Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1906-12-27

tissues A
STATEMENT
General Counsel of the
Southern Road Says
of Wreck.
BLAMEs OPERATOR.
Human Factor Failed at De-
cisive Moment and Great
Catastrophe Resulted.
BLAMES OPERATOR.

Washington, Dec. 26 Genera
Counsel A. P. Thorn, of the Southern
Railway, has issued statement a
! TO the official investigation Of thu
wreck at Lawyers. Va, in which
President Spencer and six Others
lost their lives.
The wreck was caused, Genera
Counsel Thorn says, by Mattox, the
block operator at Rangoon Station,
allowing train No SO. bound South
with. President Spencer's car, No
100, on the rear end, into the next
block station to the South, known a:
Lawyers. and before the block was
cleared to that train, Mattox also
let into the same block the first
section Of train No. 81. After pas.
sing Rangoon. train No. S3, the
General Counsel says, separated into
two parts because of the parting Of
a coupling between two cars.
The statement continues:
'"The emergency brakes" at oacs
applied automatically on both sec
tons Of the parted train, as intended
in cases of just such contingencies,
and both sections were stopped.
Mr.. Thorn declares that under
these circumstances, that if the rules
of the Company had been oheyed. no
other train could have passed Ran
COON or entered the block in which
the disabled train was. The indis-
putable testimony, he says. shows
that no less than three different
rules of the company were violated
by Mattox, the observance of any
of which would have prevented the
accident. He cites the three rules in
his statement and declares that
Mattox, while on the witness stand,
gave as his only excuse that the
operator at Lawyers did report train
No. l33 as "by" Lawyers, but failed
to give the time it passed las required
by the rule. The operator at Law
yers, the General Counsel says, en-
phatically denies that he sent any
suchmessage as claimed by Mattox,
and declares that Mattox had never
Uniformed him that the train wanted
the block or had entered it.
While there exists this conflict OF
testimony, Mr.. Thorn says operator
Mattox. in his own statement, says
that he did not receive from the OPP
orator atLawyers the time train No
33 passed out Of the block at Law,
yers and excuses his failure to secure
this information by the statement
that after the operator at Lawyers
had informed him that 33 was by
the operator at Lawyers had abrupt
| ly opened the key and he [Mattox
could not communicate further will
him.
1 Mr.. Thorn then says:
"Mattox not having received tn
required information in regard to tn
movements of train 33. violated
rule in regard to the block as clea
before letting in the following train
known as first 81. Mattox's plai
duty was to stop first 81 at Rangoo
and net let it enter the block. H
admits that it was his duty and h
did not perform it. If he had tn
accident would not have happened.
Operator Mattox had no RICH
even to ask for the block, for trai
| first 81 until he had looked at his ow
block sheet and seen from it tina
train No. 33 had passed out of tn
block a Lawyers.
''His block sheet did not show thI
essential fact!"
He admits that it did hot.and ths
before he asked for the block 10
first 81. he had not got, as require
by rule 49,: the information recsl
n 49, fr-4'i ~ -ss = 4 - I. ~