The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-28
WAS 1T THE WORK OF FIENDS?
OPINIONS DIVIDED AS TO THE
CAUSE OF THE HUDSON HORROR.

President Depew Believes 1t to Have
Been Caused by Enemies of the
Corporation Seeking Revenge.
Supposed That Dynamite Had
Blown Out the Embankment.
ROadmnsters Concur in the Opin-
iOn-Circumstances In support of
the TheOry-GeneraI Manager
LOucey Thinks Some Part of the
Engine COlIapsed-An Arrest Like
Iy to he Made.
Cold Springs, n. Y, Oct. 27.-President
Depews opinion that the disaster of Sun
day morning, on the New York Central
railway, was the result of dynamite ex-
plosion planned by enemies of the corpo-
ration, finds many upholders among rail-
way officials and citizens familiar with
the conditions.
If the embankment of the railway was
torn up by dynamite, the motive of those
who did it was not robbery, but revenge,
was the statement made by one official of
the road to-day.
< rigorous Investigation is being made,
and at least one man may be arrested to-
day.
When the party of twenty-six roadmas-
ters of the New York Central arrived at
the scene early Monday morning, and
commenced a critical survey of the sec
ton of the embankment which had been
either washed or blown out, one of the
roadmasters, a man who had great ex-
perence in the use of dynamite, said that
the excavation looked to him very much
like the work of dynamite. The tenden-
cy of dynamite is to blast downward,
rather than upward or outward and one
of the most expert track builders of the
railroad says that a very light charge
of dynamite would have collapsed a Sec
ton of track fully as extensive as the sec
ton in question.
The locomotive was found in the river
at least thirty feet south of the depres-
sion in the track, which makes it seem
reasonably certain that the engine leaped
the space before it started in it's plunge
into the mud bottom of the river 1t is
known that the engineer had shut off his
steam and applied the air brakes to the
train before the crash came, and those
circumstances lead the official to believe
that Engineer Foyle saw that something
was wrong with the track to apply the
brakes before he went into the river with
his engine. Still, it is admitted that he
would have instantly applied the brakes
the moment that he felt his engine sink
ing.
General Manager -Toucey of the New
York Central believes that the disaster
was caused by a break in the engines ma
chinery. Mr. Toucey said to-day: II be-
lieve something broke on the engine and
ploughed up the ground and Jared the
roadbed so that 1t loosened and slid into
the river. The sudden stopping of the
speed of the train caused the cars to
double up on each other and helped to
loosen the roadbed. That is what I be-
lieVe caused the accident. That is the
conclusion l reached from my investiga-
ton of the facts. If there had been a
dynamite explosion before the train reach
ed that place the engine could not have
passed over it and seventy-five feet this
side, as it did"
Coroner William T. Wood and jury to-
night commenced their inquest into the
cause of the death of the twenty victims
of the disaster The hearing lasted one
hour and fifteen minutes and was pro-
ductive of no information whatever bear
ing upon the cause of the disaster. The
inquest was adjourned until Nov T.