The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1896-08-08
DEAD MAN RESPONSIBLE
For the Horrible Railroad Acci-
dent Near Atlantic City.
TOWERMAN HAUsER RELEASED.

While Half nf tho Jurors Agree That tho
Night Opssatnv Used Pour judgment,
the other Thrss Say That he Inlay
Have Erred.
ATLANTIC CITY, Aug. 8 --Thsrs was no
formal session yesterday Of the coroLer d.
fury, which is Investigating rhe meadow
disaster. Tho coroner met ths juror. ~
Odd Follows hall ut 10 o'clock, and went
with them to the Sanitariam to yat :. "a.
position from John S, Kelly, conductor vt"
ths wrecked West Jersey train He said
that he was In the second car OF the aA-
oursion train as 10 approached the 4ross-
Ing, He had been reprovins brakeman
for not having lighted the lamps, mud lefb
him to go out on the platform and look
for signal He SAW the white Light sig.
nifyin. right Of way, but did mob 500 the
Reading train. Then hs went buck into
the cur and paid no moie attcation tu the
matter. moment nfterward came tbs
Gash.
The only othsr testimony submitted WAS
chat offered by the record Of the last ply
gical examination Of Edward Farr, ths
Reading engineer which was made at tho
instance Of the railroad compuny, IN June,
1896. The record showed that Farr was
mp TO the physical standard In every re-.
spsct
At $50 iasr evening tho Jury rendered
three separate verdicts after Eve hours
deliberution. The 1rst is signed by the
ontirs sig, and is as follows; 1--WE, tho
jury empane!ed To investigate th- cause Of
death Of z. H, Goldsmith aud others find
that the said persons whose bodies We
have viewed came to their deaths by u
collision Of express train No. 29 On the
Atlantic City reilroad and excursion train
No 7CO on the West .Iersoy and Sciashore
railroad at point known ny the meadow
tower near Atlantic City, on the SOth day
Of July, 1855, ut Or about q 49," Siyued by
Charles Evans, Lewis Evans, Thomas j.
Dickerson, ] B Champion. Levi G. AL
tertson and Charles Il. Adams.
Tie second verdict follows: "We tina
undersigned jurors, also find that En-
gineer Edward Farr, Of the Atlantic City
railroad failed to have his engine under
rrolcr control on approaching said cross
Ing, and that Towerman George T. Hau
ser, in giving the excursion train of tho
West Jersey tho right Of way over fast
express, used bad Judgment We are also
Of the opinion that Engineer John Grei-
ner, Of said excursion train, erred III not
exercising yreatsr care in crossing ahehd
Of said fast express Signed by Fore
man Charles Evans, Thomas J. Dickerson
and Charles &. Adans
The third verdict reads! THE unde:-
signed jurors nrs Of the opinion thnt the
Cause OF the collision wns the failure Of Ed
ward Farr, enSinearo Of train 23 to givn heed
In time to the seinaphore signals setaCninst
him and thus failed to have his train un-
der proper control on approaching the sig
nal and crossing. nndrr the rules. The
undersigned JURORS further declare thut
The towerman, George +. Hauser, may
have used poor Judgment in his estimate
sf the distance away Of the Atlantic City
r.ilroad train when he gpve the white
boards to tho West Jersey excursion train"
Signed by Lewis Evans, Levi G. Albert
sDn and j. b. Champion.
Hauser, not teing held oriminally re-
ponsible, was discharged by the coroner,
Gnder the New Jersey law the jurors will
sccivo total Of 81 each for their services.
They have donated the $6 to the free bed
tnnd of The city hospital.
The inquest in itself has developed soine
interesting features. While it was osten.
silly u function over which Coroner Nc
Ianghlin should have been the ruling
power, that you thful looking official really
played tho smallest part The jury ran
things In their own way, aud displayed
80 mean legal skill in SO doing, But there
was thinly yelled conflict even in that
Body. Charles Evans, ths foreman, and
Levi Albertson, the fifth juror, have ap-
EalenLly bGeu At Cross purposes through.
put.
Eyatl, bas been called the Beau Brum.
,ncl Of Atlantic City. Proprietor Of a
fashionable hotel, city commissioner and
hank president his attire Is invariably
faultless in form, Albertson is good
type Of the rugged Jerseyman. vigorous
In mind and body and concise In words
and meaning. He proved to be the domi-
nnnt force in the inquest, These two con-
ductcd the examination of witnesses al
most entirely Evans usually begun the
Questioning, and the tenor Of his remarks
gave tho impression that he regarded
either 'roworman Hauser or tho Reading
engineer OF both, at fault but Albertson
would instantly take up the cudgel and
no matter what the trend Of the forsman's
remarks he would adopt g different line Of
questioning.
All sides were represented by counsel
but they took little part in the examinn-
ton Of witnesses. Samuel E. Perry, pros
ecutor Of Atlantic county, represented
Coroner Mclaughlin, and usually began
the task, but he rarely got further than
eno Or two questions before tho jury took
u out Of his hands.