Perth Amboy evening news., 1910-05-21
". C. WEAVER
MET DEATH IN
R. R. ACCIDENT


Detaila of the train wreck in which
W. Guy Weaver, ST., former resident of
this city, and father Of w. Guy Weav-
err of Rector street, was killed, were
made known here when the following
clipping from the New Orleans Times
Democrat was received last night:
| Baton Rouge, La. May 16:-The
through train of the Louisiana Railway
and Navigation Company from Shreve-
| port to New Orleans ran into an open
switch in the field just above the block
signal plant this morning where the
road crosses the Yazoo and Mississippi
| Valley at Scotland Junction. The en-
| gine was completely overturned, as was
also the baggage car. The smoker left
the track, but did not turn over.
Engineer w. G.. Weaver, of New Or
leans, was badly scalded by the escap-
| ing steam, but was extricated from the
wreck and sent to the Baton Rouge
Sanitarium ON the Memphis Express Of
the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Rail-
way He died from his burns at 10
clock
The negro fireman, Alec Jones, was
buried under the wreck Of the engine
and killed sinstantly. His remains were
not removed from the wreck until after
the arrival of the wrecker during the
middle of the forenoon On the train
we're many of the members of the Gen
eral Assembly, notably the delegation
from Shreveport and that section Of
the country. Not scratch was sustain
ed by the passengers of the train, who
escaped with severe shaking up The
occupants of the sleeper were scarcely
disturbed.
Second Wreck.
There is no clue as to how the
switch happened to be open. This is
the second occurring in that section, the
other having taken place two years ago
during the session Of the General AS
sembly of 1908 when freight of the
Louisiana Railway crashed into a pas
senger train of the Baton Rouge, Ham
mond and Eastern and Representative
g. w. Jones of Livingston parish was
killed and many persons injured.
Legislators on board the wrecked
train reached the city this morning as
best they could, most Of them going
across the country to the track of the
Yazoo and Mississippi Valley, which
crosses the Louisiana Railway a short
distance below the scene of the wreck,
N"u SoiiS " thS City VH Tue MehlpnlS
train
The cause of the open switch has
not been definitely established and the
matter is being closely investigated by
the railroad authorities.
The wreck was quickly cleared and
traffic over the line was but temporarily
impeded.
His Experience.
,ff 20 nj xroI,un A..I.to~ Dol.
Collins, who was on the sleeper. said
when the train stopped the Jar was SO
light that he thought the emergency
brakes had been put on but when he.
locked out of the window he saw the
front end of the train piled all ever the
track. Mr.. Collins said the train must
have been running about twenty miles
an hour when the accident occurred.
The switch lever was standing half
open, just enough TO allow a space be-
tween the rails but not enough to turn
the semaphore red against the engineer.
The handle of the switch lever was
about two or three inches out of the
safety groove.
The engine and tender followed the
main line but the empty baggage coach
following took the switch. The engine
was turned over by the jerk, and fell
on the left side of the main line, with
the tender piled on top of it without
breaking the coupling. The empty bag
gage car straddled both the switch and
the main line and turned over
The baggage car following the
empty one, stood half on the switch
and half on the main line, the front
and hind trucks holding to the differ
an Htnrn
following were derailed but the Sleep
er remained on the main line.
The engineer maintainedN \ to the
time OF his death that the semaphore
showed white.
The fireman was dug out of the
wreck during the forenoon and brought
to this city. When the wreck occarr-
ed several negroes who were in the adj
iacent fields ran up to the scene. The
engineer said the fireman had jumped
and the negroes said that they had seen
man running through the fields at
the time of the accident. The fact that
the fireman was found under the wreck
of the engine seems to indicate that
the switch was partly turned fur
wrecking purposes The identity Of the
man who was seen running through the
HCiA Atob NV OCCH OotdUlIbAGus H6
lock of the switch was found lying
near it by one Of the passengers.
The baggage man escaped narrow
ly being killed, az the trunks piled
upon him when the crash came. Among
those on the train were Mr.. and Mrs.
William Polk, Adjntant General d. I.
Stafford, Bertrand We'll, Hunter Jar
reau, of Alexandria, Assistant Travel
ing Auditor Robert Collins, Represent
tatiye L. e. Thomas, others Of the
Shreveport delegation in the Legisla-
ture. George H. Clinton, of Tensas, and
many others, the sleeper being entirely
filed.
| '1The fact that trains have been
wrecked at that point before leads to
the belief that the wreck was due to
train wreckers. There have also been
numerous car robberies in the vicinity
recently
/