The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-11-06
JURY ATTHE SCENE OF
 THOROUCRfARE DISASTER
CORONER GASKILL'S THEORY OF 4 MISPLACED RAIL
 STRENGHENED.

When Draw is Set by Railroad opera-
 tiVes the Metal Top of the Cosing on
 the Rail damned and Failed to Go
 Into PIace-The Aged Bridretend..
 Found to Have Defective Eyesight.
 Atlantic City, N. J., Nov. 5-The theory held by Coroner Gaskill that misplaced rail caused the Thorough fare" wreck was strengthened when tha jury to-day inspected the draw. When the draw was set by the railroad oper- atives the metal top of the casing on the rail damned and did not go into place and Superintendent Lowell was compelled to knock it in place with A. piece of plank. The rail was not not damned sufficiently to have proven danen dangerous, in the opinion of the railroad men and the jury, as 1t re- quired only a slight tap to put the cap in place. It lay in such position that car wheel would have forced it into place.
 After the inspection tests were made to determine the trustwortniness of the eyesight of Daniel Stewart, the aged bridgetender, and 1t was shown, that his eyesight was defective to the extent that he could not see to read without glasses.
 An admission that may have bear ing upon the question of doing away with the drawbridges over the "Thoroughfare' was made by Joseph F. Richards, chief of maintenance of way for the railroad when he said before the coroner:
 ''The bridge is good as any in America, but all draws are danger ous."
 It was shown that at the time the accident occurred the brakes on all three cars had been set.
 At the afternoon session Euperinten- dent Lowell of the electric road made statement of the operation of the road. He said the cars and equipment are the best obtainable and that the electric cars are almost 10000 pounds heavier than the heaviest vestibule steam cars. From speed standpoint the train he said was not crossing the bridge too fast, and he could offer no explanation as to the cause of the wreck The bridge Is built stronger than those used by the steam roads. The road MI. Lowell. said, cost more than SC, ,0O0,O0O and is the best electric railroad in the world.
 The night session of the inquest did not adjourn until nearly midnight At ! this session testimony was prs~d,tcA. showing that the branees on portions of the bridge were spiked and not bolted and the springing blanks had drawn the spikes from the railings.
 A feature of the investigation related to the absence of steel guard rails on the trestling which it has been held would have kept the train from run ming into the water. Superintendent D. H. Lowell said that no guard rails were needed and that in bridge build ing they were considered an element of danger, but members of the jury seem to think that the absence of the rails in this case furnished a ''horri- ble example"
 Regarding the failure of the loose rail on the draw to properly fall into position, E, B. Temple, chief engineer declared that had it not been in place the motorman could have seen it.
 Harry P. Leonard, engineer of bridges Aon the Pennsylvania system, declared the drawbridge the acme of bridge builders art. It was designed to safe ly carry two locomotives weighing tip to 125 tons at the rate of sixty miles an hour.
 Alfred H. Rudd, assistant signal en- gineer, declared he never found an in 1,-ar that could be depended on. Automaticp he held had a tendency to make thd bridgetenders careless.