The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-08-01
sank with a grasp in 1t chair, completely

every Vlctlm SIT SObblng trends. hoping
for the best but in many cases waiting
for death.
William Spaulding, of Philadelphia
who is in Il critical condition, sent to
woman relative at the st. Charles Hotel
this message: Come and see me die
She sits mt his bedside
At noon Coroner Mclaughlin empan-
nelled Il jury to inquire into the disaster.
1t consisted of six of Atlantic Citys
wcalthiest and most prominent citizens.
They are; Charles Evans, hotel keeper
and president of the Atlantic City Ma
tional Bank; Lewis Evans, John Cham
pion, Levi Alberson, Il. j. Dickinson,
merchant, and Charles c. Adams.
When the jury reached the improvised
morgue at the old excursion house, it was
completely surrounded by an immense
crowd of the morbidly curious, who
crowded about every available entrance
and window and peered ut the forty three
, boxes of all shapes styles and sizes in
which the mangled bodies lay encascd in
ice Ropes had been stretched around the
entrance and only those whose relatives
were dead and officials and newspaper
, men were admitted. In the presence of
! the dead all hats were DOTTED and the jury
slowly and silently began its grucsomc
duty. As the cover from each box was
lifted the corOner'S clerk i'm mournful
/ tones announced the name of its occu-
pant, and the single word unknown"
when such "a box was reached. 1t required
| fully one hour for the jury To complete
its task and Immediately afterwards an
adjournment MAS made until o'clock
when n special train took the jury to the
scene of the tragedy
This time the party was augmented by
several lawyers, railroad and police OIL
cialS and group of newspaper men.
Judge Thompson, the law judge of Allan
tic county, was there on behalf of the
Reading company.
The scene was very different from last
/ night The relief gangs had done effect
i've work. Both tracks were now cleared
the articles of clothing which belonged to
victims had been taken to police head
quarters and much of the wrcckage had
been removed. Beside the ditch IA mass
OF broken timber and II portion of the
| third car, which felt the heaviest stroke
and was cut i'll two, a little beyond lay
what remained of the Reading engine
The wheels were in the air The force of
the collision WAS great that the engine
was not only upside down but also com
! pletely around. There is very general
! impression that under the mass of debris
ut least six more bodies lie. The Jury
made an exhaustive examination of the
| ground and devoted considerable time to
the inspection of the signals which still
remain as they were at the moment of
! the accident, that facing the Reading
being the red or danger signal and that
towards the West Jersey meaning Come
! ahead. As soon as II train strikes Il
| point in the tracks Il few feet beyond the
| signal tower stationed at the junction of
the two roads an automatic arrangement
rings Il bell in the tower house aud the
, train which first rings this bell is given
I the right OF way. Last night this priv
legc belonged To the West Jersey train:
but in spite of this and the fact that the
danger signal was against the Reading
that train came Oh at fun speed and the
collision necessarily followed.
Geo. f. Hau.cr who has charge of the
tower and who Is now under arrest has
made several statements to- the police
He told them he saw both trains coming
when both were sufficiently far away to
admit of the full display OF signals, but
as the West Jersey was the nearest he
gave the Heading the red light and SIG
nailed To the Jersey train to come ahead
The Reading however never slackened
speed but came on. The man in the cab
either thought he could easily clear the
point in time or the brakes failed to work
and they could nor stop in time. The
only living man who positively knows this
is Fireman houlhan, who saved his life
by leaping from the cab and lie has been
missing ever since the accident
Tonight Coroner MCLAUGHLIN called
Hauser before him and gave him Il hear
ing. Hauscr refused to make any state.
ment whatsoever at this time, and was
he'll IN 5000 for Il further hearing Bail
was furnished and he was released
Fireman Houlahan was finally located
tonight ut boarding house, but despite
all kinds Of pressure he refused to dis
cuss the wreck from any point of view.
: y fact which has come to light is that
the run which ended Engineer Farr's
life was to have ended his career as a
railroader and established him as IL store
keeper For five years he and his wife mad
scraped and Stnted their income TO save
enough to set them up in business The
wife wanted him to leave .railroading be
cause of its pcrils. They had taken Il
little store and stocked it with notions.
patent medicines, cigars and like commo.
dlties. To-day they were to open it. The
man who accompanied Farr on the last
run.nnd who was also killed was to have
! succeeded on the engine and was taking
II preliminary lesson
About O'Clock this morning the res
cue workers found Il babe lying in the
grass Il few feet from the point of the
accident. 1t was peacefully sleeping and
was uninjured. The police officials
took charge of the child
REMOVED THE MURDERER
Washinton, July 3l-Smith, the self
confessed colorcd murderer of Miss Mar
garet Drown, was to-day removed to Bal
timore, the authorities being afraid to