New-York tribune., 1907-02-27
NEWMAN DOESN'T KNOW
CENTRAL HEAD ON STAND.
Railroad President Pleads Ignorance
at Treck Inquiry.

william H. Newman, president =: the New York
Central Railroad Company, occupied the witness
,,,oir at the entire session of the inquiry, which
- ,n.inued yesterday before the State Railroad
commission 20 determine Il possible the cause OF
- wreck Of ti.e Brewster express near Woodlawn
an the evening Of February Is. Job e. Hedges who
nos cn,aairtod by Governor Hughes to assist the
commission. examined the witness.
.f..- s.s,fng thnt Re lad been president of the
~ York Central for the last six years, and that
-, his life had b5ar spent In the commercial de-
ra-+n7ents of various railroads, President Newman
,ras asked when the electrihcauon Of the Harlem
Division taken un by the company tic SAID
= ,raz IN September. 1902 and that commission
ooroposed Of Vice-President ". J. WilGus. now in
charge Of the electrical zone. and three men Of
national reputaton-Fion J. Arnold Frank j.
spraEue and George Gibbs-was appointed TO draw
nm plans and direct the work.
MI newman then outlined the duties Of the DIFF
fr4nt officials of the road and the conduct OF the
several departments far as he was familiar with
them To several questions 10 the working 81
the departments and The duties Of some Of the off-
cials he answered that he did not know. or that he
thought so-and-so, but that It would be better to
ask the officials of the departments concerned.
He said he did not know whether Il was custom
arv 10 make an official record of the speed at
which it would be safe to run train over Ger
tain piece Of track; that he did not know how the
men in charge randled such reports, hut that he
had 10 doubt OF them made verbally.
in that way.
Mr. Hedges asked the witness if ne did not think
that a written rerort would he better than mem
orv record if they were to install a fast train on
a particular division and the safety of that train
depended on the record of the structure Of the
track.
Mr Newman replied that he did not know He
said that what the operating officer in charge would
want would be to he convinced that the track was
safe. and that he could as easily he convinced
verbally in writing.
President Newman said he did not know whether
the engines on the New York Central We're equipped
with clocks ana speedozneters o: not, and said he
had never heard % a speedometer that was OF any
practical value for railroad purposes
The witness admitted his inability to testify in
detail the work Of installation cf the electric
system. He toa Of tests to the speed of the
new electric locomotives on a special track near
Schenectedv, which. he said had occupied many
months rrio- thu start Of electric trains on the
Harlem division Of the road
He said thz purpose O: the company a. the out
set in designing the electric locomotives was 10
acquire speed % from seventy-fve 10 eighty miles
an hour This would about equal the speed Of the
present steam locomotives. said the witness.
Mr.. Newman said that the public demanded fast
trains, and he cited ar instance the citys sub
way and the overcroWdng of th9 express trains
from The Bronx South Ferry. The witness
said that It was his opinion the limit Of safety
for fast express trains had not yet been passed.
Mr Hedges said he had asked about the use OF
epeedonetors because the engineer of the wrecked
train had testified that he had no means Of telling
how fast he was going except by observation. The
witness answered that a man who had been run
ming locomotive for eight o. ten years could tell
pretty well what speed he using.
But not after running il four days on ne"
style Of locomotive?" aswed Mr.. Hedges.
President Newman replied that the style Of the
locomotive had nothing at all to do with ii: that
the speed WAS determined from passing objects and
that he thought an engineer could determine it al
most as accurately by that means as he could by
Z sDeedometer-
Mr. Hedges wanted to know whether wrecks
were more frequent in the of fast trains than
Of slower ones and Mr.. Newman replied that rail
road experience had shown that this was not the
case.
Deputy Attorney General Donnely ASKED Mr.
Newman whether i would keep the roads board
Of directors in closer touch with details Of manage
cnt and operation Of trains II the various depart
nent heads were members Of tho board Mr.. New
man evidently did not want to answer this ques-
don but. being pressed. said, finally. that such
his opinion He knew OF no railroad in
the country in which heads Of departments were
members of the board Of directors
It was emphasized At this point that neither the
New York Centrals president nor the board o:
directors know officially tie details Of the road
operation beyond what is shown from time TO time
hy reports from department heads .,..-
noon from New Orleans where ne had been d
toned 0y Assistant District ATTORNEY smythe as
an Official Of the road who ought to be indicted for
vestigated by the District Attorneys Office and by
the State Railroad Commission He said that he
expected 10 20 on the stand to-day He gave il as
his opinion that the electric equipment Of tho road
had had nothing 10 do with the accident.
IN am icipation OF further probing by the State
Railroad Commissioners. the officials of the com
pany sent yesterday afternoon special train tn
the scene Of the wreck with company Of experts
photographers ard wreckers and tore up the tracks
which had been replaced and photographed the
ties. This was because the fact had been brought
the testimony that the replacing Of the
rails had covered up marks on the ties which
might have brown some light on the cause Of the
wreck.
The State Railroad Commissioners also sent n
the scene of the wreck number Of experts 10 look
+ over. Among them John McCiaw Wood
hurry former Street Cleaning Commissioners, who
is IL the employ Of the General Electric Com
pany. which built the electric engines in the
New York Central.