Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-16
INQUIRY SUSPENDED
INTERSTATE COMMISSION INvFs-
T1GATIoN OF RECENT WRECK
Report on the Block Signal System
Will Be Submitted to Present
Session of Congress.

For the time being, at east, the 1nvestl-
cation by the interstate commerce COM
mission into the recent wreck at Terra
Gotta is finished. There are several otaer
cases that the commission will have 10
take up in the next few days, and then Me
block signal inquiry will be resumed IN
Washington, the two wrecks on the South
ern, at Danville and Lawyers station, oe-
ing scheduled for a hearing. 1t Is lfot
known how soon the full report on me
block signal system will be submitted to
Congress. 1t probably would have been
ready now had 1t not been fer the deter
mination of the commission to specific "
inquire into the three wrecks named. This
investigation is likely to delay the report
for some weeks, but it is necessary to
have 1t ready for submission before the
close of the present session of Congress
The testimony before the interstate com
merce commission yesterday afternoon was
mostly repetition of that by the wit
nesses who had appeared at the coroner S
inquest. Several of the witnesses were
called to establish whether or not Opera tor
Phillips had given the correct signal to
train 2120 at Takoma on the night Of the
wreck. Conductor Hoffmeir of the extra
that did the wrecking was closely cross
questioned by. Attorney 7. G. Wilson of She
Baltimore and Ohio who declared at the
close of his examination that Hoffmeir had
violated the rules of the company It TIL
stations on the fatal run and that delay
long enough to have complied with the
rules in any one of these cases prob2 bly,
would have averted the wreck.
The Signals at Takoma.
AS to the character of the signal dis
played by Operator Phillips at Tako ma,
Policeman Kennedy was called. He said he
was on duty at the Takoma station when
66, the local train, passed. He paid no rar-
ticular attention to it, but was attrao ted
lowed at high sped almost directly on it's
heels. He fully expected to see the extra
stop at Takoma, and when 1t rushed fby
the station he looked up to see what sort
of a signal had been given it. The train
was then half way by the station and the
target was red. He could not swear that
the color of the target had not chan ed
between the time the engine rushed by and
the instant he looked at the light. He said
he went across the street in about ten min
utes and called up the tenth precinct po-
lice station and was told of the wreck. II 2
borrowed lantern from. the Tal1oma sta
ton Immediately and went down the tra OK
Fred Lemkum, the old gateman and
helper at the Takoma station, was exs IN
ined, but he was an almost hopeless wit
ness. He was old man and talked SO
low and with such hesitation that it was
impossible for the stenographer to get bis
answers, and they had to be repeated tas
nearly as they~c could be understood by At
torney Walter, who questioned him. He
said positively that he saw the signal be-
fore the train reached the station and that
/ 1t was red. But beyond that his answ ers
were rambling and confused and the at
torney for the railroad excused him W tn
out even cross questioning him.
Delay Would Have Averted Wreck.
Conductor Hcnmeir Of the extra tain