Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-05
RULE AGAINST OPEN DOORS
Mrs. Lottie Harrison's Death Result
of an Error.
SHE WENT THE WRONG WAY
If Rules of Company Had Been
Oheyed She Couldn't Have
Fallen OF Train.

Coroner hewitt yesterday evening be-
gan an investigation at the District
morgue Of the death of Mrs. Lottie Har-
| rison Of New Orleans. who fell from a
| car of a northbound train on the South
ern railway in the tunnel leading to the
Union station Thursday morning and died
| that evening at the Casualty Hospital
! from the injuries she received.
A number of witnesses, mostly railroad
men, were examined and the evidence
brought out the fact that some one, con-
! trary to orders Of the railway company,
opened door In the Pullman next to the
dining car and left it open, and through
| this door Mrs. Harrison plunged as she
came from the dining car on her way to
her seat.
| Mrs. Harrison shortly before she died
told Dr. Romano. the resident physician
at the hospital and also sent the same
| message to w. T. Kyser. who investigated
| the accident for the railroad company,
| that she mistook the open door In the
side of the car for the door through which
| she was to turn in going from the dining
| car to her Pullman, and she fell through
| it upon the tracks and was run over.
| Carl White. the porter of the Pullman
! car, who. 1t is alleged. opened the door
through which Mrs. Harrison fell, was
| held by the coroner as witness and
after the inquest he was locked up. The
| inquest will he resumed this afternoon,
when Mrs. ]. II. DeWiss of New York,
! who was with Mrs. Harrison when she
] fell and who narrowly escaped going
through the open door after her, will tes-
| tify, and number of railroad men, who
could not be got here yesterday after
noon, will also be examined. 1t is eX-
ln nod tic
evening.
Coroner hewitt opened the inquest short
! ly after 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, and
| for over two hours witnesses were placed
| upon the stand and examined as to the
rules of the railroad and Pullman COM
panies regarding the opening of car doors,
but one of the witnesses saw Mrs. Har-
| rison fall from the train. l.. E. Roy, re-
siding at 81 B street southeast, the con-
ductor of the train from which Mrs. Har-
! rison fell. was the first witness called
| Capt Roy testified that the accident oc-
Cured. about . am Thursday. and the
! first he heard of 1t was when Conductor
Davis of the dining car came to him and
san that "a lady had fallen off the train
, in the tunnel This was just as his train
was entering the Union station.
| All Trains Were Stopped
He Immediately jumped from the train
aud ran to the signal tower and had all
| incoming trains stopped. He then noti-
fed Trainmaster Robey, who sent men to
| investigate the truth of the report. The
witness stated that it was the positive
rule or the Pullman company that car
doors were not to be opened until trains
stopped at a station. He found the door
between the dining car and the Pullman
behind it open on the east side of the
| train, and ii was through this door that
| the witness jumped when he ran to the
70 of 1insr troi N1a eli
| ing car "Sandoval,' the witness said fol-
| lowed the dining car. and c. II. White
was porter on it. The witness asked White
What in the name of God was that door
doing open?" White replied. II opened
| the door SO that the men could get in to
cut the ears loose" White, far as the
| witness knew, was an experienced porter.
| and had been on the run for two or three
\ months.
At this point a question was asked re-
garding the curve in the tunnel, and il
| was brought out that where the accident
| occurred there was no curve, but the
| track was straight for 500 feet. 1t was
| also stated that the train was running
slow, so that even had there been curve
Mrs. Harrison could not have been thrown
| from the train by the cars running
around it.
Alec Davis. conductor of the dining car,
was the next witness. He stated that
Mrs. Harrison and lady who was with her
were the last passengers to eat breakfast
and the last to leave the car. Witness
was seated in the end of his car near the
door through which the ladies passed GO
| ing to their sleeper. A second or two
after they had left the car he noticed one
of the ladies standing on the platform
outside his car. He went out to her and
suggested that as the tunnel was full of
| smoke she had better go into the car. The
lady replied: Where is my friend? She
went that way pointing to the open door
Of the carr, and l nearly went after her."
| Witness Immediately notified Conductor
Roy and then accompanied the lady. Mrs
! DeWss, through the train to See if she
| could not find Mrs. Harrison in one OF the
| cars. Witness at that time did not think
she had fallen off the train. but thought
| she had passed quickly from one car to
the other and that in the semi-darkness on
| the platform Mrs. DeWiss was mistaken
as to the direction she had gone. He
stated that there was comparatively little
smoke in the tunnel and that the accident
occurred when the train was about half
way through 1t.
|