Omaha daily bee., 1896-09-18
WRECK SPLINTERS IN COURT
Mrs, Healley's Damage Suit Illustrated by
Specimens Of Broken Timbers.
WHERE HER HUSBAND LOST HIS LIFE
story of the Disaster ut Peru in 1891
Gone over In Detail Before
the Judge and
Jury.

All day yesterday a jury In the federal
court sat and gazed at a box OF fragments
Of broken railway ties and bridge timbers,
which had been unpacked in their presence
early In the morning and arranged to show
in the most favorably way the stage of decay
that each piece OF timber had reached WHEN
1t was broken. The s~plinters were mute
evidence OF a railway wreck that occurred
near Peru, Madison county, Ia, August 6,
1894, in which J. j. Healley, the conductor
OF the wrecked train, lost his life. They
are meant to furnish part of the evidence
upon which Mrs. Healley bases her claim
against the Chicago Great Western Railway
company for 100000 damages for the killing
Of her husband. The case has been pending
In the court for two years. A jury to try
1t was called two days ago, when Judge
Woolson's court first convened, but the trial
was delayed on account of the sickness of
one of the attorneys for the defendant. The
attorneys were all present yesterday morn
Ing and the hearing was rushed through in
such an expeditions manner as to challenge
the admiration of the court, the attorneys
and the jury. The plaintiffs case was pre-
sented and rested and the defendant intro
duced all of its testimony with the eXcep-
ton of what is expected to be proved by
two absent witnesses before 5 o'clock ar
rived and an adjournment made necessary
until this morning.
Mrs. Healley was present in the court
room, wearing widows weeds, and tsndcrly
watching over a bright little 4-yelr-old son,
who manifested a strong disposition to cult
vate the acquaintance OF the attorneys and
the court attaches and several stray pet
dogs. The attorneys for the plaintiff relied
greatly upon the mute evidence Afforded by
the rotten fragments of shattered and rotten
tt1bers to prove their claim that the acct
dent was due to the defective condition OF
a bridge through which the wre ,kcd train
plunged The contention OF The defendant
Is that the accident was due to he deraii-
ment o. a car in the middle of the rain be-
fore the bridge was reached. The plaintiff
sought to establish the unsound condition
OF tho bridge by the testimony Of a number
OF farmers living near. the point where the
accident occurred and WIG were IN the
ground a few minutes after the crash. They
Identified the broken ends of the timbers
ana swore that the samples before the jury
were taken from the wrecked bridge after
the accident. Ten heavily laden cars out of
thirteen that constituted the train broke
through the bridge, and Conductor Healley
was carried down with the wreck and
crushed to death. The structure was a long
pile bridge over a shallow creek, and had
been built many years ago. No amount of
sharp cross-questioning could shake the be-
lief of the farmers that the bridge was
rotten and that 1t gave way under the weight
of the heavy train.
The defendant railway company put on
tHe members OF the crew VINO had the train
in charge and escaped injury and the fore
man of the wrecking crew who cleared away
the wreck. Martin Daley of Des Moines
testified that he was foreman Of the locomo-
tive department Of the Great Western and
took charge of the work of the wrecking
crew. After the track was cleared he eX-
amined into the cause of the accident and
found the deep marks on the ties made by
the wheels of the car in the middle of the
train that jumped the track. These marks
showed that the car left the track some
distance before the bridge was reached. The
derailment of this car threw others off the
track and they broke through the t~restle,
carving down several of the bents. James
Spellman, engineer of the train, Fireman Z.
A. Smith and Rear Brakeman Ed H.. Bagg
told the same story with slight variations.
Each testified that he was still in the en-
ploy of the company. Their testimony in
Dictated that the accident was due to the
fourth car from the engine. This car was
heavily laden with flour and the weight of
its load had pushed it off its trucks while
coming down the grade before the bridge
was reached. The slipping on the trucks
caused the derailment.
The last two witnesses for the railway
company will be on hand this morning and
the case that was expected to occupy a week
will be given to the jury by noon.
The federal grand jury is hard at work
on the usual number of bootlegger cases and
1t is expected that the first report will be
made by Saturday afternoon.
=-