The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-02-14
CLOUD OF DENSE STEAM
Tt Is Responsible for Sunday
Mornings Collision.
DEATH OF 7. {. FINNEGAN
Coroner's Jury Finds That the Accident
in Which the Unfortunate Man
Met Death Was Unavoid-
able-The Testimony.

l
of T. E. Finnegan's death in the rail-
road collision Sunday morning near
Meaderville. The verdict was that de-
ceased came to his death under cir
cumstances unavoidable. A dense wall
of steam was the direct cause of the
accident. 1t was in this cloud Of steam
that two trains met. 1t was a small
cloud, but dense. The story is told by
several witnesses as follows:
| D. r. Hopkins, switchman for the
| Northern Pacific road, had charge of
the engine. Il had just returned from
the Colusa with five cars of ore and
| four Of lumber, which / had delivered
to the Northern Pacific and was back
| ing into the with four empty cars.
In the back trip we met the other en-
| CINE right at the switch. The result
was a collision which totally demol.-
| ished two flat cars. l was in the car
next to the engine. Finnegan was on
| the car farthest from the engine. We
were backing. We were going three or
| four miles an hour. 1t was impossible
| to see the other train on account of
! the steam which arose from the pond
| of water near the smelters, near the
|
| accident occurred l notified the agent
and yardmaster. l heard no warning
| whistle from the other train. The first
| intimation l Rad that an accident had
| occurred saw Firnegan's hands go up
and just then l saw the cars piled up.
| Finnegan was dead when | reached
him. He had been switchman's help
er in my charge for about a month or
| six weeks. There was no reason to be-
| lieve that another train was in the
vicinity. The engineer of the other
| train could not see the switch on ac-
count of the fog"
Michael Monohan, engineer of the
Northern Pacific. testified in substance
| the same as the first witness. His tes-
timony in the main was with reference
to the fog and it's possible cause; also
as to rules of railroaders in similar
cases. No rule requires engineers to
| ring the bell at that point, fog or no
fog. He described Finnegan's position
| under the car after the collision. He
had gone through this particular wave
of fog only few minutes previous and
had no reason to suppose that any
other trains were near there.
Peter Larsen, fireman on the North
ern Pacific, was firing for Engineer
Monohan and knew nothing about the
accident that had already been told.
He, however, noted the density of the
he could not see further ahead than
two car lengths, yet he saw the car in
which Finnegan was riding jump into
the air. and it was the fourth car from
him. He attributed this to the fact
that the car jumped into the air higher
than the fog, and the jurors looked at
each other inquiringly.
William Friedler, switchman for the
Northern Pacific crew, rode on the car
with Finnegan. He told about the col
lision. He was sitting on the side of
the car and Finnegan was standing
near him on the car. He saw no cars
approach and knew nothing of the col
lision until the crash came. He said
that he was approaching the wall of
steam and had only entered it, appar
entity, when the collision occurred. He
was knocked over into the pool of warm
water from which the steam and mist
arose. He heard no signals. The noise
of the train and other rumbling about
the smelters he believed, would have
prevented him hearing a whistle if one
had been blown at the crossing 600 feet
from the switch.
The coroner here observed that this
was a case of sans hearing and see
ing.
Patrick Flynn, switchman for the
Northern Pacific crew in charge of
engine No 1874, said: Il left South Butte
Pacific transfer and had reached a
point about Is car lengths from where
l was to leave the cars when the col
lision occurred. I was going about four
miles an hour We were showing the
cars and could not see the engine $50
and the cars approaching on account
Of the mist at that point. We signalled
by blowing the whistle before we reach
ed the crossing about 200 yards from
the point where the accident occurred.
There was much noise in the vicinity,
which no doubt prevented the other
crew from hearing the signal. I attrib-
ute the fatality to the presence of the
steam or fog. We did not ring or sig
nal for the fog. The only precauti0n
we took was to slow down to five miles
an hour. The limit is, I believe six
miles in the yard. AS soon as the crash
came I left the engine and ran to the
end car, where I saw Finnegan, who
was unable to reply to my questions.
He was apparently dead"
Charles Brebner, engineer on engine
934, testified, but his story added no
new light. He blew the whistle about
200 feet from the crossing. He ven
tured the suggestion that the steam
might have deadened the sound of the
whistle. He blamed the steam for the
accident.
Joe Reholtz, f1feman on engine No.
s34. was shoveling coal into the fire
box when the crash came and that Is
about all he knew about it. He re-
membered that his engines whistle was
blown at the several crossings before
reaching the fatal wall of mist.
Walter B. Dye was the switchman
who rode on the car next to engine 1874,
and told the story, which agreed in es-
sential points to that given by previous
witnesses. He did not know what they
had struck at first thinking possibly
that the head car had been blown up
by dynamite.
c. J. Leonard, another of the 934
switching crew, was the last witness
and corroborated the statements of the
witnesses preceding him.