The San Francisco call., 1899-07-18

70 take water. 1 knew there was a special
brakeman back with red light to flag the
extra. l judge the special was running at a
on the rear of the train. heard first the
crossing whistle; then 1 heard one long
/ which l supposed was an answer to my flag
In reply to District Attorney Walthall.
the witness gould not tell from his or
| ders when the special would overtake
take the sidetrack at Newman.
Question-whose duty is IT open the
switch?
fall on either train. 1 told my brakeman be-
fore we got here to permit the extra to pass
on the sidetrack 1t was unsafe TO throw the
switch for train coming at the speed the
special moving. II was running faster than
| far as he could-I think about far the
switch. The signal lights should have been
seen mile.
G.. F. Swart. a brakeman on the freight
train, was called. He said:
started right back TO flag the special as
soon as l got in. l signaled right across the
the light They answered with two blasts Of
the whistle. They were going thirty-fve miles
an hour when the engine passed me Inc me
switch was about 400 feet from the rear OF my
| train. 1 hoped off the track just at the switch
and the special went by. 1 had no time TO
throw the switch
A. P. Allen, engineer of the special. tes-
tilted that he had been working for the
Southern Pacific since 1885, Said he:
I have been working in the shops and run
ming extras We left Sacramento at 1907 p. m.
I and arrived here at 2:8S a. m. 1 had orders TO
pass 245 when overtaken; had no orders to pass
| at any point. 1 understand that the freight
could stop here or go on. At the whistling post
half mile out I saw the first signal was
running thirty-ive miles hour. l saw the
semaphore white 1 expected It red
thought there would be orders. l whistled and
| he gave me red and changed to white. After
/ got the board white did not expect to stop.
/ The order allows me to close up within the
ten minutes, or l never could pass them. after
he g1hn L
Then got a violent signal TO stop-a lantern
signal across the track. l was then only eight
car lengths from the freight. I applied the
air. opened the sandbox and started TO reverse
the engine. The semaphore light L saw dis
tinctly but the lights the rear of the freight
were so dim that I could not them. The
train on the track. The night was clear.
After getting signals that there were no or
ceived the clear board would have kept slow
ing down. , -,
was going twenty miles an hour when l met
the fagman. l was awake to the fact that
the train four minutes ahead of me. When
I saw the red light on the semaphore | was
about stop. Then the white was shown
which told me that the track was clear.
To Juror Crow-I would have stopped if the
red signal had been shown. The signals de
cefved me- The change from red to white
shows clear board
J.. s. Fassett, conductor of the special,
testified that he had been in the Southern
Pacific service since 1888. He was on the
{
said:
The orders to pass a train give right to
close up on the train ahead. 1t IS useless to
close in at any other point than station; Inc me
engineer had the same orders that / had. We
figured on catching the freight at Newman
and that it would be held. The semaphore
signal is not a protection signal 1t is to keep
trains ten minutes apart. 1 intended to stop
here TO ask for orders.
Brakeman Swart was called and testi-
fed that he swung a red lantern to warn
the special. The freight, when 1t came
in stopped at the water tank and did not
move until struck by the special. A bag
/ gage car instead of a caboose was at the
/ rear of the freight. Just as the freight
| stopped he got off and ran back as far as
he could. Four minutes after the freight
| arrived the special struck.
witness as to what he was doing during
! the four minutes. as 1t took only two
| minutes TO run back.
s. w Creigh, fireman of the special
testified that he was on the engine when
1--WE slowed down considerably coming
into Newman said he: THE engineer
get off. We were going fifteen. or twenty
miles an hour. 1 was not hurt"
Responding to pointed questions by the
that he had been interviewed by Superin-
tendent Agler and Assistant Superintend-
ent Thompson since the disaster. He was
still in the service of the company and
nothing was said by them regarding his
future services.
Il have no knowledge that the company
has fixed the blame on any one" he de-
clared
1t was disclosed in the preceding testi-
mony that Engineer Allen jumped before
the crash came.
Robert Aiken, engineer of the freight,
testified:
We looked back and saw the special coming
We were taking water. 1 had a heavy train
of thirty and could not get out of the
way.
Conductor Mofitt of the freight train
was recalled and testified that he walked
at fair gait from his train to the tele-
graph office.
F. ]. Cavanaugh, brakeman the
freight, was the tank taking water.
He saw the semaphore at red and saw 1t
changed TO white.
c. b. Nash, brakeman on the rear end Of
the special, testified that he heard two
whistles in answer to a signal.
NJ. B. Mangon, brakeman on the special,
testified that he saw a brakeman with a
white light near the wreck.
Deputy Coroner Bowker advised the
Jurors to consider all the facts. and If
they found that the disaster due to
negligence or Carelessness upon the part
of the Southern Pacific or it's employees 1t
was their duty to so report in the YER
dict. The room was then cleared and the
jury began its deliberations.
masks, which completely covered their