Omaha daily bee., 1901-01-19
BLAMES ROCK ISLAND ROAD
Jury Believes Locomotive Cant Run Away
Unless 1t 10 Neglected.
WITNESSES FAIL TO fATHon THE MYSTERY
Have Faith In Perfect Condition of
Engine. and why II starts ON
After Being Left Alone
Puzzles Them All.

The inquest held yesterday over Jesse
Il. Bell the colored porter on tho ROCK
Island road killed Thursday morning In
! a collision between a runaway switch en-
| CINE and an omaha & st. Louis passenger
| train Just east of the transfer depot. failed
to throw any light on the reason for the
| locomotive making a wild run of its own
accord. The jury however, decided that
| the Rock Island Railway company was
not wholly blameless In the matter. as In
| its verdict. after finding that Bells death
| was caused by the collision. 1t added a
rider to the effect that it believed the ac-
cident would not have occurred bad due
| diligence been observed by the Chicago
| Rock Island e. Pacific Railway company
/ through it's employees.
The inquest lasted the entire day and a
large number of witnesses were examined.
During the afternoon a recess was taken
and the members of the jury visited the
scene OF the collision and viewed the over
| turned car which crushed out the porter s
life and which is still lying on its side by
| the track at the east switch. The jury
! empanelcd by Coroner Treynor comprised
T.. E. Belknap, John Bohn and c. s. Hub
bard
| The first witness examined was G. Seager
foreman of the Rock Island roundhouse.
To the best OF his knowledge switch en-
gine No. SO, which was responsible for the
! accident. was in perfect condition and he
| could not tell what caused II to run out
! His testimony showed that the engine had
been run into the roundhouse about
o'clock that morning by Engineer Mess
mer behind switch engine %. which was
| being got ready to go out. In order ia
clear the way for engine 90 No. SO was
taken by the hostler down the track and
then run onto what Is known as the "cinder'
track. The hostler. whose duty II was to
attend to No. SO, had TO get an engine
ready for train No. 81. and while he was
thus engaged No. 81 started on its wild
race for the transfer He judged the en-
gine had been left unattended about thirty
minutes.
Had Becn In shops for Repairs.
d. Ryan. the hostler. was the first tc
discover that No. SO had disappeared and
| reported the fact to him. Witness said
he told Ryan that he thought the engine
crew had taken the locomotive out and
told Ryan to look for II. He testified fur.
ther that No. SO had been in the shops fol-
repairs about two months ago and thai
Engineer Messmer had not reported any
thing wrong with IL when he brought tn,
engine in after the nights work.
y. Ryan. the hostlcr in charge OF tn,
switch engine, No. SO. testified substan
TALLY to the same facts as Foreman Seager
He said that as soon as he noticed the en-
gine had disappeared he came to the con
clusion 1t had gone off by itself. Wher
he left II on the cinder track the engin,
appeared to be all right and the revers,
| ba nd h.
entirely shut off. He could give no ex
planation of what caused the engine t,
run away, except that it was possible tina
someone had climbed into the cab an,
opened the throttle
| Yardmaster |. s. Peck testified that abou
$40 o'clock he asked how soon switch en-
gine No. SO could be made ready as H.
needed 1t very badly. The hostler told hin
in about twenty minutes. He returned Il
his office and a minute later received wor
'ver the telephone that the engine ha
disappeared. The witness said he had n
knowledge of what caused the engine {
break away.
Fifteen Miles an Hour
f, G. Loper, one of n switching crew
testified to seeing No. SO start down tn
track shortly after No. 23 had left tn
; ! roundhouse, The crew on No. % CAV
5 chase, but failed to overtake the runaway
, When witness first saw No SO 1t appeare
l to be going about seven or eight miles a
3 hour This speed increased to about iftee
/, miles when the runaway passed him.
The testimony of Foreman w. +. Snydc
: was substantially the same as the last wit
/, ness Several other witnesses. incudin
e the members OF the train crews OF tn
Q Rock Island and the Omaha & ST. Lou
passenger trains. were examined, but thei
n testimony was unimportant. The testimon
OF Engineer Mcbride OF the Rock Islam
o passenger train, into which the wild en-
gine bumped at the depot, was taken owe
the telephone from Valley Junction. Er
gineer Mcbride was the first to board tn
engine after it had run into his train. II
testified that he found the reverse lever
= little back OF the center.
Bells body was taken to Iowa City yes