Evening journal., 1900-09-04
THOUGHT GROVES ONE OF
THE BEST MEN IN SERVICE
Rule Is That All Trains Must be Held
That Are Not Five Min
uieS Apart

Philadelphia. Sept Responsibility
for the accident at Hatfield, on the
Bethlehem branch Of the Philadelphia
and Reading railway. Sunday, in which
l3 persons We're killed and more than
90 were injured. has not yet been
definitely fastened upon any one. The
Reading officials are investigating the
whole affair, as are also District At
torney Hendricks and Coroner Nc
Glathery, Of Montgomery county, in
which county the collision occurred.
The only official statement made public
yesterday came from General Manager
sweigard. Of the Reading company. all
other officials and employees of the rail-
road having been forbidden to say any
thing at the present time. Mr.. Swell
CARDS statement is as follows:
IL wish to state in detail the causes
leading up to Sundays accident, 80 far
us have been able to learn them in
tho absence Of interviews with some OF
the more important witnesses concern
ed.
"The primary cause was the fog Had
there been no fog. there would have
been no accident.
The next cause was the telegraph
wires, which worked badly. The mols-
ture In the atmosphere made them
slow and heavy, rendering it difficult
to get messages through.
The third cause may be found In the
possibility that the dispatcher at the
Philadelphia Terminal, who had
charge OF the running OF the trains.
waited too long in sending necessary
orders when he knew the condition Of
the wires This man is at the Ter
minal, and has direct charge OF the
running OF trains. He has an operator
at his side constantly. and, as the
trains are reported az the various
points, the operator turns the time
over to him. The sheet upon which
the operator marks the time is marked
for all trains from Bethlehem. Will
lam S. Groves, the dispatcher, has been
handling the trains for five years past.
He was with me when l was superln-
tendent. He has held every position
brakeman. conductor, operator-ev-
erything that can 60 to make an ALI
around, practical railroad man. / have
all along considered William S. Groves
one of the best men this road has. I
had the utmost confidence in him. and
when l placed him in charge / knew
that he could be relied upon. / think
this man made a mistake-that is, he
waited too long.
When the two trains passed Per-
kasie they were q minutes apart. At
Sellersvllle, as near as l can remem-
ber. where they should have been IA
minutes apart, the interval was IL
minutes. The special was still closing
up the space. Telford showed an in
terval OF six minutes. Then came
Souderton. There was where they ex-
pected to block the special. At Souder-
ton the two trains were only three
minutes apart. Now. the rules of ev-
cry station, the rules printed on the
back OF all the time tables, tell a man
he must hold all trains that are not
five minutes apart. I can't tell whether
the station agent at Souderton dis
played the signal stopping the special.
Both the agent and the operator were
on duty. They were selling tickets for
the second section, which was a pick
up, and was following after. Every
one knew about the special. have an
idea that they put out the stop sig
nal, and that the engineer went on.
But he is in the hospital I have sent
o man to him"
District Attorney Hendricks and
Coroner McGlathery started out early
IN an endeavor to get at the
bottom of the catastrophe. They first
looked into the jury panel from
which the coroner's jury win be Sc
lected, after which they visited Lans-
dale, where the dead were taken before
removal to their homes From there
they visited the scene of the collision
at Hatfield, and late in the afternoon
the two officials visited the Injured per-
sons at st. Lulxe's hospital. at South
At st. Luke's hospital there are ten
persons badly hurt, the most serious
being Engineer Davis. Of the excursion
train. The physicians have strong
hopes that all the injured viii recover.
Yesterday was visitors day at the hos
pital, and steady stream or persons
visited the injured all during the dav.
The sufferers are allowed to talk with
The exception Of Engineer Davis and
Wagner. OF tho excursion
train who are cf.rppnad Prom, ~, e,..r.