The San Francisco call., 1896-02-02
kEYER WAS KILLED
BY NEGLIGENCE.
It Is the Verdict of the
Coroner's Jury at
Baden.
WAS NO DANGER SIGNAL
The Watchman Saw the Train
Run to Its Destruction, but
Made No Sign.
THE CULvERT WAS TOO SMALL.
Both the Watchman and the Railroad
Company Censured by the
Verdict.
THE cULvERT WAS TOO SMALL.

The inquest held by acting Coroner
Cunningham upon the death of Engineer
John Keyer, killed in the Southern Pa
cihc Railroad wreck of last Sunday even
ing at Baden, was concluded yesterday.
The verdict. after stating the circum-
stances of the wreck and the death, CEN
sures the company and its watchman in
the following language:
We further find that the washout causing
the a0reck an aOhich the deceased Wds killed
aOas due to the fact that the railroad cptvert
of The Southern Pacific Company 0r the place
acas not Of sufficient capacity to carry off the
food Of acdter, and that John Murphy, the
Southern Pacific watchmon, was guilty of
criminal gsegligence IN not Tagging the trains
after having been tcarned of the dangerous
condition of the track IN that vicinity.
There were three witnesses heard yester-
day = Charles L.. Gill, fireman on the
wrecked train; Mr.. Culverwell. resident
civil engineer of the coast division OF the
road. and G. L. Harber.
Charles L. Gill, fireman on the wrecked
train testified as follows:
Train No. 10, on which I was firing, was
wrecked between South San Francisco and
Baden station at about 6:10 P. NJ, caused by
washout. had no warning of danger before
the train was in the washout. Engineer Keyer
said to me before starting from San Francisco:
''We have orders to look out for sand at Indus
trial School, between switches at Ocean View
and the cemeteries" l saw some one standing
on my side of the track, the left side in the
wagon-road near the first switch from this
place going toward Baden station, with a
switchlight in his hand-that is q lantern with
two White and two red sides to it. He was
standing not more than five feet from the rail-
road track. He made no signal.
Any motion made by the person at that time
W0Hld PQnGnd n a
made no motion nor did he give any signal to
stop. looked back at him until we turned
the curve and could no longer see him. and
all the while he remained still When 1 first
saw the light thought it was on the switch
stand, as it seemed to be about the right place,
and the white light was exposed. l did not
know it was on my side of the train until the
pilot passed and then saw that some one was
holding it. When we passed him saw the
red light, which was toward and at right
angles to the track. Had the red light been
exposed or displayed as we approached the
switch, would have told the engineer that the
swith was wrong, and the train could have
been stopped.
I told the engineer about seeing the light,
and he Immediately applied the airbrakes
He then asked me if it was red light, and 1
told him it was man holding a sWitcn-light
with the white side exposed, but said, 1--WE
had better run slow, anyhow" He gave the
brakes little more air and started the train
up. Usually the switch-lights are in place
when No 10 reaches Baden, but sometimes
the switchman is putting them in place, and
our natural conclusion at seeing the man by
the track was that the switchman was waiting
till the train passed to put up the switch-ight.
A man who has worked on a railroad any con-
siderable length of time should know enough
to give danger signal. A light raised up and
6oTn Is ordinarily @ ab signal 70 go ahead put
night we would have been apprehensive and
would probably have stopped
At Baden station l on the lookout.
From Colma it is down grade, and the fireman
has little work to do until Baden is passed. L
am sure would have seen any kind of signal
Dad ,Ckof ~ -
is to wave a light or in daylight any object
across the track. We were running about six
miles an hour when we ran into the washout.
No rails seemed loose at the approach to it.
The night was murky and the headlight did
not light up the track any distance ahead.
When the engine went over suppose the rails
were carried with 1t.
G, L. Herbert was recalled and testified
thar from inspection he believes the
groand has been filed at the scene of the
wreck some two or three feet by the recent
storm.
The resident engineer of tie coast divi-
sion of the Southern Pacific Railroad testi-
fled as follows:
1 have charge of the track, bridges and
buildings of the coast division of the Southern
Pacific Company. passed over the line be-
tween South San Francisco and Baden stations
on the Saturday night preceding the wreck and
and the track was then in good condition. A
track-walker passes over each section of the
road once each day. he uses q Veloc1pede IN
going over his section. The section men IN
time of stormy weather are required to be on
duty and ready to turn out at any time of the
day or night. think the culvert near where
the wreck occurred is large enough to carry the
water under any ordinary circumstance.
/ cannot state what the height of the en-
bankment was in the vicinity of the wreck
when that portion of the road was constructed.
1t is the duty of sny employe of the railroad
knowing of dagger to give warning or signal
the engineer. The track has been overf1owed
before, but there has never been washOut
prior to this. The section of track walked at
this end of the line is from Valencia street to
San Mateo. 1t has never been the practice on
the coast division to have regular foot track
walkers. Every section is patrolled each day
either by the gang on the handcar or man
specially detailed.
With this the jury retired and found
the verdict as given above.