Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-03-29
RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS BE-
GIN PROBE TO LEARN CAUSE
OF GREAT DISASTER.
MANY RAILROAD MEN ARE
SUMMONED AS WITNESSES
Engines Which Pulled Wrecked Train
Backed Up Because Pilot Who Was
Killed Thought They Could Not Be
Turned Here-According to Trains
Time Was Running Twenty Two
Miles an Hour.

The railroad commissioners of Iowa
began this morning the formal, and
I what gives promise of being search
| ing investigation of the terrible wreck
I of the Rock Island train on the Great
Western, near Green Mountain, on the
morning of March 81. There was no
| means OF telling at noon how long the
I Investigation would continue, but il
! may not be finished today.
| Many officials of the Great Western,
Rock Island and Northwestern, in adj
/ dition TO large number of employees of
i the Great Western and Rock Island
I We're summoned to appear to give testi-
/ mony, or came to attend the investiga-
ton.
Six Witnesses Examined.
Up to noon, when the hearing adj
journed for lunch, six witnesses had
been examined. They were Division
superintendent F. H. Hammill, of the
Northwestern; Division Superintend-
ent j. A Gordon, of the Great West
ern: W. H Gilbert. Great Western
conductor, who piloted a detoured Rock
Island train on the day Of the wreck:
Western and Rock Island at Waterloo;
F. C. Baikie, of Des Moines, night chief
train dispatcher, of the Great Western
and r. /. Beale Great Western oper-
ator in this city
Much of the testimony of the wit
neses was purely preliminary and a
great deal of it touched only indirectly
on any of those things connected with
the catastrophe which overlook the
Rock Island trains No. 81 and 10.
Dead Pilot Important Factor.
Whether or not it was because the
two locomotives were backing while
pulling the wrecked train, that caused
it to be wrecked, it was brought out in
the testimony this morning that the
reason the engines were backed was
because John White, of Des Moines,
the conductor who plotted the train and
who was killed. believed that the en-
gines could not safely be turned on the
Great Western ''Y" in this city. Be
cause he said the engines could not be
l turned ne was instructed to back them.
I This was testified to by F. c. Baikie
! the night dispatcher in Des Moines.
l who handled the train orders and r. /.
l Beale, the Great Western operator in
this city.
Engines Too Heavy For "Y."
| Beale, who is very boyish in appear
ance, but who said he was 81. and had
| had four years experience as an oper-
/ ator, was the most important witness
| of the morning session in regard to the
| rea sons why the engines were backed
| He recited as nearly as he could re-
| member the conversation he heard be-
l tween Jake Nauholz, the Rock Island
! conductor of train No. 10, who was
b -szI-
| place in the telegraph Office here.
Beale said that he heard Nauholz
\ ask White If he was going to turn the
| engines. White told the conductor,
Beale said. that he did not think the
engines would go around the "" be-
| cause they were too heavy and too
| long and the "Y' curve was too short.
The conductor then asked Beale to
ask the dispatcher if they could back
up. Beale said he did so and Baikie
then asked for reasons why the en-
| gines could not be turned When told
over the wire that White said they
would not go around the ~ curve,
| Baikie wanted to know why they would
not. Whites reasons were then given
! to the dispatcher over the wires who
then replied to back them.
\ All the important details of this evil
dence We're substaniated by Baikie, the
train dispatcher
Another Engine Had Backed.
| The Inflated train, the testimony
| developed, was not the only Rock Island
| passenger train of the day that was
pulled by an engine backing up. w.
Gilbert, a Great Western freight con-
ductor, while on the stand told Of pilot
ing Rock Island train No. %, detour-
ing from Waterloo to Narshalltown
| over the Great Western. 1t was pulled
by an engine backing up and it passed
l safely over the spot where the wreck
l occurred and pulled into this city only
l twenty-five minutes before the train
| that was wrecked left here. The reason
| for this engine backing was because it
| could not be turned at Waterloo with
| out a. delay of from two to two and
one-half hours, and the Rock Island
! turn table at Cedar Falls was out of
l order
1 Gilbert said the train he piloted av-
| aged about twenty miles an hour. He
! said that he noticed nothing wrong
| with the track where No. 10 went off,
and that the engine rode well all the
l way from Waterloo.
Running Twenty-Five Miles An Hour.
| According to the testimony given by
| Division Superintendent J. A. Gordon,
| of the Great Western, and the time of
! the arrival Of the wrecked train at
Green Mountain and the distance it had
| to go before it was wrecked it was
running at the rate of about twenty
two miles an hour.
Mr. Gordon produced the roads train
sheet for the day, which showed the
train left here at 1885 and arrived in
Green Mountain at $685. distance of
seven and nine-tenths miles. From
there to the wreck was about four
miles. The wreck occurred at s:16, so
the four miles were covered in eleven
minutes, or at rate of trife less than
twenty-five miles an hour. The COM
pany's maximum rate for backing en-
gfnes pulling trains, Mr.. Gordon said,
was twenty-five miles an hour.
Ill Ran 237 Fesk OF Track.
III Gordon said that from the place on
the ties where marks of the flanges of
1 wheels could be found to the rear
end OF the engine next the first car was
237 feet. He said the distance had been
measured, ana 1t indicated the distance
u fho engines had r11r, fbA fiae ffar