New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-01
RAN PAST THE SIGNALS.
AN ENGINEERS CARELESSNESS PROB
ABLY CAUSED THE DISASTER

AN ENGINEERS CAREIEsSNEss PROB
ABLY CAUSED THE DISASTER
1 rARR. WHO RAN TIE READING EMPRESS AND
WAS KILLED GENERALLY BLAMED BY RAIL
ROAD MEN--MANy NARROW ESCAPES
RELATED BY PASSENGERS
tBy TELEGRAPH TO THE rRrBUNEl
| Camden ~ j.. July 31.--The question Of re-
sponsibiiity for tho fearful crash near Atlantic
City Is being discussed ali sides. and the con
sensus Of opinion here IS that the Reading eX-
press train was to blame. 1t Is an acknowledged
fact that clear signal for the West Jersey eX~
cursion train shown from the signal tower
Officials Of the West Jersey Railroad admit that
| under ordinary circumstances the Reading has
| the right Of way al the crossing as 1t was the
| first road built. but they say that. notwithstano-
| ing this no train has right to run by red
! block signal and. therefore. the responsibility
| will res, upon the Reading company. They do
| nied that there was am agreement between the
| two companies whereby the West Jersey ana
Seashore Railroad Company was 10 stand re-
snonsible for any accident that might occur at
| this CROSSING There will be hundreds OF damage
quits growing out Ct the accident. and one or the
companies will certainly be held responsible
THE EXCURSION HAD THE RIGHT OF WAY.
| John Greiner. engineer Of the West Jersey and
| Seashora excursion train. seen at his home,
| No 327 Beckett St. this city, this morning and
declared positively that n. had the signal for a
| c,eor track from the tower Said he: The train
was composed Of an engine and six cars MY IRE
man was Morris Newell OF No. 329 Royden-st..
| Camden The train left Atlantic City a. GAO
O'Clock 1t was about two minutes later Wn"n
we reached the drawbrdge. Just as W. were
| leaving the drawbrdge looked out Of one OF the
cah windows and saw the Reading express flying
| shoreward. 1t was then probably TWO miles
| away There was a Camden and Atlantic ac-
| ocmmodation train running In the same direction
that the Reading flyer going. From what
could observe the trains were racing. | looked
I'D at the tower and saw that had clear track.
The signals are interchangeable. and the fact
| that the white against me would throw the
red against the Reading express.
| "As tie express came laundering down upon
! the crossing I saw that a collision was unavoid-
| able My God. Norris said 10 my fireman.
he's not going to stop. Then l left my seat and
| Jumped quickly on TO the engines steps For an
| instant I was undecided whether to jump or not.
| Something prevented me from jumping, how
| ever and I sprang quickly into the cab again.
| The next minute the collision came. Had fol-
| lowed my first impulse and jumped would have
been crushed to death alongside the track. The
| engine Of the express struck the excursion train
about the middle OF the second coach Four OF
| the cars left the track.
| "It was In the second coach from the engine
| that most Of the people were killed They were
! simply ground to death in their seats. My en-
| CINE did not leave the track, and neither ] nor
| my fireman hurt. The engine Of the express
| was literally smashed to pieces. Engineer Ed
| Farr was killed beneath his engine. Conductor
John Kelly was fatally hurt When the crash
| came my engine was completely severed from
the rest OF the train, and the locomotive ran
down the track for several hundred feet before It
was brought to a standstill When got back to
| the scene Of the accident the sight which met my
eyes was appalling. Dead bodies were strewn
about every where, and the cries of the dying and
injured filled the air. II heartrending
| spectacle"
E. G. BlaisdelI. assistant trainmaster of the
| West Jersey and Scashore Railroad wen. down
on the wrecking train last night and was at
! the catastrophe all night. He assisted In the
| work of rescuing the injured and removing the
dead. and also investigated the cause OF the
accident so far as possible. He came up this
morning and at once proceeded to the Broad
/
st. station to make report TO the head officials.
SIGNALS DrsREGARDED BY FARE.
Station Master John Bodine said this morn
| Ing that ne had learned that Farr, the engineer
of the Reading express. had run past three sig
nails. all against him. before his train crashed
into the West Jersey excursion train. The first
signal was about two thousand feet away and
| Is known as distance sigma. Then he had to
! pass home" signal. and fl ally the block sig
nal at the crossing. Mr. Bodine says that the
| engineer Of the Reading press to blame
| for the accident for passing these signals He
| had talk with John Greiner. the engineer OF
! the excursion train last night He says that
| Greiner told him that he stopped before reach
| ing the crossing and blew his whistle to get the
| operator to give him clear signal lie got the
| clear signal and started on. The Reading train
| was so far away that he could not see it. but
| he noticed cloud Of dust, Indicating its an
| proach. 1t was far enough awey for Farr TO
+; have ample time to check his train when he saw
| the red lights
West jersey and Seashore Railroad con-
| ductor who came up from Atlantic City thi.
morning says that he Farr's body In the
cab of his engine. He denies that Farr had one
hand on the throttle and the other on the air
| brakes but says that he lay on his back with
both arms outstretched with a bar OF iron run
| clear through his chest IT is also rumored
! that there was some one in the cab talking 20
| Farr at the time OF the accident. but this could
not be confirmed.
| officials OF the West Jersey and scashore Rail
| road said that similar accident was narrowly
averted at the same crossing about year ago.