The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-10-22
CORONER ORDERS
 INQUEST BACK TO
 SCENE OF WRECK
New Witness Testifies That Supposedly Useless Fire Ex-
 tinguisher Already Had Been
 Discharged

witnesses yesterday in h1s inquiry in-
 to the cause of the Saua gtuck bridge
 railroad wreck at Westport, Oct. g.,
 than was originally planned It was decided at the outset of yesterdays s
 hearing that most of the witnesses the Coroner had proposed to hear at that time could more efficiently and intelli-
 gently testify if they were on the roadbed where the wreck occurred. Consequently the Coroner decided to tuck when the witnesses will be heard on the ground. In this manner Coron- CT Phelan expects to get nearer. to the true facts than in any other way. l. George Edmund Everett. the witness who testified on Saturday that the roadbed at this point was in very
 Of rotten. ties. was summoned to be among those to. appear before the
 coroner today Everett who had. work ed on the road as: a foreman of a sec
 vious to .s that as a section hand, claims that the ties in the. roadbed
 are rotten for the. most part and this being so, the tracks are in a dan gerouS condition. He made other claims to which the road officials who appeared before the. coroner yester- day, took exceptions e-President B. G. .Buckland said that he was pre- pared tos offer evidence which would show that Everett had animosity for the road and for that reason. his tes- timony. should not be taken seriously.
 sHanford aDonnelly. of Sanford, who was said by the sfoF1ners witness, sChas. who tried and failed to- use the fire exlinguisher, made a good witness for the 1T aih-oad. In fact he made such a good witness for the road in dis proving the claims that the extir1-4 guishers were inadequate that his name was taken by Vice President B. G. to look after the roads interests in the inquest, and who promised to com pensate the witness for personal loss es that he, sustained in assisting in the rescue work. Witness said that he lost a hat that was burned and also had his clothes damages during the time he was helping in tlre. rescut work. MT. Buck1and asked for his name and address, remarking that wit ness should be compensated for his losses.
 in an automobile on the shore road when his attention was: attracted to the wreck by flames. He hurried to the wreck and was one of the first of having been one of the first to en- ter the parlor car. Donne11y testi- lied that he heard screams and hur- ried through the car to the end next to the engine tender. s' There he found women and after stepping down and crawling through wreckage he man aged to get a. good look at woman who was screaming. After little eff fort he was able to get hold of the wo- mans arm and endeavored to pull her out. This he was unable to- do as the woman seemed to be pinned in. She said nothing but continued to scream Witness said he found two fire extfn- and played 1t upon the fire After us- ing this one he used the otherx tt%The fire extinguishers worked all right declared the witness They played a stream for ten minutes each but the stream had no effect at all l. don't believe. thai 10000 fire extinguishers would have done any good. The, fire wos too strong for the extinguishers. i Nothing short of 70 or 80 pounds of water pressure could have put the fire out.''
 Witness said that he saw no other ext1nguishers in use. He did see another man pick up one of the extin- guishers he had used and after trying l thing ain't full.'' To this remark Donnelly said he told the other man, | .tof course it won't work after I've bravado manner declared that if he had had help he could have saved the | women who were burned.
 HThe only thing had to ask for all | witness, 'tWas a lantern. I found l every thing else that I needed.'' Wit | ness told of finding a crowbar and an
 Before another witness was called to | the stand dhere was some discussion l as to whether it wouldn't be better |
  ground this forenoon, this would | expedite matters. Coroner Phelan | concluded that it would be better to | hear some of the witnesses on the | ground tomorrow with the result that | three of the witnesses, railroad off, ciais, were dismissed until this fore noon.
 Vice President Buckland then wanted to know if the coroner desired to hear the. records at this time, relative to George E. Everett, who testified | against the road Saturday. Everett testified that the ties used in the road bed in the crossover where the wreck deeayed- and in bad condition.
 He declared that he felt qualified toi speak of the condition of the roadbed as he had been in the employ sof the Mir. Buckland wanted to introduce re- lated to the reasons why, Everett was road, as shown by records of the rail- road He had previously stated that MT. Everett had been discharged from the employ of the road because of aI- legged padding of the payroll; irregu- uarity in his tirnekeeping and poor service. The coroner said; that he didn't desire to enter into this mat ter unless it was absolutely necessary as it might blacken Everett,s charac- ter and be unfair in other ways f
 The coroner said that he was chiefly concerned in what might have contrib | uted to the cause of the wreck rather than anything else. He said he didn't want to concern himself so much with the reasons as to why Everett was. dis charged as with the condition of the road. Everett would have a chance to show why he believes the sconditionj of the roadbed is bad and dangerous The coroner asked to have the prev r Ious statements made about Everett stricken out of the records or. at least held in allowance for the time being and not officially entered on record
 MT. Buck1and said that he was will ing to have his previous statements withdrawn "As to the cause of thel wreck, MT. Coroner said Mir Buck land, CT am very anxious to have you ascertain it and place the blame precisely where it belongs. want to help in any way that I can and will welcome whatever decision you