Omaha daily bee., 1902-12-30
KERR DETAILS HIS ORDER
Tsstihes to Messages Sent Prior to Ontario
Vra n Disaster.
ADMITS THAT He WIRED MAY BUST IT."
Operator Carson Then Relates HIS Re-
eeiDt OF Messages, but swenrs He
Did Not Catch Qualifying
Word "May."

Ont, Dec. 29.-The ipouest
INTO the cause OF the death Of the victims
OF the recent accident on the Grand Trunk
railway at WaDstead was begun here TO-DAY
dispatcher James Kerr. who sent tho
train from London, was called. Kcrr's owl
oence was TO the effect that ne cent orders
TO the Watford and Wyoming operators
simultaneously t. have the express moot
sne iIeight at Wanstcad. Shortly after
wyoming reported to the dispatcher that
.ne lrelsnt was slow In getting out, Kerr's
order was properly repeated back by both
operators and Kerr marked II go X"
Kerr asked Wyoming why the freight was
now In going out. Wyoming replied that
ne did not know. Kerr then called Wat
tord and asked II No. 5 was coming. Wat
lords reply being Yes" Kerr said: May
bust it." ""'
wyoming then reported the freight pull
ing out. Kerr said: Let her 90" He
then called the Watford operator. who e.
ported No. 5 had gone and that he had
busted the order for No. 5. Kerr then
called Wyoming and told him to stop the
freight. Wyoming answered 81 can't"
herr said: You must stop her."
Collision Had Occurred.
Kerr then called Kings Court for seven
or eight minutes before raising that office.
Kings Court reported No. 5 had passed
IN a Few minutes Wanstead called the dis
patoher asking IL the trains we're to cross
at Wsnstead, as he had heard a noise and
mad run from his house thinking there was
trouble. In a few minutes Assistant super-
intendent Costello. who was on the express
train called Kerr and asked for the auxiI-
larry to be sent, as a collision had occurred.
W. J. Hanna, who appeared for Carson,
hi =. -
ined Kerr.
Al the afternoon session Dispatcher Kerr
was recalled. Solicitor Pope of the Grand
Trunk put him through a lengthy cross
examination on the subject Of the COM
pany's rules for operators and dispatchers.
The witness would not say that the Xmas
Court operator, James Troyer, was remiss
in his duties.
Andrew Carson, the Watford operator, at
whose door is laid the responsibility of the
accident by the Grand Trunk officials, fol-
lowed Kerr on the stand. He appeared
cool and collected. He got the order for
the two trains to cross at wanstead and
displayed his order board to stop the ex-
press. Soon after he heard Wyoming tell
OF the delay to the freight and then the
London dispatcher called the witness and
said: Bust It," He did not hear the word
NSSAAa ~ JUDI I
The express had stopped and the con-
ductor asked for his order, but the witness
told him II had been Cancelled and gave
the conductor a clearance order.
Bust it. Is a common form OF cancel
lation OF orders, he said. He did not get
a formal order annulling It. There was no
written record Of the order bust it,"
w. C. Watson, a young man 10 years OF
age who is the operator at Wyoming. testi-
fed as follows:
The special freight pulled in and l
gave Conductor Graham an order to take
the siding at Wanstead. His engine took
en- water. London called me to hurry up
the freight train. When 1 got an order TO
stop the Freight l wired that it was toe
late. I rushed out of doors with a lantern
and the caboose of the freight was Just
passing me. l signalled the rear brakeman
to stop, and yelled at him to stop. / thought
he heard me, as he gave the stop signal.
l then threw up my stop signal, which 4
a semaphore, about half a mile from the
station. Yes, 1t was IN working order,
but is not now. 1t was all right before
and after the accident
Conductor Gives His Side.
Conductor Graham Of the special east
bound freight said:
II received my order at Wyoming to take
the siding at Wanstead. The engine took
on water. My rear brakeman signaled to
stop and l slgnaled all right. l thought
he meant Wanstead. The semaphore was
not displayed and there was no stop signal.
/ proceeded to Wanstead, but owing to the
snow the engineer did not see the switch
and ran several car lengths by. It was
necessary to back up.
The train was at q standstlll, on the
main track, when No. 8 doomed up. It
was but a few feet from us. As I jumped
and touched the ground the crash came.
The engineer also jumped. No. 5 could
not have stopped at the rate It was going,
even II IL had had orders to stop
Rear Brakeman Hardness OF the freight
next testified. He said: ~ was on top
Of the caboose and saw a man signaling
stop from the depot and thought II was
my conductor. l slgnaled ahead TO stop
and the front brakeman and conductor an
swered me. / could not think who IL Was
signaled from the depot when the con-
duetor slgnaled from the train all right.