The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-01-08

extra was to meet No. at Willard.
was told that No. was reported by
Willard about three minutes after the
extra had been reported by Maple
Hill
Conductor Fletcher asked leave to
make a further statement, and said:
when l passed Maple Hill the opera
tor at Maple Hill notified the dispatch
er at Topeka. Two minutes later, prob
ably, the agent at Willard reported
that No. 3 had passed there. 1 shall
explain that Willard is a day station,
but that the agent was up superintend-
ing the loading of some cattle upon the
stock train waiting there. Being at the
station he. as a matter of course, re-
ported the passing of No. g.
ENGINEER REARDON'S DRAMATIC
STORY
The dramatic features of the testi-
mony We're given by Engineer Reardon,
q part of whose testimony is given
above. He was the first to see the ap-
preaching collision and realized his
powerleSsness to avert it.
The trains were probably a quarter
of mile apart when I first saw the
headlight of No. 3. Apparently it's en-
g1neer did not at once realize that our
train was on the same track with his.
whistled down brakes and gave the
signal to stop train to No. 3. We were
going at the rate of about 80 miles an
hour when [ saw No. 3 and by revers-
ing was able to reduce speed, should
judge, to between Is and 20 miles, at
the time the trains struck 1t was only
a few seconds from the time 1 saw NO
3 until the engines struck. Forward
Brakeman WadSworth and Fireman
Frazier were with me on the front end
of the train and we all jumped together.
That saved our lives. 1 saw FrazEr
afterward. He was limping slightly
but was not hurt dangerously. l think
he is now at his home at Kansas City.
Wadsworth is in the hospital.
we had orders over everything from
Mcfarland to Willard where we were
to meet No. 8 and 10. knew that there
was another extra ahead. We carried
white lights, as an extra train. 1 do
not know what orders the crew of No.
3 carried
Reardon exhibited a yellow order
form directing him to meet the other
extra at Willard.
After the coroner's jury had been dis
missed with directions that it would
reconvene at call at some future time,
Coroner S1lverthorne and County At
! torney Carroll went to Stormont hos
pital to take Conductor Nagle's deposit
ton. The important features of that
deposition are given above. Maggie said
in addition:
RUNNING AT "sCANDALOUS" RATE
I'VE reached Topeka about 1910 a. m.
| We had to cross the river and back
| into the yards, fill the water tank and
! so forth before we started. 1t was
J Il
/ peka- We had orders to wait for one
/ train at Valencia until 1888 a. m, and
/ to pass the other extra at Willard. We
did not reach Valencia until 1 o'clock
and went through without seeing any
! thing of the extra. Very often extra
| trains drop an engine or combine, SO
| that when we saw the extra on the
siding at Willard I thought we had
1 passed both trains. Evidently that is
what Benjamin thought. We went
1 through Willard very fast. Benjamin
was running the train at a scandalous
rate and, in fact, we couldn't see the
number on the engine.
Il had heavy train and had been
/ busy taking tickets. At Willard L had
about gone through the day coach and
was ready to start in on the smoker
/ I went to the platform to look at the
siding as we went through, and then
went back to finish working the train.
think I was thrown down when Ben
| jamin put on the air brake. Otherwise
would have been killed, as in a mo-
ment more I would have stepped on the
platform between the two cars. AS it
was l was pinned down in the wreck
/ for half an hour. / saw Benjamin for
a moment afterward when he passed
/ through the sleeper where 1 had been
/ taken. 1 asked him what train we had
hit, and he told. me. He said he was
on his way to Willard to report.
When we failed to see any extra at
Valencia and then passed one at Will
lard supposed it was one and the same
train"