The San Francisco call., 1904-03-01
PORTER TAYLOR
MAKES DEFENSE
Claims His Train Should
Have Kept Main Line and
Other Taken the Siding
CALLED OUT OF PULLMAN
Says He Was Busy When the
Train Stopped, but Hurried
Forward to Set Switch
CALLED OUT OF PULLMAN
Oakland Office San Francisco Call,
Ills Broadway, Feb. 20.


Fe at Luzon station. which caused the
death of Engineers L. L. Baker and
James Bennett and the serious injury
of Fireman Edward Thomas. rests
upon Alvin Taylor, the colored porter.
upon whom the Santa Fe Company
had imposed the duties of head brake
man of the Chicago express. which po-
sition, when the test came. he proved
woefully unable to fill. Taylor, who
has been arrested on the order of
Coroner Curry of Contra Costa County
pending an investigation of the wreck
and is now confined in the County Jail
at Martinez, made a statement to the
effect that he had miscOnstrued his
orders and had thrown No. on to
the siding instead of letting it through
on the main line.
He says that he was in the chair
car attending to the wants of the pas
sengers when No. stopped at Luzon
switch to allow the westbound train
to pass and was called out to go ahead
and set the switch. Taylor says that
the eastbound train had always kept
the main line when passing No. 3 and
! that when he left the cars he did not
notice that his train was on the sid
ing instead of ON the main line, and
that he went ahead and set the switch
to let No. 3 in on the siding as he had
always done before.
| AS the headlight of the Oncoming
train fell upon the waiting cars he
realized that he had made a terrible
| mistake, but it was then too. late, and
in another moment the crash had
| come. Taylor's statement that No. s
had always held the main line, allow
ing No, to take the sidetrack, is
! looked upon with doubt by local rail-
road men. who say that incoming
trains are always given the right of
way over those bound eastward, and
the fact that Engineer Baker did not
| slow up as he approached the switch
lends color to the theory that he was
accustomed to passing the eastbound
train OF the main line without slowing
up to take the siding.
If the statement made by Taylor is
true and the passing orders were
| changed, it was an act of criminal
carelessness to. send the porter-b brake
man ahead to set the switch without
| informing him of the change of or
| ders. Taylor has made a statement
to the officials of the road. but this
has not been made public and will not
| be until the inquest, which will be held
the latter part of the week.
The funeral of Engineer Baker
will be held at Point Richmond at
| o'clock tomorrow morning. The SER
vices will be conducted by the Rev.
| DR. Mcdonald, pastor of the Presby-
| terian church at Point Richmond.
The funeral of Engineer Bennett
will be held at Stockton on Wednes-
| day.
The local officials of the Santa Fe
road were not disposed yesterday to
enter into a discussion of the train
wreck, explaining that they had not
vet received a full report of the affairs
from the officers in whose jurisdiction
! the accident occurred. Said one of
| the officials yesterday:
| IT is apparent to our minds that the colored
| porter did what he thought was right. Dut
| evidently his mind was ratified. Usually these
unfortunate accidents are easily traced 70 the
| act Of some excited individual who cannot 9e
| Justly accused Of careleSsness. The expert.
/ ence of the Santa Fe road with its colored
porters is that they have been faithful and
courteous servants. and there is no rule of
nature that would suggest that colored man
| is more careless than his white brother
| The porter that is responsible for yester-
| DAYS accident jumped at the last moment to
| swing a switch that he thought was wrongly
| set and he did not realize his mistake until
| II was too late. few years ago we had
! case similar to this. where one OF our most
/ faithful men set switch. While waiting for
| the train to pass he fell asleep and dreamed
| in his nap that he had not performed the
duty that he had been accustomed 70 Ior
! months Awakening suddenly and hearing
| tbe roar of the train near by. he jumped TO
| the switch and swung II back and few
seconds later he saw, to his horror, the train
Like ali other transportation companies the
Santa Fe endeavors 70 employ me most re-
| its Judgment has seldom been at fault.
Regarding the responsibility for the
collision V. Heck chairman of the
legislative board of the Brotherhood
of Railway Engineers. yesterday de-
cIared that the accident was due to
the railways policy in refusing to en-
pIoy a sufficient number of trained
brakemen. He said:
During The last session of the Legislature
| our organization had bill introduced requir-
] ing ALI railways in this State to place two
/ brakemen on every passenger train consisting
J of four cars more. The railway companies
( fought the bill and finally defeated 1t by "A
| small majority. But the Southern Pacific
promised to adopt the requirements Of the bill
| even though II was not enacted law, and
| this promise has been kent
| The Santa Fe, the other hand, has made
! no Improvement and still pursues its cheap
| policy Of placing only brakeman on. a
| train. no matter what its length. This man 5
| station is at the Of the train and when
| a stop occurs it is his duty to run back along
| the track to flag any trains coming from
! that direction. The negro porter Is then left
| as the only trainman in charge of the lives
| of the passengers and the property Of the
| company He is not experienced brakeman
| has to pass no examination and is generally
| wholly unfit to be entrusted with the duty Of
| switching trains
| Yet this is Just what the negro porter was
| required to do at Luzon station. The train
| had stopped and the brakeman had back
! The porter was at the head OF the train near
| the switch. which closed to oncoming
| trains But he got ratified. being inexperienced
! and when the overland dashed down the track
(, he mistook the position of the switch and
| suddenly threw 1t open just the swiftly
|, moving train near. Had a brakeman
\ been there man accustomed to this work and
| familiar with the signals, the accident would
! not have occurred.
| The next Legislature should pass the bill
| that was rejected last year. but before that
| can be done the Santa Fe Company should
| for its own and its passengers protection
| adopt the rule there laid down and put at
| lac ef fraf bra On all