The Portland daily press., 1895-04-04
Railroad Commissioners InVestigat-
ing the Maine Central Accident.
TRAIN DISPATCHER BARRY OF
PORTLAND TESTIFIES.
Important Testimony Heard at Bangor
Yesterday-The Hearing viii be Con-
tinued at Portland When an Important
Witness VIII be Heard.
Especial to the PRESS.)

| Witness VIII be Heard.
Especial to the PRESS.}
Bangor, April 3.-Railroad Commits
sioners Mortland, Chadbcurne and Dan
forth arrived in this city last evening,
and this morning at s O'Clock they be-
gan their Investigation of the railroad
accident at Veazie yesterday. The
hearing was held in the municipal court
room. The commissioners visited the
scene of the wreck and made q thorough
inspection of the surroundings. There
were II witnesses present at the hearing
and the examination was conducted by
County Attorney Bailey.
| The first witness was John Eupea, con-
ductor on the ST. John train. His train
consisted of eight cars, and left Vance
boro at 2. SIS a. H., an hour and twenty
minutes late. He received but one order
from the train dispatcher during the
night..and.that was at Costigan. He was
St. John train. that leaves Bangor at 6 a.
m.
| The train just about held its own dur
ing the run. The records made at all of
the booking stations showed the train
to be one hour and twenty minutes
late. The train was booked at Malta
wamkeag, Enfield, Orono and Oldtown.
There is night operator at each station,
and orders might be received at any sta
tion. Conductor Eupea said the train
| which he was running had the right OF
| w al hQ nc
made at Orono. Was keeping the usual
outlook for signals at all stations.
There was nos signal at Orono when
the train passed there. When signal is
taken in it allows the train to proceed.
There was flag out at OIdtown, blue
flag, showing that there were orders.
The engineer and myself went into the
Office and the operator said there were no
orders and told his assistant to take in
the flag.
The minute that was taken in it re-
leased us, and we proceeded. We stopped
at Great Works and Orono and Stacked
up at Basin Mills and Veazie, which are
flag stations. There were three men
standing in front of thu Veazie station,
one being the station agent. No signals
were displayed there.
After leaving Veazie, Mr.. Eupea said
his train ran half mile before the acci-
dent took place. He heard no whistles
or signals of danger before the shock.
The fireman of his train was killed.
ave have the right of way coming
west over all trains, no matter how late
we are, unless we receive orders to the
contrary. We had received no orders
and were running by regular rules.
Should think we were going about twelve
miles an hour"
Conductor W. B. Aver of train No. SO
said his train left Bangor at 6.45 with
orders from the train dispatcher TO cross
the st. j ohm train at Veazie "We left
the Exchange street depot on time and
in the yard waited for the Bucksport
train and were delayed about ten min
utes. just before we approached Veazie
we slowed down, as we were Go take the
siding II it had not been for the delay
at the Exchange street yard we would
have reached Veazie before Ga come along
as the run is onlySten minutes We had
perfect right to run to sVeazie under
our orders.
Engineer Lewis-A Gilbert of the ST.
John train, was the next witness. He
said he left Bangor one hour and twenty
five minutes late and made no attempt to
make up time as the train was a heavy
one. There was signal flag out at Dan
forth, but the station agent reported
there were no orders. Neither were there
any at Oldtown. Mr.. Gilbert said he al
most stopped at Veazie as he thought of
crossing So at that point and was look
ing for orders. He said he should have
received orders when SO got theirs
Engineer Stafford of train SO said that
he saw train Cd approaching and
jumped. He was on engine 2S, the sec
ond engine, and was running under or
ders. He would have been killed had he
} not jumped. Fireman Ward was under
the postal car. Mr.. Stafford said he was
just alive when he got to him and thinks
that the car falling on him caused his
death.
Several witnesses testified regarding
the force'of the shock when the two
trains collided, and an adjournment was
made to afternoon.
AFTERNOON SESSION.