The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-08-10
THE TRAGEDY AT SIRATFORD
Continued from First Page.)

port. He said that he was aboard TIL
car on the fatal trip and occupied the
second seat from the front. AS the cal
ran down the incline approaching The
bridge it's speed was not unusual. He
was positive that the motorman haC
the brake half on" AS the car wa:
about to run onto the trestle he left his
seat and, crawling under the protecting
rail, stepped onto the running board, IT.
order to examine the under work of the
bridge as he crossed. 1t was his first
=. trip across this bridge, and he was GU
rious to examine the bridge. His po-
sition on the running board was at q
point not five feet distant from the mo-
torman, he said, so that he was able tc
know what the motorman was doing
| When the car left the tracks he saw the
motorman apply full brakes" He
knew that the brakes were on, not only
from the position of the brake crank in
the hands of the motorman, straight
| out in front, but having ridden often on
cars he was able to detect the sound of
the brakes on the wheels. The motor
man grasped the brake crank with
both hands and leaned to one side.
| fell off and down into the mud in the
| pond bed.
Kelly was piled with searching ques-
tions by the jurors. He was positive,
however, in his statements as to the
speed of the car, and that the motor
man had applied full brakes" He was
unable to say whether the current was
ION or off,
The next witness was Andrew Radel,
president Of the Milford Street Railway
company, on whose extension the ac-
cidcnt occurred. He testified that the
wrecked car was owned by the Bridge
port Traction company and leased to
the Milford company; that it was IN
good shape; on its third summer and
in no sense an old car. The car, like
all others Of the company, had been In
spected as usual When this road was
opened President Radel went to Super
intendent Butler of the Bridgeport
Traction company and told him he
wanted a number of the best and most
experienced men available to put on
the extension until new men could be
broken in. On Sunday the cars We're
all manned by experienced men,
The usual trip time from Bridgeport
to shelton and return had been two and
a half hours, but on Sunday he had or
dered that tire time be extended so as
to make the trips on three hour sched-
ules. Extra inspectors were also on
duty on Sunday. On Friday he went
over the road with Engineer Starr, look
ing on spots which needed improve
ment On this trip guard rails on this
trestle was discussed, and while 1t was
thought that the bridge was perfectly
safe in this respect, 1t was decided to
order iron guard rails to be placed on
the bridge inside the wooden guard rails
to reassure any that might be timfd.
Accordingly on Friday afternoon the
Berlin Iron company was ordered by
telephone to place such guard rails in
position. President Radel has known
Motorman Hamilton for four years and
considered him a safe man. When ask
ed his opinion as to the cause of the
catastrophe, President Radel said: Il
cannot say. | don't know what to
think
He then cited instances where injus-
tice had been done by him to motormen
for the deralment o. cars, when they
were not derailed because of rapid run
ming.
Superintendent Butler Of the Bridge
port Traction company, the next wit
ness called to the stand, testified that
on Friday and Saturday of last week he
had warned motormen and inspectors
that cars run on this new road must
ho al 10 al uh To T1f
speed At the time The instructions
We're given, he said. Motorman Hamil-
ton, who was in charge of the car which
went over the side of the bridge, was
present.
In the course of the examination Su-
perintendent Butler said that the en-
tire length of the road was about fifteen
miles, possibly little short of that,
making a round trip about twenty
miles
Henry Dupres, car inspector, testi-
fled that on Saturday night previous TO
the accident he had inspected a number
of cars in the shed Among the number
was the one which was wrecked the
next day. He was confident that the
car was in perfect condition al that
time, or when it left the barn Sunday
morning. John Wiseran, another in
spector, said that on Friday night he
had placed new set of brake shoes on
the car in question
Engineer Starr next was called and
offered some figures made from meas
urements on the bridge soon after the |
accident occurred. He said that the
conditions of the rails indicated that