The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-01-26

TRAINMEN BLAMED.
D.. [. & W. Officials Give
the Coroner Their Yer
sion of the Accident.
HOFFMAN RAN TOO FAST.
Conductor Rundio Was Not Told a
Train Was So Close in Front
J. of Him.
HOFFMAN RAN TOO FAST.

The jury empanelled by Coroner Volk to
investigate the Delaware, Lackawanna and
Western smash-up two weeks ago at Hack
ensack drawbridge listened to a large batch
of evidence last night at Quartette Club
Hall. The work was expedited by the serv-
ices of a stenographer. 1t was evident from
the testimony given last night by the head
officials of the company that they are
anxious to fix the blame on Engineer Hof-
man of the South Orange Express, which
telescoped the Dover train. They hin he
ran too fast. On the other hand, the jurors
are finding out all they can about the system
of signalling in vogue on the road, evidently
considering the company partly at fault for
the lack of sufficient danger precautions.
This was manifested by the long catechlsm
on danger signals through which each EN-
ploye of the road was put.
Louis Ballantine, baggagemaster OF the
Dover train, was the first called. He said
he was standing in the rear baggage car
when the huge iron monster OF the South
Orange train loomed up behind his tram.
The Dover train was running probably ten
miles per hou He jumped through a side
door when he saw the South Orange train.
I6Ab Ia1IS l. hnCh. hO HclAd "co = 'e
lying on my back seeing stars He ex
planned that the danger precautions used by
the road are the red flag and torpedoes by
day and red lantern and torpedoes at night.
RUNNING FAST OVER H
William Rundio, conductor OF the South
Orange train, said he was standing III the
fourth car when the shock came. 1--WE
rolled over the meadows" he said, lat from
twenty-five to thirty miles an hour. At
Sandford's crossing brakes were applied and
we slowed down. l looked at that moment
out of the window, and was careful to note
the spot, because there might have been a
train behind us, | thought. Then 1 went
forward to collect tickets, when the crash
came, When | got out of my train l saw
Flagman Wheaton of the Dover train, stand
ing on the west bound track, his flag III his
hand and his countenance hvid. l called to
him twice before he heard me-. He ap-
peared to be confused. | told him to go
back and flag the train behind. We crossed
the meadows from Sandford's crossing at
from ten to twelve miles per hour, and never
jim foggy weather are Obliged to make up
lost time
In answer to q query if the time table on
the road, with trains at that time running
six minutes apart for a space of forty-five
minutes was well regulated, II said:
81 ALWAYS considered the road a safe one"
He said he did not hin it possible to get a
perfect system of synalling yet. Not being
up in the block system, however, he could
|. not talk on the subject. All necessary pre-
cautions are adopted on this road. At New
\ ark he received no five minute card as is
i customary when a train leaves within nYe
minutes ahead of the following train, and he
did not know a train was so near ahead. lie
j asserted that the fagman should stand on the
htrack upon which his train IS to signal and
not on the opposite side.
! George K. La Rue and Frank Manning OF
the South Orange train knew nothing much
of the accident. Andrew Wesley Bllde,
brakeman of the South Orange train, knew
little more, save that they We're running at
the rate of ten to twelve miles while all of a
sudden they fetched up agin something, " as
he explained it.
ONLY TWENTY-FIVE FEET AWAY
Irving Metz, fireman of the South Orange
local that did the damage, said he saw the
rear end of the Dover express When the
trains were TWENTY-FIVE feet apart. They
had had no warming of any kind. He shout
ed to Hoffman. The latter reversed the
lever. s'Thep we both left at one time" de-
clared Metz. A warning was given at San
ford's crossing, but Metz could not say if it
could be heard to the bridge. Over the first
part of the meadows the train ran at the
rate of thirty miles an hour, as fast as it
could run, and slowed down at Sanford's
crossing to eighteen miles. When the crash
came they were going at the same rate.
Daniel T. Bray, secretary of the road, said
the train ran at thirty miles per hour over
the meadows, and he didn't think they
slowed up at Sanford's crossing. He thought
the engineer was going too fast. The
signal system was as good as the road
could want. Superintendent Andrew
Reasoner testified that the conductors and
engineers ON both trains were reliable men.
The schedule rate of crossing the meadows
to the tunnel is twenty7seVen and a half
miles per hour. Since 1855 the road never
killed a passenger inside a car, and he
thought that attested to the efficiency of the
present system used. He considered the
timetable made up too closely at the time
mentioned above, but said if properly man
aged it would run all right. In some
cases with the block system the acct
dent might have been averted, and in
others it might be worse, for the reason that
when the block system is employed it is used
entirely and depended altogether upon. He
had examined the system and thought of in
Producing it before the accident. He pro-
duced a bunch of orders for tralnmen Oh
toggy mornings. These the jury kept.
The jury seemed worried about the COM
pany's using old cars and thought il new
ones were employed the accident would not
have been so bad, as the cars could have
withstood the pressure. Mr.. Reasoner said,
however, that the company always uses good
cars, from one to fifteen years old in service.
Mr.. Reasoner evidently doesn't inspect his
cars often. Eff all precautions had been
used the accident never would have happen
ed, stated Mr.. Reasoner. II think it reck-
less tohave been running fifteen miles an
hour when within 1,500 yards OF the bridge
as Hoffman did,
HOFFMAN 0 FAST.
F. G. Griffith, Assistant Superintendent,
said the South Orange train went too fast.
He said the instructions were to run eau
tiously, and twenty-five miles per hour was
not proceeding cautiously, by a long shot;
hale c-ood world bo cautiouc1v.
John MeKenna, chief detective of
the D., L.. & W, corps, said that
he helped at the scene of the accident, but
did not witness it.
William H. Lewis, master mechanic of the
road, said the cars smashed were remodelled
two years ago. A train going twelve miles
an hour might be stopped in 300 feet with
the rails in good condition. William Carter,
a brakeman, was on the Dover express. He
was dropped from the South Orange train
that preceded the Dover train. He was con-
versing with George Stitcher, engineer of the
Dover train, when he felt a jar. George,
something struck u.s. he said. Stitcher
pulled open the throttle to escape a heavy
shock if possible. j. w. Baker, mechanic at
the Dover repair shops, said they never used
cars thirty years old. When a car is re-
modelled it is as strong as a new one. After
afew more unimportant witnesses, employees
of the road, the inquest adjourned until eight
o'clock Oh Tuesday evening.
JERSEY CAMPS MEETING.