The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-08
VALLEY STREAM INQUEST.
ENGINEER CoLGAN,s VERSION m
THE ThLLT-HO DISASTER

re Hier llis whistle. Rang HIs Reii. and r..
On All Brnkes-Other Tertimony-jur,n.
Ask tho witnesses Questions About rh,.
Electric Alarm neiI Mt NIerricE Cro,,,,.
INwooD. L. l., Juno 7.-Coroner William n
Coombs began tonight his inquest into m,
death Of George f. Pashlcy, winslow W. levi,
William Gilcbrist, Dora Bcrtsch. and Leslie 4
Roberts, Ave OF the victims OF the Valley Stream
disaster on Memorial Day.
The inquest was held In Odd Fcllows' uou
Near tho Coroner were seated District ATTORNEY
William ]. YounRs Of Queens county, VIII,
prompted him in examining the witnesses: MI,
assistant, George w. Davis, and Detective Den.
mis- Sullivan Of Mr.. Young's office.
Among the Brooklyn lawyers representing IN.
families of those killed and injured were judge
Jacob Nou, State Senator Albert wray, judo.
Alfred Kramer, George f. Elliott. and Haryev
Field. The Long Island Railroad Company wa,
represented by Lawyers Frederick Ineraham
and w. i. Kelly, but neither took any active
part in the proceedings. Back of the rail wer.
about 400 spectators.
Much interest was displayed IN the testimony
Of Joseph Colgan of 184 India street, Brooklyn.
the engineer of the train which crashed into tho
tally o coach. He testified:
"As I approached a whistle post 1900 feet
from tho Merrick crossing 1 blew my whistle
and the fireman rang tho Doll. linen, ms we CANA
within what I Judge to be about 800 feet from The
crossing, / ga W the first two horses Of the tally.ho.
Iimmedistely srsspsd the whistle and pYt On ths
lowered my head, and the next thing ! was
"How fast were you going T. asked Coroner
Thirty miles an hour"
"Wero you behind time :"
"Yes; a minute and a half"
Were you trying to make 1t upf
No. Sometimes do by degrees. other times
Regarding the electric alarm bell at the cross.
ing, colgan swore that when he passed It oh the
ringing. He had noticed 1t for days previous
and It had always rung. Then Colsan told OF
CINE. where she hung suspended by her d dTess,
which had caught on the hand rail,
the crossing and assisted in caring for the In
jured. He said he had been employed twenty.
eight years as engineer, and had. run trains on
His only accident previous to that Of Memorial
Day had been some time ago. when he struck q
The foreman OF the jury wanted to know Il
Colgan had ever said anything to the railroad
dangerous one. coigan said he had not. o''"S =
do you consider 1t dangerous T. asked the
juryman;
FLOW quick could you stop a train going
"ln about 500 feet after I had put on the
SOlRan balu I0er0 WaB no DlOCK system con.
nected with the electric alarm.
Charles B.. Fosdyck, the fireman Of the train,
said that at the the sudden nsdena whistle hist c, Of the en-:
eHs pair Of horses then another. finally r.
xSsths se' the s1e'{ ssiii q e the SAID crossing St n' ~s:
on other or days not whe n' it mao did. noticed H. va -
sure the engineer had put on the
t pts1S By Judge Nesa nf F ssGsei r re- dRsT thai 70 the I sFbs bell
had never been out of order to his knowledge.
II the bells at crossings failed to ring it was his
duty to throw q rel card out to the section
hands, and thus notify them to repair the bell,
CONDUCTOR John 4. Reese could ten very little
Sss apr sppl hedf liz q brake bS.i a ana T blow sS RIs H saS sPsins'F
the accident, but stated that a few hours before
~ ne tb ace ssc,ia, and ha5 on IN the , trip south; the foreman
with him on the rear platform.
5 ring EaT ~ ~ ;ss :; r. 6 6;sI; ssls 70 81 him. Let me Ss gel
foreman told him The bell rang all right, Dodd
as he usually stood inside of the cars owing to
conaauetor Reese was recalled. but said he
could not ~recollect the presence OF a section
boss on the train during the trip to Hampstead
the bell at the Merricf crossing rang wnen nc
Frank S, darriek. a second brakeman on the
train. said he never paid any attention TO the
bells at crossings. He heard the engineer
blow his whistle, however. He did not think a
stopped under half a mile.
Charles III. Shrieber, a dealer in fertilizers
said he was at the drug store on the MerricE
road and saw the coaching party pass. They
were not noisy. A few blew horns, but as ii
frightened a horse standing in front OF the druS
blowing.
Shrieber said he was within a hundred feet oil
the railroad crossing when the train passed or
its "trip south. and he did not hear the alarm bell
ring; The inquest was then. adjourned until
Wednesday morning at $3.50 o'clock.