Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-31
EXONERATES PHILLIPS
VIEWS OF ONE WITNESS-EN-
GINEER INTERVIEWED.

/ Harry c. Fisk of Takoma Park was in
] his home, short distance from the sta
| ton. when No. CO came down. He says
regarding the accident:
Il looked at the clock in my room and
saw that the local train was about six
teen minutes late. A few minutes after
| that the deadhead equipment came down
the road. and the interval of time between
the two trains was so short that | at once
became suspicious. because l knew No Gi
could not have reached Brookland before
the other train came along at a terrific
speed
Just before entering the block the en-
gineer of the equipment train gave a long
blast for the Cedar avenue crossing pos
sibly thinking that the Office was closed
and No. &c had passed. The red target was
set, and after the train had entered the
block red lantern was hung out. the dou-
Die red indicating extra precaution
Station Agent Phillips was at his post
last night when the train entered the block
He Immediately wired the operator at
Brookland that No. 2120 has gone by nv
red light gong like h
Il ran all the way down the tracks to
the scene of the wreck, and the sights
which met my eyes were beyond deserip-
t1on.- The first person i saw was Miss
Katherine Hughes. She said she got on the
train at Dickerson. Nd. She gave me all
OF her jeweiry and effects and asked me to
keep them for her.
Il assisted In removing the injured from
the wreck. with residents who turned out
and did most heroic work
MISS Hughes was returning to her home
1893 Corcoran street. and had with her
Llnwood Garrett, nine years cd. who has
not as yet been located
Hildebrand Interviewed.
Engineer Hildebrand and the entire crew
OF the dead-head equipment train are locked
up at the tenth precinct police station
Hofnier, the conductor. is broken down.
and has been crying almost ever since the
accident occurred
Hildebrand. the engineer. says little He
accuses no one, merely saying he saw no
lights at the Takoma station and that he
was looking for them. He Is big burly
fellow; one who in ordinary times looks as
though he ought to be described as jovIal
Now he seems shrunken and his face Is
dark. as though congested with blood He
was asked to tell Of the accident, but shook
his head sorrowfully:
II guess they know everything there is
to know" said he.
the weather. and whether he saw any
lights at the station. ne replied:
No; l did not see a light, and 1 was
looking for them. The fog was at its
worst about the time it happened. 1t was
worse early than it was later in the even
ing. L should say when we passed Ia
|
your engine from the cab window"
Ibid you see any white light out at Ia
koma?" he was asked
Not a light" he replied slowly. "There
was not anything SO far l could see.
neither red nor white. The fog was worse
We went down the grade toward Terra
Gotta, and when We struck l could not
the tale lights OF the train. That's ell there
is to it. God knows there amt anybody
rier than L am
Death Without Warning.
Hoffmier was in another cell. trying to
write a letter and stopping every line to
stare into nothingness ahead of him. He got
up and stretched himself when spoken to.
but did not even trouble to wipe the tears
out of his eyes
81 don't know anything about it, any
more than If hadn't been there" he de-
clared Il in the last car on the
train. We weren't going over thirty five
miles an hour 1t was dark outside and
you couldn't see anything. When we
went through Takoma you couldn't see
anything, either.
"Oh. my God. if they had just done
something to warn us If it was too
foggy to see signals they might have
given us a torpedo, and if they didn't
have time for that, if they had just drop
ped fusee. That burns ten minutes. and
We would have known there was some
But there was NOTWITHSTANDING at all
till we struck.
1t was explained by some of the police
men who had been on duty at the wreck
that the crew of the other train were
equally in the dark. They did not know
that the dead-head was following them
and had no idea when they stopped at
Terra Gotta that there was any danger in
their or that If extra had been put
on without their knowledg, they were not
thoroughly protected by the block signals