Evening star., 1898-08-29
Two Railway Employees Killed Yester-
day by the Cars.
VERDICT OF TEE CORONER'S JURY
The Railway Company Held Re-
sponsibIe in One Case.
THE EVID ENCE TAKEN

pany S tracks IN CnlS CITY yesterday. otie
of them was Milton Petit, brakeman,
and the other was Thomas Landrigan, a
nachinist The former was killed in the
Anacostia freight yard. having jumped
from the top of a moving car while the
railroad men were making what is called
running SWITCH He attempted to
jump from one car to another and failed
to make "a long enough Jump, as the engine
was moving faster than he had supposed.
This accident happened about II: 80 o o'clock
yesterday merning and the injured man
died few minutes after he reached Provi-
derce Hospital.
Petit, who was twenty-seven years old,
ad been employed by the railroad company
for more than ten years. He lived at No
$50 9Th street southeast. A widow and two
Children survive him.
Machirfst Landrigan was injured at the
South Capitol street crossing about 11:3O
O'Clock last night. He met with the acct
dent while crossing the tracks. A few
minutes after he was hurt he was in the
Emergency Hospital under treatment Both
legs had to be amputated, and he died this
m orning. He was thirty-two years old and
was married, but had no children. His
home was at No. 33 Virginia avenue south
west, only short distance from where he
received his fatal injuries.
Viewed by Coroner.
Today both bodies were taken to the
| morgue, where they were viewed by Acting
Deputy Coroner Ruffin. At noon Acting
Coroner Glazeorook held inquests in the
cases at the sixth precinct station, one jury
hearing both cases. The jurors were ". j..
| Kolb, John F. Kelly, Charles Brill, James
| Leon, George Gill and William Foster. Wit
nesses were examined and the jury return
| ed their verdicts. In the case of Brakeman
Petit the jury found that his death was an
accident, for which no one was responsible.
Landrigan's death, the jury found, resulted
| from the of defective coupling. The
| jury blamed the railroad company for not
| having safety couplings en- the cars.
The Evidence Submitted.
II. c. Sparks, a locomotive engineer, was
| in charge of shifting engine No. Jag yes
| terday morning between IL and y o'c.ock,
when Petit was killed He testified that
| his engine was shifting cars at the time.
| Brakeman Petit, he said.z went back to
! the end car to let off the brakes. When
| he had done this and given the signal wit
| ness started his engine He saw no more
! of him until he saw him lying between the
| rails. Car Inspector Douns waived him to
| make a stop, which was the first notice he
had of the accident. Petit, witness said.
| must have walked the entire length of the
! cars before the accident happened The en-
| Sine had cut loose from the cars. Witness
| had known the deceased for five years, and
knew him to be a sober man.
Martin w. Downs, car inspector, who has
| been rairoadng for about fifteen years,
| next examined. He told the jury that lie
| has charge of the car inspections in the
| Anacostia yard. He said he was seated On
| the steps in front of the office when he
| heard somebody make an outcry as is the
custom in making such shifts. When he
| looked he saw Mr.. Petit falling between
! two cars. He seemed to fall on his face.
Five cars passed over him.
did from W ba oil b-,
| witness asked.
No, sir" he answered, but he appeared
to have fallen from the top OF the car
Witness could not tell whether he step-
ped from the first or second car in rear
OF the moving engine. Witness left the
oflce steps and did all he could for the in
jured man.
"On which side of the cars did he faI9"
He didn't fall on either side. He fell be-
meath the cars and five of them passed over
him.
Not Yet Dead.
When witness first saw Mr. Petit he
thought he was dead but an instant later
ne heard him groan and then everything
possible was done for him.
In making the running SWITCH" said a
juror, was the engine pulling or pushing
the cars?''
The engine was pulling the cars he
answered. 1t never pushes them"
Df Rufhn testified that he examined the
pcdy ana found great many minor bruises
and wounds. There was also a compound
| fracture of the left leg Death he said
lesultad from shock. He also described the
Injuries received by Landrigan TIL. dead
mans legs had been amputated when he
saw the body. AS in the case of Landri-
gan, the body was covered with bruises
and wounds. Death, in his case was the
result of hemorrhage and shock.
Harry Lowry, teiegr&pherS' apprentice.
who was In the Benning tower yesterday,
testified that he saw Mr. Petit on the last
of the six cars. He heard the victim tell
MI OlVef to cut the train and then he
aiCng the cars. Witness said he saw Petit
make an effort to jump from the detached
cars to the one attached to the engine. He
did not succeed, but fell in front of the
moving cars, and they passed over him.
Peter Oliver testified that he cut the cars.
All the men on the train understood what
was to be done and witness received mis-
signal from Petit. He cid not witness the
accident.
Death of Landrignn.
This closed the testimony in the Petit
case. and witnesses were called in the case
involving the death of Machin1st Lam
drigan.
Engineer j. ID. Anderson testified that he
was in charge of shifting engine III the
New Jersey avenue yard last night when
the accident occurred. He was 800 yards
trcm the scene when Landrigan was in
al the time. The track in front of MIN was
Clear all the time.
How fast was your engine going?" the
witness was asked
NOT any faster than a man can walk
he answered. From what l can Under
stano 1t was not my train that killed tho
man.
Conductors Testimony.
Conductor Charles ]. Motley, who told
the jury he had been railroading since
Is. testified that yesterday he was en-
gagged in the work of shifting in the
New Jersey avenue yard. There were
about eight cars attached to the train, and
witness was standing on next to the last
car The cars We're being pulled out of the
yard on an up grade. Pullman car was
the last one in the train, and the jostling
Of the train when it stopped caused the
Pullman to break loose.
What kind of couplers were on the
cars Z! ne was asked. t..- ..
"One was a Miller and the other was a
Janney, he answered.
Are they the automatic brakes?"
They won't work together"
Witness said that the coupler on one
car was much lower than that on the other.
IN order to fasten the cars an ordinary
INK coupler was used. This was thrown
over the Janney coupler. Two coupling pins