenville station he saw woman lying
on the platform and men holding her
down. He got u signal from a man in
| the baggage car of a local train going
east, which was standing at the station,
| to stop.
Il supposed we had struck this
woman" Mr.. Hubert said, "and not
Knowing whether anyone else had seen
her, pulled the signal cord and stopped
the train. got off and the conductor goE
off at the same time. We both started to
run back, l told the conductor that q
woman was lying there and l had been
signalled to stop, and I guessed we had
struck her. We got back about the
length of three cars when we saw man
coming towards as, who called out il
was all right, to go ahead. About this
time saw the mead of the other engtne
II-,