The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1905-05-31
OGDEN WRECK
INQUIRY ENDED.
Hunter and Acker Must
Bear the Brunt.
TOO MUCH SPEED.
Ogden Special only an extra" and Had
No Right of Way and Must Come
Into Yard Under Control.

The Southern's attorney at the hear
ing before the Railroad Commission a
week ago to ascertain the cause of the
wreck of the Ogden special in the
Greenville yards on the morning of
April 20, assumed the position that En-
gineer James r. Hunter in charge of
the specials engine is entirely to blame
for the accident on the ground that he
violated the rules of the company i'm
coming into the yards without having
his engine under full control, expect
ing to find the main track occupied
under such control as would allow
him to stop within half the distance he
could see"-and that as the special was
running as an extra with right of way
only over trains of published schedule,
the Greenville yardmaster, even in the
face of the telegram placed on his hook
at 7:l8 notifying him that the special
would arrive at 1855, was in no wise re-
sponsible and was not to blame for hav-
ing the freight boxes on the main
track.
The main witness put up to outline
and define this defense of the road was
General Manager Spencer, who said
that the telegram to the Greenvile of
flee was not sent with the view of cur
failing the right of work of shifting
trains, as practice showed that it was
not safe to supercede these kinds of
rules with respect to large yards like
those at Greenville, except by "No.
31eorder" which having to be receipted
for and checked back to the dispatcher
it was not wise to use on yard like
Greenville's, for the reason that it was
bad practice to allow engineers to get
into the habit Of running specials into
such yard not under full control.
Superintendent Williams, the first
witness to be put up, testified as to the
care that was used in selecting crew
familiar with the road between Spar
tanburg and Greenville. He testified
that engine l0i0 was saved out for the
special, and that it was at Engineer
Hunters special request that he was
put in charge; this was the engine Hun
ter had run regularly between Colum-
bia and Savannah.
He denied that Hunter was known as
a fast runner. At Mr.. Thomas sug-
gestion Mr.. Williams added a COPY of
his letter to all inferior officers caution
ing that every care be used to pro-
tect the train and not to run too fast.
Roundhouse Foreman w. f. Waites,
testified as to the selection of engine
1910. 1t came from train 20, which has
preference in equipment 1t was thor
oughly overhauled in the shops and
ample experiments and tests made to
| see that the air brake arrangements, the
dynamo and steam heating apparatus
were in good order. Mr.. Waites also
| testified as to Mr.. Hunters solicitation
| about making the trip. He, the wit
ness, and Engineer w. II. Green, and
| others present at the time of the selec-
ton, and Hunter himself agree that
Hunter himself was thoroughly famil-
lar with the road. Hunter said that he
and his fireman both knew every foot
of the road and witness personally
knew that he was familiar with the
Charlotte division. He added that Hun
ter, on account of his experience and
efficiency and reputation as careful
man had been given preference gen
orally on the Savannah division. Wit
ness knew nothing of Conductor Acker.
of the special.
Mr.. Maxwell testified that as the
train rounded the curve into the Green
vile yards, he noticed that the emer.
gency brakes were being applied with
great force, the speed being about 80 to
40 miles an hour. Yet witness admitted
that the rule required this train to
come into the yards under full con-
troll. Witness understanding of "un-
der full control" was that the engine
must be in such control as to allow it
to be stopped within half the distance
the engineer could see He thought a
train running at the speed the Ogden
special was running at, could be stopped
within three or four hundred yards.
Under the rules the work train had a
right to be on the main line at that
time.
ENGINEER HUNTERS TESTIMONY.
| Engineer Hunter failed to demon.
strate that his train could be classed
other than as extra and that as such
should not have come in under full
control. His orders gave him right Of
way over second and third-class trains.
but did not change the class of his
train, and he had no special orders
changing his class and giving him a
right to enter without control. He said
his Interpretation of the rules was that
as he was running on detailed sched-
ue his train was irst-class, the schcd-
ulc being supplement to the pub
lished schedule but Mr.. Baker said
that with such a special, the crews or.
ders would show plainly that it's sched-
ue was supplement and all employees
would be notified with number 81 or
der. In explaining question Attorney
Bellingcr said it was the evident inten-
tion of the railroad to place the blame
for the wreck on Engineer Hunter.
| Mr.. Thomas replied that it was a
matter of Indifference to the road what