Omaha daily bee., 1897-07-01
car, day coach and seven sleepers containing

car, day coach and seven sleepers containing
400 passengers.
Assletant General superintendent William
a. Gardner said this morning that he could
give no tangible reason yet as TO the cause
of the accident THE road is run on
semaphore block system all the way 10
Turner Junction" said Mr. Gardner This
blocks a train every 1000 feet and in ad-
dition we we're using last night what we
call the positive block sysem This con
psted in the operators at haywood, Wheaton
and Turner running tue trains by wire ana
keeping close tab with the dispatchers as
to the time each passed staion. Then
the dispatcher regulated the speed and dis
tanCe between trains Ot course ne Ws
compelled to rely entirely on the accuracy
of the time checking done by the operators
at the stations named and unless one Of
these made miotake and transmitted the
wrong check time either to the next station
or to the dispatcher, | cannot Imagine what
could have caused The wreck we ma taken
! every possibly prccautiou to guard against
| delay and accident. and, as | said, worked
| the positive block as well as our regular
| semaphOr1 system.
As soon as possible after the immediate
wants of the injured were attended to they
! were carefully removed to special train
| which had been prepared for their reception
| and accompanied by DR.. Ollens, chief surgeon
! of the company and twelve assistants, were
| brought to Chicago At Western avenue
| they we're put iu ambuances and taken to
| St Luke's hospital The responsibility for
| the wreck has not yet been fixed, but the
| investigation indicates that 1t was caused
| by Engineer Courtney of section No. run
| ming by the station this side of West Chi
cago without having been released. No state
mcnt is ohtainabe from Cou ,ney at present
as he Is too badly injuref to talk.
THE road between Chicago and West Chi
cago is proteC'pl by the Hall block system
and Immediately after my arrival last night
tested the signals and found them to be IN
| a. At rN,s. nj fNar-
intendent Stewart. Engineer Courtney must
have been insane to pass without seeing the
danger signals. These signals are placed
/ 900 feet apart and when at night cars pas:
over the place where they are situated q
redliGht shows ana any train following the
one which released the switch is supposed tc
stop until a white light shows. There car
be no doubt that the scarlet signal for eau
ton was exhibited
Naturalization papers recently taken on
in New York showed the dead tramp's nam
to be Rode native of Germany. Il. wa
about 80 years old.
Engineer Courtney declares that the sig
nal displayed denoted a clear track. r
also says that he was running carefully an
that there was ample time TO stop his trail
after he had sighted the train in front bu
for some reason the airbrakes refused t.
wo:k As they were in good order at Dixon
five miles back. he believes tramps inten
tionally or accidentally tampered witt
them.
STATEMENT BY OFFICIALS.
The officials of the Northwestern railroa
ght made the following statement con
cerning the accident which occurred on thei
road at West Chicago early this morn
ing:
, There were only two sleepers damaged
They We're the Cold Spring and Garrison
conveying a delegation from Wisconsin t
the Christian Endeavor convention at Sa
Francisco. Three people were killed out
right and nineteen injured The injure
have been taken to St Luke's hospital, an
the physicians in attendance say they wi
all recover. The accident occasoned no de
tention to the numerous special trains carry
, ing Christian Endeavor people from tn
east
MILWAUKEE June 30.-Mrs. Goodint
> killed in the West Chicago wreck is not
resident of Appleton, Wis, as reported. He
home is in Austin, New. She and her hus
band have been visiting their son, Attorne
j. NJ. Goodng of Fond du Lac and took aG
, vantage of the excursion rates to return
their homes In Nevada.