The record-union., 1894-07-18
DID NOT KNOW THE CAUSE.
Inquest on the Death of Clarke and
the Soldiers.
The Jury Were Unable to Determine
How the Wreck Came to
Take Place.

Coroner Bean of Yolo County held an
| inquest yesterday at Washington on
| Engineer Clarke and Privates Dugan,
| Clark, Byrne and Lubberdon, who were
killed at the wreck near there on
Wednesday, the 18th instant.
| j. S. Denekamp, the fireman who was
on the engine at the time of the wreck,
| testified when the engine left the trestle
| he jumped off. He went to look for
Clarke, but could not find him. He saw
Private Dugan in the edge of the water,
and helping him out found That his arm
| was cut of. Witness looked back at the
| track and saw that the south rail was
spread outwards. He saw the fshplates
of the rail lying on the side of the bank.
He had seen accidents before, but as a
general thing, although The rails are
/ warped and twisted, the fishplates stick
to them, or are bent and broken. In
| this case two fishplates lay on the north
| bank and bore no marks of having been
! twisted or broken. lie did not see any
| bolts belonging to them.
/ Corporal Henry Long testified that ha
was on the train. Privates Dugan, Clark,
] Lubberdon and Byrne were on the ten+
| der. Witness 1elt jar and on going tt
/ the head OF the train saw the engine and
cars wrecked. He saw Private Clark in
/ the water aud heard him call for help.
/ de was drowned. Priyates Byrne and
/ Lubberdon and the engineer were killed.
| He saw the tishplates on the bank. They
/ had been removed from the rails. The
rails. with the exception of those from
/ which the plates were gone. were in place.
! Ed Mcdonald testified to belping re-
| Of ri sol,
! lay under the engine.
! ID. A. Johnson described the appear
| ance OF the wreck. He saw that the
fish plates on one OF the rails were gone.
| Master Mechanic Heintzellnan saw the
! bodies OF Engineer Clarke and the three
soldiers recovered. He examined the
track and found the fish plates gone. He
saw one OF them lying on the north
! bank. They were not bent nor twisted.
The north rail was displaced, lying partly
on the north bank. Ii the fish plate had
! been bolted to the rail there would have
| been some marks OF the accident on the
end OF the rail, but there were none
Nathan Webb examined the track and
! found that the fish plates had been re-
moved. A rail will generally give way
more easily in the center than at the fish
| plates.
David Hammond saw that the bolts had
! been taken out OF the right-hand rail, and
saw a fish plate on the bank.
/ The testimony Of w. G. Fitch, j. VI
Rock, w. q. Bauman and others was
| similar.
| NJ. Baxter saw one Of the nuts belong
! ing to the fish plate, and it had bright
! spot on it, as If removed by wrench.
| Phil Douglas found that the fish plates
| had been removed and the spikes drawn.
The south rail was straight and all right;
the other was warped and bent. The
| spikes were taken out clean and good
| job done. In a wreck they would have
been torn out. An engineer, if looking
| for it, might have possibly seen that
generally has other things to attend to.
| Conductor Reynolds described the
wreck, and stated that the fish plates had
| been removed and the spikes pulled with
a clawbar, which left its marks. They
were pulled out squarely. There were no
marks on the ends of the rails. He did
not think any engineer, unless running
very slow, could see that a fish plate had
| been removed.
The jury found, after two hours de-
| liberation, that the five men came to their
deaths by a train wreck on the California
| Pacific Railroad, ABOUT two and a half
miles west of Washington, by causes to
| them unknown.
| The names and occupations of the Jury
are as follows: j. n. Gill, hotel eeper:
Robert Paterson, retired machinist: L.
Newell boilermaker; George Patersons
fruit packing; William Young, ship
builder William Morris, machinist;
| Fred Preston.