The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-06-14
Engineer Dougherty, of Engine
Which Caused Wreck,
Is Arrested.
CLAIMS FAULTY MACHINERY
Tells Coroner's Jury That Loco
motive Was Not in Proper
Condition.
Especial to The Times Dispatch.l


on the New Haven Railroad yesterday,
killing six persons and injurIng TWEEN
| " others, was tonight placed under
arrest on n warrant charging man
| slaughter. pending tho result of the
coroner's inquest now being held here.
DouGherty was released in $4,000 bail.
furnished by his brother-in-Iaw. John
Dillon. a New Haven business man.
Under cross examination at the cor
oner's Inquest to-day. Dougherty testi-
lied that the accident was caused by
the failure OF both the airbrakes and
the emergency brakes on his engine
10 work when no applied them after
reading the yellow eye" caution sig
nal on entering the block occupied by
the train which he crashed into n few
moments later. lie also said the an
pllance used to reverse the power was
TOO stir to work properly. The engine
driver further testified that he had re-
ported the faulty condition OF tho
before. when. after coming in from
his run. he had written In the train
Idispatcher's book at Stamford Brakes
no good. Won't WORK"
Dougherty testified that no had dis
cusscd the failure OF the brakes 10
roundhouse. and all of them had told
him that they had found tho same
trouble on the new 150-ton MoEul en-
| Eincs.
The engineer said the trouble was
| that the engines were too stiff" and
mat the management of the railroad
should have gone to the expense OF
breaking TN" these engines in the
yards instead OF sending them out To
haul fast passenger trains
! IN addition To the coroncr's inquest
now being held here. the Interstate
commerce Commission and the Con.
necticut Public Utilities Commission
VIII begin an investigation ut New
Haven on Monday in an effort to nix
the responsibility for the six lives
which were lost.
Tho officials OF the Interstate Com
merce Commission arc still here maxi
Ing an investigation of the wreck prep
aratory To the hearing at New Haven
Mellcn Visits Wreck.
~ WAS learned to- night that Charles
! ,. Mellcn, president OF the New Haven
/ Road. was passenger on one of the
trains stalled several miles west OF the
wreck, and when he heard OF the acci-
dent hired an automobile and drove 10
/ the scene OF the disaster, where ne was
able To view ut first hand the remain
inE ev'dence, although he remained in
coHnito during his stay in Stamford
When tho coroner's INQUEST is re-
snmed tomorrow morning. Assistant
Prosecutor Frederick w. IIuxford prob
ably will take up the burning OF the
i Pullman "Skylark," which was the rear
coach OF the telescoped train and tho
ear in which all of the persons killed
were riding. Benjamin Spock attorney
for the New Haven road, to-day nd
mitted at tho inquest that the sky
lark" had been dragged from the scene
] OF the wreck to point about a mile
J ~ -, III, ,
cd under orders issued by New Haven
4 officials
4 In answer to n question from Coroner
j. j. Phelan. Mr. Spock stated that ii
\ was customary for the road TO burn
cars which had been wrecked or dam
aged beyond repair. He said that MS
/ the car was n Pullman, the road did
not require permission TO burn it.
In answer TO this. Coroner phelan
said:
/ II am sorry this car has been burned.
as many persons Will think IL was done
for the purpose OF destroying evidence.
but fortunately we know of it's himsy
construction still, ] should have liked
1 TO examine II more thoroughly"
In answer TO questions put to him by
/ Coroner Phelan, Engineer Dougherty
said that he had been in the service OF
/ the New Haven road ten years of
which time he had been an engineer
a year and three months. He said he
did not consider himself an expert on
signals: lust a normal man"
The witness said he had passed an
examination and received a certificate
OF proficiency.
We're YOU nervous when you took
this train out for the first time on
! Tuesday,
Yes. l was nervous. Before this ]
had been running freight engines and
| switchcrs in the yards"
Ara ~.
Il never tasted whiskey hut once
That was six years ago. under the doc
! tors orders"
The witness testified that he had
| experienced trouble in making the air
brakes work since leaving Bridgeport
on every block where signals had been
set against him. and he was compelled
| to slow down.
Witness freaks Down
! When Doughcrty was led up to the
! point In his narrative describing tho
actual events leading up to the fatal
| wreck. he broke down, and an inter
mission Of half an hour was taken to
allow him time 10 regain his self CON
| troll.
/ On resumnG his testimony, Dough-
crty said he saw that the distant signal
was set against him when he was about
800 feet away from the Stamford block
and he yelled to his fireman, yellow
eye" and the fireman answered, "yel-
low eye"
II tried the brakes. but they would
not take hold. Then put on moro air
the emergency. But that ulun1 take
hold, either. l tried tho air a third
time but II did not tako hold right, and
when | saw | was not going to stop
in time / pulled the whistle n long
blast and waved my hand to the train
men ahead. motioning them to go
| ahead.
"All could do was to stand It, and
| just before we hit the Pullman let go
the whistle cord and grabbed the seat
to brace myself"
In testifyinE TO previous trouble with
the Same engine. DouGhcrty said that
on the previous Tuesday he had atrain-
ed his back while trying to reverse tho
| engine as he was running into Nor
T walk Station In order to avoid killing
littlo boy who was walking on the
track. Dougherty said the air did not
work properly on this occasion. and
tho boy would have been killed had not
lineman pulled tho child from tho
track just in timo.
When asked If he tried to rcverse
before striking tho "Skylark," Dough