Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1902-12-29
Us HE SENT A "BUsr' ORDER
his Was Conveyed to Conductor as
Reason for Signal.
TRAIN WAS SENT ON TO ITS FATE
But Grand Trunk officials Assert Belief in
Kerr's Caution.
DECLARE HE is NOT RESPONSIBLE
As work of InvestiSAtiOn Es TO Cause
of Ontario wreck Proceeds Injured
Passengers Are Cared
for in Hospital.

! LONDON, Ont, Dec. 2S--There we're no
deaths today among the persons injured In
Friday nights collision at wanstead on
the Sarnia branch OF the Grand Trunk rail-
road, between Pacific Express No. s. west
| bound, and an eastbound freight In which
twonty-eight persons lost their lives.
| The Associated Press was informed to-
night at Victoria hospital that while sew
eral of the injured are still in a serious
| condition, 1t is expected that all will re-
cover.
The body OF Fireman Ricketts, of the ex-
press train. which was last night believed
to be buried under the wrecked engines.
was found today covered with snow in the
ditch beside the track Ono arm was COM
| pletely torn of and the body was other
wise mangled. Death must have been in
| stantaueous
| 1t is believed that the body was thrown
clear Of the engine and into the deep snow
in the ditch, where in the storm and dark
ness the wreckers failed to find It Friday
night. Snow fell rapidly all that night,
so that Ricketts, body was completely
! covered at dsybreak and was not found
Today one of the mon working at the
wreck noticed little mound in the ditch
and investigation showed Ricketts' body
under the snow.
Tonight there is but one unidentified
body at the morgue here that of a woman
v was ticketed from Toronto TO Duluth.
Tho mans body which was unidentified
last night was this afternoon identified as
| that Of George d. Southern Of Lockport,
N. Y.
Carson Denies Responsibility.
Andrew Carson, the operator at watford,
the first station east of the wreck. whose
failure to deliver orders to Conductor Nc
Auliffe of the Pacific Express to pass the
freight at Wanstead, is said by the Grand
Trunk officials to have caused the wreck,
this afternoon made to the Associated
| Press his first statement since the wreck.
He says he received the order for No s.
the express, to pass the freight at Wan
! stead at 948 o'clock, but declares poslt-
| lively that few minutes later Dispatcher
| J. G. Kerr at London, called him and or
! dered him 10 ''bust'r or cancel the order.
He said:
About s:45. after calling Wyoming and
ascertaining that the freight was there. the
dispatcher called me rapidly half dozen
times. When | answered on the wire he
told me to bust this order. l wrote bust
it. across the order just No. was COM
| ing in.
Conductor McAuhffe came in and asked
me what the order board was out against
| him for. l told him that we had had an
| order for him, but the dispatcher had
| busted 1t. He asked me to hurry and
write him a clearance order, which did.
| After the train had started and was out
OF my reach the dispatcher learned that
the freight had left Wyoming. l told him
could not stop No. 5. as 1t had left He
Immediately began calling Kingscourt juno
tion, the station between Watford and Wan
| H., u.4ra -
raise them on a commercial wire. We
both failed to do this, however. until after
the express had passed the Junction"
Faith in Dispatcher Kerr.
Carson admitted that he knew that II
was against the rules to cancel a train
order without sending substitute for 1t,
but said that the dispatcher was his SUI
perior officer and he disliked to question
his order or dispute his authority to take
| this action.
Dispatcher Kerr's order book in the local
| Grand Trunk office does not show that the
order was busted" or cancelled as Carson
claims. According to the book II was still
| in force and should have been delivered to
| the conductor OF the express. Kerr has
not made any statement even to the rail-
road officials and will not until he takes
| the stand at the inquest.
Division Superintendent George @. Jones
Of Toronto says that the rule against can
ceiling or busting" train orders is the
strictest in the company's code.
81 do not believe" he said tonight, "that
It has been violated since the standard
dispatching rules went into effect. Dis
patcher Kerr is one of tho best and most
eficient dispatchers IN our service He is
the operator who accompanied the train
bearing the Duke and Duchess Of York on
| the royal tour OF Canada a year ago.
| have every confidence in him"
other Grand Trunk ofhcials who were
| present also expressed their confidence In
Kerr.
Coroner DR.. Harvey Of z4ambton county
will begin the inquest at Wyoming tomor-
row.
Condition of the Injured.
OF the fve Chicago people in Victoria
hospital, John Bird and DR.. @. Harvey,
! lecturer on anatomy at the University OF
! Chicago, are the most seriously injured
| although Russell Quinn, whose hands are
| badly scalded. is suffering a great deal OF
| pain. DR.. Harvey. who was one OF the last
persons dug out Of the telescoped coach,
is resting quietly tonight and is consid-
erably better than he was last night. He
is suffering from exposure in addition 10
his wounds.
The condition OF John Bird shows little
change from yesterday. He is suffering
considerably.
| Thomas Coote and his wife are both re-
/ ported much better tonight. Mrs. Coota
! is stll suffering from the shock and COM
! plains OF pain in her back.
John Barnes OF Woodstock, Ont, whose
leg Is broken and whose back is injured,
the house surgeons say Is probably the
most seriously injured Of any OF the
wreck victims. His condition tonight is
/ not so good and the doctors are appre-
/ hensive about him.
| ]. ]. Cuthbertson Of Port Huron. Mich,
whose mouth was badly lacerated. is suf-
| fering tonight. His wife and daughter,
who are also in the hospital. are not Sc
! riOusly injured.
/ ]. NJ. Stewart Of Oshkosh, Wis, whose
wife aud two young sons are in the hos