The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-03
Testimony of Twenty-Four shows that
Special Was Running at Least
Thirty Miles an Hour.
INJURED ARE DOING WELL
REPORTS FROM THE HOSPITALS ARE
IN OPTIMISTIC VEIN.
Hendricks johnson, of Evansville,
and l.. G. Smith, OF Lafayette, I'm the
Most Serious Condition.

The officials of the Big Four railroad who
have been conducting an investigation since
Sunday. fix the blame of Saturdays acci-
dent on the special train which carried the
Purdue students. The officials arrived at
this conclusion. finally. after completing
the work of taking testimony yesterday
evening.
There is no question in my mind" said
General Superintendent ]. Q. Van Wrinkle
last night, "but that the special train crew
was TO blame for the accident. II was run
ming as an extra train, and the men in
charge should have had IL under control
inside the yard limits. There is nothing
further to say regarding the responsibility
of the accident"
The investigation conducted by
Superintendent Paquette, of the Chicago di-
vision. and General Superintendent Van
Wrinkle. The work of taking testimony
hogan Sunday afternoon at o'clock and
was concluded yesterday evening. The
crews of both trains were examined. The
train dispatcher at Kankakee is exonerated
from blame.
The consensus of opinion among railroad
men seems TO be that the special was run
ming too fast to be under any sort OF
control. Yardmastcr Hicks says IL is a
rule of the yard for engineers running extra
trains to fairly feel their way through the
yards when there is a possibility OF col
liding with other trains Superintendent
Van Wrinkle declined to say what action
would be taken by the company toward
the crew of the wrecked train.
The investigation OF the cause OF the
wreck which was responsible for the kill
| ing of sixteen .tudents OF Purdue Unlver-
! sity and Lafayette people and the severe
| injuries of forty others, was begun yester-
day morning at o'clock i'm the coroners
office in the Marion county courthouse
! Coroner Harry ID. Tutewiler spent the en-
tire day in examining eyewitnesses OF the
wreck and in endeavoring to throw light
upon the circumstances.
Twenty-four men were placed on the
stand during the day. All of these live
in the neighborhood of the wreck or were
employed in some capacity nearby. Their
statements. for the most part were devoted
to the speed of the Purdue special train.
the rapidity with which the switching train
was moving from the opposite direction.
the appearance OF the two trains they
crashed together. the removal OF the dead
and injured and such incidents of the wreck
as came under their notice.
| OFFICIALS TESTIFY TO-DAY.
The officials of the Big Four Railroad
Company in this city did not appear before
the coroner yesterday they had not been
subpoenaed They will appear to-day and
will be placed on the stand TO answer ques-
tions concerning the orders given Con-
ductor Frank NJ. Johnson, of the special
train. Engineer Shumaker, OF the special.
Conductor Acres, OF the switching train,
| as to the practice of the road in running
special trains. particularly inside the city
| limits; to the custom in operating
switching trains within the city limits: az
to the speed at which both trains were
moving and various other queries of a tech
nical nature.
| Coroner Tutewiler believes that there will
be no difficulty in fixing the responsibility
for catastrophe terrible the one Of
Saturday morning He is convinced that
the blame can be laid with absolute GER
tainty upon or more employees Of the
railroad company. The facts that two
trains were approaching each other from
opposite directions on the main track that
the special train was running at a speed
| variously estimated at from twenty-five TO
| forty miles an hour-far In excess OF the
limit provided by the city ordinance-con-
nature as to be easily apparent during the
| investigation.
TwENTY-FoUR EXAMINED.
Twenty-four witnesses were examined
yesterday in an examination. which began
at O'Clock in the morning and ended at
in the afternoon. They were: Arthur A.
| Booking. Clark & Roberts; Ray Clifford.
Illinois street car barns; Jesse c. Moore,
! general manager Columbia School Supply
Company; Jesse Omar Kleinensmith. Co
lumbia School Supply Company; Louis Nc
Cam. Columbia School Supply Company:
| Frank Arbuckle, Clark * Roberts; Ben.
Scribner. Clark & Roberts; J. w. McNary.
Marion county heat and water plant: Wall
ter Stevens. Marion county heat and water
plant; Matt Brady. Marion county heat and
water plant; III. l. Dither. Polar Ice Com
pany; 5. III. Burford, Marion County Heat
and Water Company, George Benfer.
| Marion County Heat and Water Company:
| Fred H. Cook, Marion county heat and
water plant; Thomas OBrien. Marion coun-
| ty heat and water plant: Leuis Hoy. car
penter: Ben Haskins, Marion county heat
and water plant: {. 4; Sparks, workhouse:
| A Barnes. Cdel works: George h. Alien
Commercial Electric Company; James T.
Bailey G. r. Kregelo and John Bodine
The principal result OF the investigation
was determine that the special
train was running al least thirty miles
OF all these witnesses agrees in the main
on that point. Many OF them told the cor
oner that they were surprised TO see so
large a train speeding through the city at
| that velocity.
A. A. BARNES TESTIFIES.
A. A. Barnes. president OF the U6ell
works. In North Indianapolis. testified that
he was standing at window OF his office
when he heard the roar OF the oncoming
train and looked up. IL was about 10
CONTINUED ON PAGE G. COL A.