The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-09-05
ENGINEERS FREQUENTLY PASS BANJO SIGNALS AT
 DANGER WITHOUT STOPPING, ACCORDING TO WITNESSE
Conductor Adams Of Wrecked Bar Harbor Express And Fagman Murray Give Conflicting Test- mony In Regard To Stopping The
 White Mountain Train

that a train would have to reduce speed to 10 or 15 miles an hour in order to prevent such a violation or the rules.
 Were you ever disciplined for such violation?' NO, I never reportsd them," said wands.
 The witness admitted that he had never been examined on the new r1i1es etfect1Ve in 1907 containing the ruIes requiring engineers to stop at "banto'' signals.
 Cross-examined by J. F. Berry at- torney for the road. he said he had been cautioned by officials Of tbe road to sacrifice speed for safety.'
 Ihe last caution, he said. came rom taC, t,-o carroll, a road foreman just af- ter the Stamford wreck last June
 E. T. Barnfather, Wards firen1sn | corroborated his superior. He. foo Sa1d ne was not sure whether the train was entirely beyond the sfena1 Tf WAS impossible from the engine cah 70 see the rear markers on Fis train Eleven cars separated the engine Fro--, said. I'iiIN ne
 Brace c. Adams, conductor Of fbe I0ar Harbor, testified that his train lfao run by a signal at Wilson's, just outside of Springfield and that tbs White Mountain had there been --fcr- ped by his f1agrnan
 The White Mountain pulled TIT, ro- hind our train at that point" he de- clared. We couldn't see more +t-..- two cars back" he added
 Adams did not know wbetrev tf. IIagnlan had gone back or not eI heard the guns go off, however" he sald' and supposed he went back. told the flagman that wanted ro,e- Tagging on this trafn''
 Adams told of calling the f1aqrosr by meana. of engineers whistle. ssFIor- old you expect him to flag long dfs- tancestfygssen you called him back En rF%e ra1tnteS af CT you stopped 2" q e&pectso Him to Jsvf his judgment said the witness. T was ready to ao on without him"
 Adams said he heard the torpedoea but said he could not estimate fbe time which elapsed between their re- ports and the collision.
 Adams, too, declared that frafr,a had frequently run by banjo" signais in thick weather and like the enzfnee- he said he had never reported them.
 Have any of the officers of the railroad ever been over the road with you to see how you operated trafua2'' Never, sir.'
 Why did you never report thens violations of the ruIes?" asked Affor- ney Berry for the road. Because the engineer usually started up again and went about his business" said Adarn~
 "The flagman would not have come if you had not recalled him, would he?" asked Berry. ''No.'s
 If you hadn't recalled him and your engineer had gone along, you would have been two minutes away. wouldn't you? ?' NO, not more than one minute away" insisted the wit ness.
 F1agman Charles Murray, of tha Bar Harbor Express was next called. He described the stop at Wilson's Sta tion. He denied that at that point he had nagged the White Mountain or that the latter train had stopped be- hind him.
 T never saw the White AIountaiH till the time of the wreck" he said.
 He declared that he went back with proper warning at signal 23 but he did not know whether he passed tho signal on the way. T might have he said, "but I didn't notice. I could not have gone very far when I heard the whistle recalling me. I had placed two torpedoes and was just about tc stick the fuse between the rails wher the first 95, (the White Mountain came along and jumped out of thu way"
 The witness said he could not at tempt to estimate the distance he wen back. He had no watch, he svvors as required by the rules of the road and had never been given one.
 "I kept going back till was ca1let in,'' he said.
 
 for flagmen acting in that capacfty2' asked MT Belnap. 'FYes, there are
 On cross examination, Murray sal he had qualified as a passenger train man and had passed an examination on all the rules that a fIagman wa required to know but not the regula flagmans examination.
 You would have kept going on bacI if you hadn't been called in. wouIdn' your" asked the roads attorney. certainly would" retorted the wltncra
 The flagman, who is but two year beyond voting age, testified uuis stress of emotion that revealed fteet in tears as his examination cloeed His eyes were bloodshot.
 r L. Bundy, bagga genaster of tn Bar Harbor with a broken arm in sling. testified that the period oetwee inc explosions of the torpedoes an the crash was but a moment" Fl thought that three or four minutes elapsed between the recall of the flag man and the crash.