New-York tribune., 1911-01-19
Badly Treated, Declares Man
Who Indirectly Caused the
Disaster in Yards.
FIRST SUIT COMPROMISED
One of the Hundred Injured in
Accident Of December 10
Gets 81, ,050 from Rail-
road Company.

| We're lNJuTeu, was QlSCndrSe0 from lne
company's service on Tuesday, according
to A statement made by him last night.
II was declared tina. his train by run
ming into and knocking over a bumper
at the base of the power house. Lexing-
ton avenue and 50th street. broke the
Pintsch gas mains that we're under the
building, causing the leakage that led to
the explosion. Since the time Of the dis
aster Seagrott has been under suspen-
sion.
Seagrett does not think he has been
treated with fairness in the matter and
it is said that most Of his fellow en-
ployes are heartily with him in this
view. They assert that the knocking
over of block is a thing Of frequent oc-
Currence in the yards. and is almost un-
avoidable on such days as the one on
which the explosion took place. On that
day IL was rather misty-the very worst
sort of weather. the engineers say. for
the tracks. If it rains hard enough. they
explain, the rails are washed clean and
! hold with comparative ease, but when
the air is full of moisture they become
exceedingly slippery. causing the wheels
to skid at any moment without warning.
Never Warned, He Declares.
Such was their condition, Seagrett said
! last night. when he brought his train up
TO the block. He applied the brakes in
/ the usual manner, he maintained, but
they did not produce the usual effect,
for the train, continuing its headway,
crashed into the bumper and the front
| truck Of the forward car left the rails.
! Being motorman, this latter fact con-
! cerned him much more than the former.
| He scarcely noticed, he said, that the
| bumper had been Knocked down, and he
| had no idea that any pipes had been
broken, because he did not know that
there were any there.
He said he had never been warned TO
! be careful in handling his train in that
particular part Of the yards, and he did
not notice the escape Of gas. steam or
anything else at the time, according to
his story.
| II have been with the company sixteen
years" Seagrott went on. "and that was
the first time I ever had an accident.
Naturally, I didn't stop To investigate
myself I went at once to Kruger-he
was my immediate superior-and report
ed to- him that there was car off the
track up in Yard .. I was assigned TO
| take another train and pull it on again.
These trains, you understand, are mul-
tiple unit but some OF the cars are only
trailers. l was engaged in that work
when the explosion came. It wasn't
until after that that any one said
word to me about broken pipes"
| The last pay which Seagrott received.
he declares, was for the four days pre-
! Ceding the explosion. That was given
him on January I. He had not got any
for the time he had been under suspen-
sion, he said He didn't know whether
he was going 70 get any. Day before
yesterday C. L. Bardo, superintendent Of
the division in which Seagrott worked
| had told him that he could not employ
him as a motorman any more. At the
same tine he had assured him that he
did not wish to prevent him from obtain
ing place in some other department OF
the road
Seagrott thought that this was a bit
hard after his long term of faithful SER
vice. There are lots Of things that
can do, though" he said. Il haven't de-
cided just what I'll try for yet"
Say Company Shifts Blame.
scagrort's friends, however, seem or
think that discharge is a pretty severe
punishment for merely running into
block. and are inclined to believe that
the company is trying to shift the whole
blame for the explosion onto his shoul-
ders. They declare that the pipes we're
woefully unprotected, and that the mo-
tornen should at least have been warned
cf their presence Even if they had
blame would still lie with the company
for leaving them so liable 10 accident
| Saagrott belongs TO Local l45 OF the
brotherhood Of Locomotive Engineers,
and il is probable that at the next meet
ing Of the union his case will be fully
! discussed.
one of the railroad officials said last
night that no orders had been issued TO
the motormen warning them that the
mines were under the powerhouse be-
cause II was thought that they would
eu he familiar with the topography of
the wards. anyway He refused TO dis
cues Seagrott's dismissal, saying that II
was a matter Of discipline and not one Of
public interest.
The Coroners inquest 70 place the re-
enonsibility for the explosion has been
Indefinitely postponed. 1t is probable
that Seagrott will be a material wit
ness at that proceeding. In the mean
time he. his wife and nine-months-oId
baby are living in a little fiat in East
5Sth street.
| The FIRST damage suit growing out Of
the explosion was compromised yester-
dav for Sl,O50 by the railroad company.
The action was brought by John Moran
| for his thirteen -year-old son, Edward ].
| Moran. who was struck by flying debris
| nd suffered from several bruises
| tn. wounds, however. were Of a
,r,dinp nature. and hl asking the per
| ,,,iseion Of the court 10 compromise the
| sIit the father sald that his son would
| 49,, he permanently injured, and that he
taiieved that he would have trouble i'm
Drm,tre that the company was negligent.
| pi'N''7 ~
oRipA - SUPERIOR SERVICE via
| pe,na and Atlantic Coast Line. ~ Y &
| Florida Special leaves 70 = Three
Cher limited trains daily. 1915 Bway-