Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-03-30
NO CAUSE YET BROUGHT OUT
FOR TERRIBLE ROCK ISLAND
WRECK DISASTER.
INVESTIGATION CONTINUES;
MANY WITNESSES EXAMINED
M. c. Einwalter, Rock Island Con-
ductor Who Was on Wrecked Train,
Important Witness of Morning SEES
SION Commission Hears Story of
Pilot Whites Heroism at the Wreck.

Altho the railroad commissioners of
Iowa had, up to adjournment at noon
today, examined twenty-six witnesses,
and had taken a vast bulk OF testimony,
! they are apparently no nearer the exact
cause of the derailnlent which resulted
in the terrible loss of life on the Rock
Island train near Green Mountain on
March q than they were before they
began.
The investigation reached the point
today when Rock Island employees who
We're on the wrecked train and first at
the scene of the disaster were exam
ined. The principal witness of the
morning sitting was NJ. c. Einwalter,
| of Cedar Rapids, conductor on the Rock
Island train No. 10. He, however, was
not able to give a reason for the dis
aster.
Tells of Wreck Scene.
Mr.. Einwalter was on the witness
stand for more than an hour He re-
cited all OF the details of the movement
of the train from the time it left Cedar
addition he described the scene of the
wreck and what was done for the dead
and the injured.
Einwalter said that John White, the
dead pilot, told him before the train
had pulled up to the Great Western
station here, that he did not think that
the Rock Island engines could be
turned on the "Y'' here because of their
length and weight and the shortness of
the curve of the ''Y''.
The conductor said that he was sit
ting in the second car from the rear
Of the train when the wreck happened.
The first notice l had he said, that
anything was wrong, was when / felt
jar l was satisfied something was
derailed 1 told the brakeman to take
his flag and go back and protect the
/ rear end of the train. AT the second
! jar the train stopped. The jars We're
i only an instant apart, maybe second
Goes to Get Help.
Il left the car at once" continued
Mr.. Einwalter, and went to the head
end of the train. l went around 1t and
on both sides 10 get an idea Of the con-
dition of the wreck and how many
We're killed and injured. I then started
for a farm house about a quarter Of a
mile away. 1 met a man with a team,
and he hauled me. / do not know what
time the wreck occurred, but believe it
was 500 or S:25, because, when / got
to the farm house to telephone Glad
brook, it was between $40 and S:45."
! The conductor said that in his judg-
rnent the train was running at the rate
from twenty to twenty-five miles an
hour when it was wrecked.
a train pulled by engines backing up
he said that he considered that it was
if the speed was not too great and con-
ditions Were not unfavorable. He ad-
mitted that there was more danger
when the engines backed up than when
they pulled the train running forward.
Found Marks on the Ties.
The conductor said he found marks
on the ties back toward the highway
crossing, but that the marks, which
were apparently made by the hanges
of car wheels, were not deep. This in
dictated to him that they We're made by
light trucks, probably those under the
smoking car.
He said that there were eighty-seven
passengers on his train, and that he had
found seventy-one tickets, which pre-
holz. He had no way of knowing, he
said. how many passengers were on the
other train.
While describing the wrecked cars.
he told of the condition in which he
found the dead and the injured lying
together, and how they were taken out
and the injured carried to the Pullman
sleepers in the rear of the train
He said that while the wreckage did
not take fire at once. that twice during
the forenoon fire broke out in the deb
ris, but that both times it was put out
before it had gained any Roadway.
John White Hero.
A story of the heroism of John
White, the Great Western conductor
who piloted the train, was brought to
the commission by Superintendent j
A Gordon, of the Great Western. He
read a letter received from E. A Muir
ply, OF vinton Murphy was on the
wrecked train, and very soon after the
wreck started ior a farm house 70 give
the alarm and get help. He wrote that
while going along the country road he
heard some one calling. He turned
around and waited for the man, who
proved to be White. He said White
was covered with dirt and water and
that he appeared badly injured. White
said he did not think ne was hurt in
ternally.
White, Murphy said, told him that he
! was going for help, so they went to-
gether to the farm house. White was
so badly hurt he could not return, and
Murphy got a physician and had him
cared for. After being brought to this
city White died at St Thomas hospi-
tai that night
Equipment Was Good.
That the equipment of the train was
modern and in state of good repair
was the testimony given by Division
Superintendent w. II. Given, OF the
Rock Island. Mr. Given said that all
Of the coaches Of the train were COM
paratively new cars, and he gave the
dates when some of them were built.
He said part of the equipment belong
ed to the c., B. & @.
Mr.. Given said that the speed Of the
train could not have been great else the
, cars would have buckIed more. He said
that the company had not had its In
yestigation yet, and that he had not
been able to arrive at a conclusion that
: would warrant him in giving cause
} of the deraiIment He said that on
examining the track he found wheel