The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-09-04
THE READING
ACCIDENT NOT
YET CLEA!I.RE;.D)S.U|P.. E.
Responsibility Of the Terrible Fatal
ity Unlnown--Ge General Manager !
Makes Statement
PRIMARY IlII IA CAUSE WAS FOG.
Telegraph Wires Worked Badly-Dts-
patcher Waited Too Long to
Send a Message. .S3 NH

- &AAiAfhi'A-S2 - A<Nt - = -
siblllty for the accident at Hatfield. on
the Bethlehem branch OF the Phlladel.
phia & Reading railway yesterday, in
which thirteen persons were killed and
more than fifty were injured, has not
yet been definitely fastened upoE any
one. The Reading. officials are inresti-
eating the whole affair, as are also Dis:
strict Attorney Hendricks and Coroner
3fcGlathery. OF Montgomery county. 10
which county the collision occurred.
The only official statement made public
to-day 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:
81 wish to state in detail the causes
leading up to yesterdays accident SO
far, as have been able to learn them
this morning. in the absence OF inter-,
views with some of the more important
witnesses concerned.
..The primary cause was the fog. Had
there been no fog there would have
been no accident.
t.The next cause was the telegraph
wires. which were working badly. The
moisture in the atmosphere made them
slow and heavy, rendering 1t difficult
TO get messages through.
The Third Cause.
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 conditions Of
the wires. This man is at the terminal
and has direct charge of the running Of
trains He has an operator at his side
constantly. and as trains are reported
at the various points the operator turns
the timetable over to him. The sheet
upon which the operator marks the
tiu7eis marked for all trains from Beth
lehem. William S. Groves. the dis.
;pa,cher, has been handling the trains
:! for i've years past IIrS5 was sStwitns
me when was superintendent. He
has held every position - brakeman,
conductor. operator-everything that
can go to make an all-round, practical
railroad man. I have all along consd-
cred William S. Groves one OF the bes.
!, ,t-Hr \ bnc to, q,
confidence in him, and when I placed
him in charge l knew that he could lie
relied upon. think this man made
4 mistake-that is, he waited too long.
The Milk Train.
Now. OF the trains concerned In the
accident, one was a milk train, which
left Bethlehem at $50 a. M The spe-
cial left at sos. showing space OF As
minutes between them. All the engin-
GERS had duplicate orders;earh one of
them had not only his own orders, but
also the orders OF the other man. 20
that both knew just how the two trains
were moving. When they passed Per-
kasie they were q minutes apart. At
sellersville. as near as can remember,
where they should have been II min
utes apart, the interval was IL minutes.
The special was still closing up the
space. Then was the time he should
have tried 10 get an order through to
hold up the special. But the trains
had passed that point. There were still
two telegraph stations remaining. Tel
ford showed an interval OF six min
utes. Then came Souderton.
There was where they expected to
block the special. At Souderton the
two trains were only three minutes
apart.
Rules Of the Company.
Now. the rules OF every station, the
rules printed on the back OF all time
tables, tell u man he must hold all
trains that are not Ave minutes apart.
) I can't tell whether the station agent at
souderton displayed the sisnat stop
ping the special. Both the agent md
the operator were on duty. They were
selling tickets to the second section.
which was o pickup, and was, follow
Ing after. Every one knows about the
special. I have an idea that they put
out the stjr signal. and tha. the en-
gineer went on. But he is In the hos
pltal. I haye sent n man to him. Auy-
thin. supplementary will be made pub
{ lie Tomorrow"
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