The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-07-11
STORIES OF THE TOWN.

the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Com
pany, is former train dispatcher and rail-
road man. While he was telegraph oper-
ator at New Albany, a good many years
ago, he was charged with having caused a
wreck in which fireman killed. a
young woman operator saved him from a
probable sentence of several years in the
penitentiary by testifying that he did not
cause the wreck.
1.-The circumstance occurred while 1 was
a telegraph operator in the office of the
general superintendent of the Louisville,
Evansville & st. Louis Railroad, at New |
Albany, Ind.," said Mr.. Killen.
''At that time there was road called the |
Corydon branch, which ran from Corydon, |
the old state capital of Indiana, to Corydon |
Junction, where it connected with the main |
line of the L. E. & st. l.. The road was nine |
miles long, and was operated independently |
of the l.. Z. & ST. l.. road
"At that time the superintendent Of the |
Corydon branch was also agent at Corydon
and conductor of the only train the road
ran. He used to also run his train from
Corydon Junction into New Albany from
the l.. E. & st. l.. tracks. He came into
the office one morning and reported ready
to return to Corydon Junction, and called
the train dispatcher and asked him for or
ders for the Corydon train. The train had
no rights on the l.. 4. x st. l.. road except
when special rights were given by the train
dispatcher.
During the night one of the regular east
bound freight trains had been annulled, but
a short time after the order for annulment
had been issued the dispatcher found it nee
essary TO make an extra and run 1t east
from Huntingburg, so when the Corydon
train asked for orders the train dispatcher
gave him an order to meet the extra at
Georgetown. 1t was customary for the OPP
orator to have q bunch of orders on hand
| covering the annulment OF regular sched-
! uled trains, but L happened to have only
| one copy of the order. l accordingly deliv-
| cred the order TO meet the east-bound eX-
| ira, one copy for the conductor and one for
| the engineer and L delivered but one copy
| of the annulment order, as the conductor
said that he would give that copy TO the
| engineer. The train, consisting OF engine
one baggage and enc express car and one
coach started on its way TO Corydon juno
/ zion with these orders. But, instead of taxi
| ing the side track at Georgetown, as they
| had orders to do, they went past George
| town at the rate of about twenty-five miles
| an hour. Just west of Georgetown the train
| collided with the east-bound extra, killing
| the fireman of the extra and seriously
| injuring the engineer of the Corydon train,
| derailing and demolishing both locomotives.
| 1.-The body of the fireman was brought to
| New Albany where coroners inquest was
held and /, with the trainmen, was called
| to give testimony in the investigation. The
| wreck occurred at about noon, and the in
quest was not held until the following morn
ing, and / was very much surprised to find
| an account of the wreck in the morning pa
per pointing to me as the probable cause of
| the wreck. / was further surprised at the
| coroner'S inquest when / heard the evidence
| of the superintendent of the Corydon road
| land the conductor of the Corydon train),
| which was to the effect that he had re-
| ceived but one order from the operator at
the general superintendents office, and that
| order the annulment OF the east-bound,
| regular scheduled train.
'There was a young man in my office
at the time that 1 made the delivery of the
orders, and L naturally became much inter-
ested in this young man and what he had
seen at the time the orders were delivered.
But when l found him and questioned him
all he could swear to was that he saw me
deliver more than one copy TO the conduc-
tor. He did not know whether there were
two or three copies of the order, but he did
know there was more than one. This
seemed to be the only testimony that had
to sustain my side.
THE conductor testified that he had ac-
tually received two copies of the annulment
order, but had received no order to meet
the east-bound extra In order, then, TO SUBJ
stantiate his testimony it was necessary
for him to show the two copies of the an
| nulment order that he had received, and
when he did show the two copies, you can
see that my case was weak one. Things
looked badly for me, indeed. The inquest
was adjourned and L made a report to the
general superintendent concerning the tes-
timony.
LAS these train orders are taken on It's
sue paper through carbon sheets, Ii would
have been an easy matter for the conductor
provided he could secure blank sheet of
order paper, to have traced the copy he
already had, through carbon on to another
blank sheet, and thus produce a fac-simile
copy of the one which actually gave him:
The fact of the matter was, If he produced
another copy of the ORDER the evidence
= | against would be very strong, and
!, probably would be convicted of criminal
his part we'll to convict me, and this
!, | he failed TO do.
e Gle went to Corydon Junction, where a
|, ! young lady was employed operator, a
| Miss Adelia Bennett, whom L will always
have occasion to thank Contrary to his
usual disposition, which partook of some
| arrogance and superiority over this young
Z | lady, he offered TO stay and watch her Of
> flee for her while she went to dinner. She
Z | gladly accepted his offer and started to hel
: Dime, but before she had gone a great dis
!. lance IL occurred TO her that Ii was an un
: usual proceeding and in view of the ex
. element that was caused py the accident
n peep i'm the window and see IL everything
was all right before she went on. AS sh,
aid so she discovered the conductor will
:. her pad of order blanks and stencil care
:. fully tracing a copy of the order. Sh
a stepped in the Office and asked him what h
!, was doing. He got very much excited am
" | told her that ne was not doing anything
= and In the meantime tearing up. in he
presence the copy he had made and ais
~ the original copy Of the order
Miss Bennett had seen the papers an
knew the effort that was being made {
charge me with the death OF the fireman
and she told the conductor that she wa
= | going TO call me and tell me the circum
N stances. IN his effort to persuade her not /
=, | dotthis ~ confded in her, telling her III
- whole story. and pleaded with her not {
:, | notify me. But she, very much To my re
p lief. did notify me that she had valuabl
- testimony to give before the coroner. an
in NY interests. She was accovdingl
brought before the coroner the followin
morning. but before she told her story III
conductor had crossed the Ohio border an
sf was out of reach.
r. "The case was hedged up by little NOR
"a than ordinary disadvantages to me hecaus
1T | the conductor was she general superintenS
"A ert of the corporation owning the Corydo
81 railroad. which corporation. presume. III
Or the law. was financially responsible Il