The herald., 1898-02-24
NEWSOF THE RAILWAYS
MORE TALK OF THE ALLEGED
LOCAL POOL
AGENT LUCE TAKES HIS PLACE
Randsburg Accident to Be Investi-
gated-A Train Dispatcners
Blunder-Personals

rio,o Union that the Santa Fe was NJ"
80 ..trustu combination with the
southern Pacific company, contihue 'o o'
of naramount interest in railway ciroies'
rr,ara does not seem to be. very hucii
ar, ~ any. as to the existence OF the
o,,biration though, it is true, that nc
s.-os. o,,,dence has been brought to hght.
The affair has caused consioeraoie eoN
ment ana feeling in this city pu, .ne Pc. a.
pie of San Diego are going ai,e"u ,ate II
= Zee for some kind of legal action IN 'ne
near future. ,.,, .oa,,,s to he
The entire public of that city seems u pe
nanir,ous on the matter, ana theS eNl-
IDENTIFY propose to make Things very
for General Manager NeVln1 Whoii
accuse of all sorts of MISTAKES en.n.'
and of making assertions, whlch, II u ue,
would tend to show that ne ID snr. so tba3
IN the Sackville West-De LONE oroer ma ma
at the right time for those who 90 not iihe
him he saws the wrong thing. AL any ia'e,
tho San Diegans are so in earnest INA, a.
the last meeting of the city couhclI 10 Was
resolved, with only one negative No'e' '1 .A"
beinc from director in the rallWay Soi,
pany. that the finance committee anu 'nS
city attorney investigate the chaIses anu
see what. if any, steps could be taken u
abate the wrong.
~ don't know whether there is any poor
between our line and the Southern "a
cific said a Santa Fe employe yesterua!
to a reporter, but l do know that po'h
lines adopted the same rules ana the saHie
orders as to their employees at the same
time, just the same as If they were uhuer
the same management FOR pis taiice'
until some little time ago the santa + en-
Moves were passed over the line whenever
,;ebod IN Or anywhere, ana more
than that. IL we wanted to travel on the
Southern Pacific we could always get
mass but all of sudden this was changed
to conform with the Southern Pacific rule
of charging cent mile to employees.
..This is but one of many little things.
each of which alone would not be OF any
significance, but all taken together would
seem to indicate that the same policy, II
not the same management, was felt on poth
lines"
THE DUKE OF SAN DIEGO
T.. S. Babcock comes about as close to
owning San Diego as it is permitted to any
one man to rule an American city. He
owns or controls almost everything down
there and has now purchased one OF the
few railways that he did not own before
This is the Citizens Traction company's
system it being sold to him on Monday
under foreclosure for the sum of $4,000.
Ihe property cONSlSlS VI i've VI
track power house, cars and machinery
and considerable land and city lots Mr..
Babcock has. the street railways, the
water system, the electric and gas systems,
the ferries, the ice factory, the morning
newspaper, the transfer company and
few other little speculations of like kind.
MR. LUCE ARRIVES
Assistant General Passenger and Freight
Agent Billy Luce of the Southern Pacific
arrived here yesterday to take his position
as the successor of A. D. Shepard, who
has gone TO San Francisco. He was busy
all day fitting up his quarters. and had
nothing to say beyond the usual orthodox
assertions of his great joy at being here
and the promise of his best efforts for the
city. Mr.. Luce is really an old-timer, hav-
ing been here for some years as the local
agent for an eastern road. He is widely
and favorably known. and will find it easy
to make warm and large circle of friends
The company could not have made bet
ter selection for the place, as Mr.. Luce
more than any other man in the roads en-
ploy, understands this part of the state
and the people.
THE RANDSBURG ACCIDENT
The authorities are investigating the ac-
cident on the Santa Fe-Pacific road last
week to two trains, one going to and the
other coming from Randsburg, by which
three men met their death and one has
since died from injuries received. That
the accident was only one in being so
designated is shown by the fact that 1t
happened at night when one train was
being pulled by backing engine, and that
the only light on the rear of the tender of
the engine which then occupied the place
where a headlight would have been seen If
the engine had been properly turned was
a little red lantern. Putting aside the
question of having two trains on the same
track in opposite directions at the same
time, the point that one of them was with
out any headlight. would seem to call for
holding some one to accountability. Il.
Meyer, the fireman, who was injured in the
wreck died on Saturday night. His
agonies were fearful, as he was scalded
from head to foot his eyes being burned
out of his head by the steam.
FORGOT THE TRAIN
Train Dispatcher Charles Brown of the
Southern Pacific forces al Tucson is out of
position, and it will probably be a long
time before he ever gets another of the
same kind, 70" he committed the one un-
pardonable sin for a railroad man in any
capacity-he forgot, and nearly cost the
company thousands of dollars and rsked
score or more of lives, In brief, he for
got train on the track and tried to have
another one going in the oppisite direction
pass 1t. In fact, he not only forgot one
train. but two. He gave an order for a
freight train to start west from Lords
burg with no meeting orders. Before that
he mad started two special freight trains
eastward. Shortly after he suddenly re-
membered the two trains rolling eastward
and jumped to his iey and called up STEMS
Pass, and asked the opera tor to hold the
westbound train there. Train passed."
came the answer. He had hope then that
he could stop ii at Lordsburg, and called
the station there, which was the last one
apparently, between the crews of the three
trains and their doom. Train left three
minutes ago, was the reply. There was
just chance yet, and Brown wired back
TO send an engine after it and catch it at
any cost. station Agent Bugbee who had
seen that something was wrong from the
appearance of the operator. had listened
10 the last message from the platform
Where he was standing. He saw an engine
at the water tank and, jumping on it.
ordered the engineer to at once start out
ana hardly took time to get the water
spout out of the tank. They caught The
tram after half hours chase at rate
OF seventy miles an hour, and found IT tak
ing water at the Playas valley tank. with
the eastbound train bearing down upon II
but on section of the line which per-
mitted them to be seen in ample time
AS soon as he heard that all of the trains
were safe, Brown sat down and wired his
resignation, which was accepted Tie has
peen a dispatcher for several years. and
iately trainmaster, but recently went back
to dispatching.
NOTES OF TRACK AND TIE
Roadmaster M. SINNERS, who has charge