The evening times., 1896-04-11

will be, brought involving similar points OF
Law pending the conclusion OF these cases,
and as no one has the power To prosecute
these cases except the attorney for the
district, who has been unable, owing 10
the pressure o! other business, 10 bring them
TO a conclusion. it appears that engineers
are al liberty to run their trains as iast as
they Glucose without being iuterferred
with. Justice is therefore suspended, the
rights Of the public are Gisr, garded and the
law is imperative aud may as well he
stricken from the statute books
Case 3 involves the law requiring all
steam railways entering the District TO
provide. at every point where they cross a
street or avenue suitable protection by
means of guard gates, fla gfEeu. etc OWING
TO the fact that many accidents have oc-
currei at the crossings OF the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad in Northeast Washington by
reason of Insufficient protection. and es
prClally as only three OF said CROSSINGS were
protected with flagman At all times. as the
law requires, the Northeast Washington
Citizens Association has been very active
during the past year IN the endeaVor TO
have tins law enforced, and i request was
made to your honorable board that therail-
road company be compelled to provide
proper projections an flagmen at all tin es
at all crossings within the city
This request was referred to the attorney
for the Distinct, who. ! am informed, first
reported that there was no Ia W under which
tire company could be held but subsequently,
reversed his decision After considerable
delay. Thomas Hendricks was arrested Tor
a violation of this Ia W by running his train
over the street crossing where there was
not protection. as the la W requires.
THE ATTORNEY REFUSED.
When brought into the police court on
November 2l. 1895, / AM informed that
the prosecuting attorney refused To bring
case against him because there asanOther
case pending. which. he claimed, involved
the same points. Since that time, however,
an arrest has been made for breach or this
la aw at another crossing, where carriage,
occupied by the family of prominent resi-
dent OF northeast Washington, recently
narrowly escaped being struck by train.
The engineer was tried. convicted aud fined,
but the case was certioraried, as were the
speed cases Therefore. the enforcement
of this law is suspended indefinitely. and
many uf the crossings are still unprotected
Another case to which | desire to call
your attention is the police regulation is
sued by the honorable board on October
%, 1885. providing that all locomotives,
cars or trains shall come to 4 full stop
before crossing any street or avenue upon
which a rapid-transit street-car line Is IN
operation.' In November prior to the
time that this regulation was to go INTO ef-
feet. the attorney for the. railroad con-
pany entered a motion for an injunction
against the enforcement of the regulation,
and. Notwithstanding the fact that said at
torney has been ready since December
last to proceed with the case, 1t has been
permitted to stand four months, and the
only exclamation is that the attorney for
tue District is not ready to proceed. Thus
YOUR regulation is still disregarded and the
lives of thousands of people who use the
rapid-tranSit cars are constantly In Jeop-
ardy.
In conclusion, permit me TO say that
| have no intention or desire TO crltlclse
the attorney for the District or his as
sistants in the conduct of their offices,
and 1 hope that nothing herein contained
will be SO construed. My only object Is
to proye the correctness or the assertion
contained in my letter of November 90
last, TO the effect that SAID attorneys
are unable owing to the pressure OF other
business, to give proper attention to these
important cases, and it Is Tor you TO
decide whether or not this point is sus-
tained by the above statement of facts.
The Northeast Washington Citizens As
soc;ation. by whose direction l made the
request contained in my letter OF NoveIn-
ber o. is still una uimous i'll the belief that
the interests Of the citizens OF Northeast
Washington require the services or such
an attorney as suggested, and by the ac-
tion at the last meeting of said associa-
ton on the 9th instant | was directed TO
renew nv request OF November 20, 1895.
Hoping that You will be able to give this
matter early attention, l rem ain. yours
very truly, EVAN II. TUCKER.
President Northeast Washington Citizens
Association
To this letter no answer has been re
ccived