The record-union., 1898-03-31
THREW THE SWITCH WRONG.
RAILWAY COLLISION NEAR
FRENCH CAMP.
Fireman Huffman Instantly Killed
and Several Persons Injured,
But None Seriously.

STOCKTON, March 80. - William
Huffman, second eldest son of c. H.
Huffman, a San Francisco capitalist,
and formerly a well-known farmer of
Merced County, was instantly killed at
4:30 o'clock this afternoon in a colli-
sion on the Southern Pacific tracks,
near French Camp, four miles from this
city
Three passengers were hurt in the
accident, but none seriously. They
were Fred A. Grimm, a travelling man
from Ohio, cut by glass; j. A. Rey-
nolds, adjuster for the Royal Insur-
ance Company, stationed at San Fran
cisco, hurt in the back; A. G. Burnett,
fireman on the steamer Mary Garrett,
running between Stockton and San
Francisco, dislocated shoulder. Engi-
neer H c. Hahn of the Fresno flyer
train, with whom young Huffman was
running, was severely cut in the right
side, but not seriously injured. c..
Cleveland, the Wells Fargo messenger
on the flyer, was slightly hurt.
The collision was caused by the be-
Wilderment of r. p. Stevens, who was
running with Engineer r. w. Hatfield
on a loose engine on its way from Sac
ramento to Oakland. He threw a
switch wrong, and how he did it is only
accounted for by the fact that he lost
his head
The loose engine ran down to the side
track at French Camp several minutes
ahead of time for the Fresno flyer for
this city to reach that point, and went
in on the side track. Stevens opened
and closed the switch, and while Engi-
neer Hatfield was engaged in oiling his
engine, the fireman went off to the side
of the track and returned just as the
fast passenger train came along. He
became confused and just after the
passenger engine was within forty or
fifty feet of the switch he opened it
and let the passenger train in directly
on to his own engine.
Engineer Hatfield saw the collision
coming and jumped out of the way.
Engineer Hahn and Fireman Huffman
could not escape if they had tried, the
collision followed so quickly. The fire
man was caught between the cab and
tender, and his neck was broken. The
engineer was also caught, but not Sc
riously hurt.
The engines were telescoped and bad
over the embankment.
The passenger train consisted of one
coach, which was attached next to the
engine and a combination baggage and
express car behind The passengers
were thrown over the seats by the
sudden jolt, and a number of them
were cut by the broken glass of the
windows of the car and others bruised
by being thrown forward.
AS soon as possible the body of Fire
man Huffman was placed in a car
and brought to this city, where it was
prepared for shipment to the home OF
his parents in San Francisco in the
morning.
A Coroner's jury was ernpanelled this
evening and reviewed the remains, but
the inquest was postponed until Fri
day evening, when all the witnesses
can be present.
G. Fl. Huffman, father of the de-
ceased fireman, is the originator of the
Crocker- Huffman canal enterprise of
Merced County, where he owned vast
tracts of land for many years. A few
years ago, when his son Will expressed
a desire to learn railroading the father
urged him to turn his attention to some
other business, and offered him any
necessary capital to engage in any en-
terprise he might choose, and tits said
he offered the young man $4,000 in
cash to give up railroading, but the
fireman determined to continue in his
calling that was SO full of interest to
him. He was % years of age, and gen.
orally we'll thought of. Among his
young associates he was a favorite and
his death is deeply regretted here