The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-09-12
SALT LAKE MEN
GET THE BLAME
Conductor, Engineman and the
Head Brakeman Charged
With Causing Wreck.
INVESTIGATION IS HELD
TRAIN RUNNING CONTRARY TO
RULES AND TIME TABLE.
TRAINMEN TO BLAME.

g TRAIN MEN TO BLAME. 9
g The board of inquiry, after fully &:
@ investigating the particulars Of the g
= wreck on the Salt Lake Route of .
@ Thursday morning, placed the full q
g blame for the head-on collision g
@ near BOulter on the conductor, en- q
g gineman and head brakeman of 9
@ westboUnt train No. 1. Ten wit g
{: nesses, all train men and railroad s.
9 employees, were examined. .
q g q g q @ q q o . q 3 q g q o g o g
J. Z. McCarty, conductor.
John W. Leavitt, engineman.
T. d. Miller, head brakeman.
The above three men, all of this city
a part of the train crew Of westbOund
passenger train No. I, which cOllided
with local train No. 200, eastbound, a
mile west of BOulter station and
eighty miles west of this city, early
Thursday morning, were charged with
the whole responsibility of the wreck
by the board of inquiry which met in
the Office of Superintendent H. E. Van
Housen yesterday morning at 1890
o'clock.
Ten witnesses, all train men and rail-
road employees of the San Pedro, Los
Angeles & Salt Lake railroad, were ex-
amined carefully regarding all the de-
tails of the wreck. Their testimony was
to the effect that the wreck had been
caused by the WeStbOund train running
contrary to the rules and time table of
the road. The train was nearly three
hours late out of Salt Lake and was
running on the time Of the local train.
Had No. 1 been on time it would
have passed Tintic long before the
other train had the right Of the track.
No train orders were involved in the
matter. 1t was simply a thoughtless
dtsObedienCe of standing time orders as
published on the regular time table.
After the investigation the following
statement was issued, signed by each
member of the board of inquiry:
Statement by Board.
"The board of inquiry holding an in
vestigation at the Office of H. F. Van
HOusen, superintendent of the Salt
Lake division of the San Pedro, Los
Angeles & Salt Lake railroad. at 10
o'clock, Sept. II. 1909, for the purpose
of determining the responsibility for the
head-on collision occurring at $50 a. m,
Sent g. 1909, one mile west of Boulter
station, between WestbOund train No. 1
and eastbOund train No. 200, having
examined all available witnesses
unanimously finds that the collision
was due to the negligence of the con-
ductor, engineman and head brakeman
on westbOund train No. 1, and places
full responsibility therefor upon them.
THE finding of the board is that the
negligence of the men held responsible
consisted in running on the time of an
opposing train having rights over them,
without orders and contrary TO the
rules and time table.
(Signed)
H. +. VAN HOUSEN,
District Superintendent.
wv. II. SMITH.
Assistant District superintendent.
81. p. GARDNER,
Local Merchant.
''E. NEUHART.
District Foreman.
''R. K. BROWN,
Division Engineer.
u. B. SNYDER.
Chief Dispatcher.
"PENNELL CHERRINGTON,
Attorney"
Reports from the hospitals were still
more encouraging yesterday regarding
the condition of the injured. All seem
TO be recovering rapidly and the rail-
way officials were assured that there
was no probability of there being any
deaths.