The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-11-18
PATHETIC IN
THE EXTREME
Continued from page ~

my motor reached the switch at the
approach of the draw in the viaduct.
I shut off my current and applied the
brake. The car came to a full stop
and the conductor ran ahead and
threw the switch. He uotioned me
ahead with a wave of his arm. I put
my lever at the first notch and as /
passed, the conductor. who always
stands at the switch lever until the
car passes, was running at the rate Of
possibly four miles an hour. I looked
back. as always do, and saw him get
on the rear platform. Looking ahead
I thought l saw the gates at the draw
closed over the track, but as my lights
were burning and 1 had current. the
thought occurred to me that my eyes
must have been at fault I was JUST
in the act of giving and possibly gave
the lever a slight push forward, when
I heard someone yell. jump" I don't
know whether I reversed The current
or not, for 1 realized the danger and
1eaped from the vestibule. AS lcaped
I thought / would plunge headlong
down and into the river, but as the
car struck the gate, / fell on it and
caught the iron frame and saved my
self. The car went down with an
awful crash, but never heard a muir
muir or anything that rese1lbled a
scream"
.'My God, It's an Awful Thing"
Here Rogers buried his face in his
hands ard cried. MY God, it's an
awful thing His wife. who stood by
his side, consoled him by saying:
Certainly lit was no fault of yours"
mo" he replied, "but think of it.
Oh, my God, just think of it"
Rogers then buried his head deeper
in his hands and began to sob. moan
ing. MY God! my God! it is too bad,
too bad"
When he had recovered himself
somewhat, Rogers continued:
when I was freed from the iron
gate I scarcely knew what to do. 1
was dazed 1 finally concluded to run
back to the market house and tell the
police. / did this and then ran back
to the scene of the accident. I hurried
down the embankment and began to
pull bodies out from under the wreck.
worked there fully an hour, maybe
an hour and a half, then / grew sick
and went home"
when you first saw the gates Of the
draw, were your lights burning and
did you have current?"
IT did have current and my lights
were burning. That is the reason why
I thought of no danger. When the
draw is open the lights usually go out,
but it was not the case at the time of
the accident, as I can swear. AS 1
told you I was surprised when / saw the
gates and knew had both lights and
current which has never been the case
when the gates have been closed, as
the swing of the bridge cuts off the cur
rent and of course when this is done
the lights go out"
"How do you account for the strange
fact?"
81 cannot account for it, but I swear
that it was so. I have never had an
accident of any kind until this one, and
I believe this will kill me-
Tonight Rogers, the motorman who
has been held as witness was
charged with manslaughter. This
action was taken by Chief of Police
Hoehn after he had investigated the
accident. After the charge had been
placed nobody was permitted to see
Rogers.
Late tonight the coroner announced
he would not begin the inquest until
the bodies now supposed to be in the
river are recovered.
The divers succeeded this evening
in fastening a chain to the trucks Of
the river The bed of the stream was
then dragged, but no bodies were
found. Two persons are still missing,
however. and it is probable their bod
les have f1oated down the river They
are those of Miss Sauerheimer and
Mathew Callahan. The search was
given up tonight and all the wreckage
from the scene of the acct
dent
Arrangements have been made for
the funerals Of the victims, nearly all
of which will occur Tuesday.