Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1896-08-07

train said this In 20 many words He also
gave the impression that the signals had
not bean properly worked According 10
his Interpretation Of Engineer FAIRS whis.
tie a certaih signal had been given the
Reading train and then suddenly changed
10 another. The first must have been the
right Of way signal and the second the
danger. Farr whlstled 10 know which was
right, but II was too late 10 stop the train.
Conductor Pinkerton said be passed
Pleasantvllle at 6s46 at a rate of 90 miles
an hour. They wers then one minnte iata
He was on the rear platform, wh8h he
heard long blow Of the whistle and knew
something was wrong. He looked at the
signals and saw that they meant danger
Then he saw that the train could not be
stopped. but the brakes were put on and
when the crash came the speed Of the
Reading train had been slaokensd 70 IA or
10 miles an hour and the West Jersey to
about lp. When the brakes were applied
the train was about 900 feet from the
crossing
Engineer Greiners Statement.
John Greiner, the West Jersey engineer.
said that after giving the regular crossing
whistle, he received the right Of way sig.
nal. When he saw the Reading train
bearing down on them, he shouted TO the
flreman Look outl My God, he's not
going to stopp' Hs WINS about to jump
but something told him not TO, and this
saved his life. When witness saw that
the crash was coming, he positively could
not have stopped his train IN time, In
spite Of what Conductor Pinkerton had
said.
1T is NOS my business 30 look out for
-. he. n~..s4.
phaals ~ look for my signals, ana who.
ever gets the signals has the right Of way
no matter what the result IA I paid no
attention to anything beside the signals
and my train.
George f.. Hauser, the man who gave
the fatal signal 60 the West Jersey excur-
sion train to go ahead, then took the
stand. Hauser testified that he was "a
years old and that prior TO June 30, when
he entered the service Of the Reading rail.
road az an operasor at che Meadow tower
he was q motorman for oiantasn months
for the Union Traction odtnpt.ns Of Phiia-
delphia. Previous TO basRe : snsotorman
he was telegraph operator for the Penn
syIvania railroad for ~ years. His work
was on small branch roads
He Was Not Intoxicated.
He was on duty at the time OF the ool-
llsion. He smphatioally declared thst he
was sober at the time and had drunk moth
ing Intoxicating that day. He reached the
tower about 8S and went inside at onoe
He could not, he declared, by mistake
have pulled the wrong lever and given the
Reading the right Of way. He pulled the
home signal first giving the clear track
to the West Jersey. He saw the board
ooms down. Then he pulled the distant
semaphUre.
He saw the steam Of the Reading 20
down as usual when It was turned OF.
The engineer Of the Reading gave two
blasts Of his whistle, but both trains kept
on, and the collision occurred at Gas
Foreman Evans asked him II he wGs not
disobeying the rules of the company by
giving the excursion the right Uf way.
Bauser answered that considering the rela-
tive distance from the crossing of the two
trains he did not think he did
Asked II he thought Of the difference
between the speed Of the two trains ap-
proaohing the crossing, he replied that the
danger signal was against the flier, and IL
should have slowed up. Hauser affirmed
that on the night two weeks ago when the
danger signal was against tho same OK.
press the engineer ran past, although he
did slow his train down until it was un-
der control. The engineer has right
to pass the distant signal when set at oau-
tion, but must get his train under control
Hauser's statement seemed to indicate
that he thought the train should come TO
full stop at the distant signal.