Los Angeles herald., 1907-04-26
SAYS ENGINEER
ADMITTED BLAME
WITNESS DECLARES KELLY
OWNED UP
Trial Of Tralnmen Accused Of Care
lessness In Buena Vista Vladuet
Accident Begins in jus
tee Court

During that awful period immedi-
ately following the collision Engineer
r. w. Kelly came to me and said /
made a mistake, I ought to have
stopped at tower No. L.
Such was the damaging statement
of Brakeman Allen of the Santa Fe
company, who was on the overland
train that crashed headlong into and
wrecked a special from Pomona at the
Buena Vista street viaduct on the night
Of March %, during the preliminary
examinations of the engineer and con-
ductor before Justice Stephens in the
township court yesterday.
The brakeman had been called by
Judge McComas, representing the dis
trict attorneys office. He took the
stand and Immediately made the dam
aging declaration: ut was just after
the collision and I was coming along
by the side of the wrecked trains"
testified the brakeman, when 1 met
Kelly. He was greatly excited and he
said he ought to have stopped at the
first tower instead of taking the single
track on the bridge"
Fireman Will Testify
This morning the first man to be put
on the witness stand will be the fire.
man of the overland engine. Both En-
gineer r. w. Kelly and Conductor V.
r. Hombel are being tried on man
slaughter charges on allegations of
gross carelessness in trying to cross
the viaduct when they had explicit or
ders to hold over at tower No. 1, and
meet a special train from Pomona The
train had been put in service to bring
back the students of University of
Southern California, Occidental and
Harvard from track and field meet
at Pomona and the boys and girls were
singing songs over their victory and
shouting when the disaster occurred.
AS result of the accident the en-
gineer and conductor were held by a
coroner's jury and the specific charge
against them is manslaughter in con-
nection with the death of c.. G. Frank
lin, U. S. c. student, killed in the
wreck.
When Kelly was arrested he stated
that just as he reached tower Mol and
was about to stop the engine swerved,
throwing him from his seat and strik-
ing his head against the iron work of
the engine, stunning him so that he
did not realize that he had passed the
tower until it was too late and the ac-
cident occurred.
This morning Judge McComas for
the prosecution will put the fireman of
the engine on the stand to verify or
discredit the allegation made by the
engineer.
Train Order Is Signed
Another important witness of the
trial yesterday was the dispatcher at
the local Santa Fe office, who testified
that he had placed the regular formal
train order where Hombel, the over
! land conductor, could get them and
that those instructions ordered the
train to wait at the first tower and let
the special come through. The con-
ductor's orders with the instructions to
that effect were produced and Hombel's s
name was found signed to them, show
ing that he had received them.
Several of the railroad men subpoe-
naed yesterday did not appear in court
and special orders were issued for their
appearance today.
AS for the remainder of the evidence
yesterday it was of the detail of that
catastrophe that destroyed the happi-
ness of those young students who were
returning from their holiday. 1t was
replete with the stories of the return
from the field meet, of the antics of the
boys fresh from their victory the sing
ing of college songs, the yells and the
stories, the joy of the students as the
special rolled along and then the sud-
den horror, the crash, the fearful recoil
the jam of grinding steel and splinter
ing timbers, the panic as the boys and
girls fled for safety and then the DESC
lation as the young men and women
stood about in the dreary fog of the
night watching the lanterns of the res
cuers at their work
One professor told how he had helped
carry the body of young Franklin from
the baggage car and assisted in placing
rope about the lifeless figure and
lowering it to the riverbed below.
The Santa Fe attorneys are care
fully guarding their line of defense
against possible damage suits.
4%%