Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1912-03-14
An INVESTIGATION IS
BEING HELD BY
THE OFFICIALS
Superintendent Gibson and
Trainmaster HigginsOn Fix
ing Responsibility for Acct
dent Which Caused Death
Of Three.

A thorough Investigation ia being
made today into the cause FOR the
wreck ~ Mecarty's. on the Aibuquer-
que division Of the snnta Fe ycstor-
duy afternoon. whleh resulted ~ the
death OF , W. Ward. foreman OF a
construction train. his wife, ana a
laborer whose ffst name IS Mike and
whose last namc 10 unknown. sind the
injury Of five Ward children and sew
erai section hanaar Thu Investigation
was begun al e'riock THIS afternoon
In the office OF Aouier Mechanic 4. a.
Mattimore, With Naborinioudont y. J.,
Gibson and Tralnmaster o. II. Iiigrin-
son as chief Investigators.
The wreck which caused tho death
OF the Wards aud the unknown Ia
boror ana the injury % nearly a
dozen. occurred Yesterday afternoon
when an eastbound freight train, with
sixty cars. a tonnage OF $50 tons,
craahed into a work train, on side
track near McCartys The big 500
type engine plunged into the rear Of
the work outfit aad almost entirely
demolished several cars before stop
ping. The work train was IN charge
Of Conductor John r. Stokes and
Rrakcmcn W. n. Anderson and ]. NJ,
Hunt. Stokostiind Anderson were
among the cNiet witnesses summoned
90 appear AZ the Investigation today.
Because OF tine seriousness of the
wreck Stokes became dazed and was
sim Ia condition today which indi4
Gated that be Is iaboring under se-
we're mental strain. IL Is said that
Anderson the brakeman, should have
protected the work train against any
oncoming trains, ana that Stokes. the
conductor. should have seen 20 Il that
Anderson dld his duty. whether An
derson attempted 10 flag the oncom-
ing freight. and whether he was re-
minded to DO SO by tho conductor,
Will probably be made known az the
hearing.
The work train had taken siding al
McCartys FOR No. 2. the eastbound
fast mail The eastbound freight had
orders 60 wait on the McCartys siding
for No. . 60 pass. No blane can be
attached. Il Is said TO the crew Of the
eastbound freight. The wreck could
have been averted. Il f. said By off
clals, n the members Of the work
train crew whose duty II was 70 do 50,
had seen to Il that fuses or torpedocs
had been placed on the track at q
distance far enough away from the
rear end OF the work train 20 givc
! she freight sufficient time 20 come %
q stop. a binding snow storm was
raging AZ the time the wreck oc-
CURED and this doubtless had some
thing to do with the disaster.
The bodies Of Mr.. and Mrs. Ward
and the unknQwn iahorer were pre-
pared for burial today. The five
Ward children. ranging from seven
months old TO nine years old. occupy
beds IN the santa Re coast lines hos
pital Beyond cuts and bruises and
shaking up the 1--WE orphans were not
seriously injured and win be as we'll
as ever within a few days. a hair
dozen wOrkmen and lRhorers who susr
tained minor injuries. most Of them
cuts and bruises were reported as
doing wen ~ the hospital today. The
dead and injured were brought TO At
buQuerque last night ia a relief train.
A purse containing 1895 was found
near Mrs Wards body. this being the
savings Of the family for several
years. A watch. found on Mr. Wards
body. was still running having gone
through the wreck without injury