Los Angeles herald., 1905-12-03
JURY SAYS CARELESSNESS
OR DEFECTIVE EQUIPMENT
Coroner Holds Inquest Over Remains of Late j. P.
Davenport, Who Was Killed in Street
Car Collision

awe. the ooroner's Jury, find that the
deceased, James Percival Davenport,
native Of Virginia OF the age Of GO
years, came to his death the first day of
December, 1906. by fracture Of the skull
inflicted in an accidental collision be-
tween trolley car of the Los Angeles
railway and trolley car of the Los
Angeles Interurban railway. From the
Testimony adduced we find that said ac-
cident was caused either by mlsjudg-
ment on the part of the motorman or
ineficiency Of the brakes on said car"
The above is the decision of the
coroners jury which was impaneled to
inquire into the cause of tho death or
ex-Councilman Davenport.
At the inquest six witnesses testified.
OF that number four were connected
with the two railway companies In
volved, one gave testimony in no way
relevant to the accident and only one
of all the passengers on the two cars
at the time Of the accident. some ninety
in number. testified at the coroner's In
quest.
The testimony Of the motorman Of the
car responsible for the accident was to
the effect that he shut off the power
and put on the brake but that the brake
did not operate properly His state
ment was totally without substantial
lion ana rev OF Lne QelNllS were COL
roborated by the other witnesses.
Big Damage Suits Likely
It was stated by n former employe of
the Los Angeles railway that both
Gould, the motorman, and Thomas, the
conductor, we're discharged from the
service of the company on account of
the accident Employees OF the railway
say IL that is the case that factor
would alone be partial admittance Of
culpability on the part of the two en-
ployes.
Henry j. stevens. attorney for the
Davenport estate, said: "The fact that
while there was no evidence introduced
which would cast any blame on the
railroad makes the verdict of the COR
oner's jury seem all the stronger for
1t is practically censure. for either
way the verdict is interpreted, the
balance of the blame falls on the Los
Angeles railway. First, If the accident
was due to the carelessness of the
motorman the railroad company is re-
sponsible for the acts of its employees
while working for said company.
"If the accident was due to the faulty
mechanism of the car the company is
equally guilty for failure to repair the
car
'It is believed that damage suits
amounting to many hundreds of thou
sands of dollars will be the outcome of
the accident. But it is believed that the
company will settle most of the claims
out of court"
The first witness to be called to the
stand was Ralph NJ. Watson of 1856
West Eighth street. Mr.. Watson was a
son-in-law of Mr.. Davenport and
merely testified to identity of the de-
ceased and stated that Mr.. Davenport
had lived in Los Angeles county for the
past twelve years and that he was 63
years old at the time of his death.
The motorman of the Washington car
was next called. w. o. Gould of S29
Central avenue was given as his name
and address. Gould said that he had
been in the employ of the Los Angeles
railway for the past three months, and
that at the time of the accident he was
employed as extra man, having no
regular run. In his own language, his
story of the accident is as follows:
''I was running west on Washington
street at the rate of. as nearly as l can
judge, ten miles an hour" When
was within about a hundred feet of the
crossing of Bush and Washington
streets, I saw the Interurban car
standing on the crossing. 1t was headed
north, and was going to the city. The
Interurban has the right of way at
that point and L endeavored to stop
my car.
Says Wheels Were Covered With Oil
Il threw on the air. first shutting
off the Juice. Although / had about
sixty pounds of pressure ON, the air
did not take hold. Some eight blocks
nearer town there is place where
they have been laying asphalt pave
ment The rails are very slippery with
oil at that point. Some of the oil had
stuck to the wheels of the car and
when 7 threw on the air, the brake
shoes slipped on the oil and would not
stop the car.
Il then reversed my controller, but
that had no effect"