Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1907-08-10
GENERAL
TRUMP cRITIcIsES VERDICT ON
THE RAILWAY WRECK
AT SALEM.
WON'T CHANGE SYSTEM.
Conductor and Engineer Are Out, the
Operators Stay, and Trains Will Run
Under Same Rules.
Summary of Verdict.

THAT the collision was the result
of the misleading of order No. 3 on
the part of Conductor Hamilton, En-
gineer Rogers, Head Brakeman Briggs
and Flagman Becker, of the train
crew of No. II, and that the misread-
ing of the said order was due to the
imperfect and improper manner in
which the order was prepared by Op-
orator Sayre and delivered by Opera
tor Cassidy.
"The Jurors find the operating sys-
tenn of the Pere Marquette railroad
and the rules and regulations govern
ing the same are defective in that
they 90 not provide that all trains
which are running under special
schedule not on the regular time card
Of the said railroad should be abso-
lutely obliged to stop for orders at all
stations which have been indicated
by order to other trains as a meet
ing point.
That the absence of such a rule
and regulation from those governing
the operation of trains on said Pere
Marquette railroad was as equally
direct and proximate cause of and
as equally responsible for the said
collision as the failure of the said
crew of II to properly read order
No. 3, or the imperfect and improper
manner in which the same was pre-
pared and delivered
General Superintendent Trump said
Of the jurys finding: "The verdict
is a surprise, for it is an undisputed
fact that the Pere Marquette system
of train dispatching, even to the form
of the printed blanks, is the system
which has been adopted by the Ameri-
can Railway association, an organi-
cation composed of the best railroad
operating officers In the United States,
Canada and Mexico, and which gave
many years of attention to the sub
ject Of train dispatching, with the re-
suit that a standard code was formu-
lated, which is in use on nearly every
railroad in the United States and
Canada today. The rules and the regu-
lations of the Pere Marquette on this
subject are in the identical language
of this standard code, except where
We have added some additional precau-
tons. All this was shown to the jury
| by undisputed testimony.
THE verdict, so far as 1t refers to
the system of train dispatching, shows
that the jurors did not understand
| that system, that they entirely over
! looked the fundamental basis Of the
system and did not even understand
the facts of the particular case. There
was no meeting point arranged be-
tween the local freight train, No. II,
and the special passenger train, No.
1855. The train dispatcher's order de-
! livered to the conductor and engineer
of the local freight directed them
TO keep entirely out of the way of
the special, No. 1855, the time of which
between all stations was stated in the
order itself, and the crew of the To-
cal freight admit that they would have
kept out of the way of the special
passenger train if they had not mis-
read its time at Salem"
In addition to the statement given
out, Gen. Supt. Trump said the Pere
Marquette would refuse to reinstate
Conductor Hamilton and Engineer
Rogers, who mistakenly read train or.
der No. 8, and thus ran their train
into the excursion special at Wash
burns curve. They are good rail
readers, and will no doubt easily find
employment on other roads | would
feel as safe in trusting to Conductor
Hamilton today as / would in trust
ing any other conductor. But we are
not going to take them back. The
brakeman and flagman will be rein
stated.
Operators Cassidy and Sayre, who
respectively delivered and wrote or
der No. 8, will be retained in the ser
vice."