The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1913-09-16

New Haven, Sept 16-Responsfbtl-
ity for the North Haven wreck on
September End, in which twenty-one
persons were killed, is placed entirely
upon three employees of the two trains
that collided and the company is not
held TO blame for faulty signal sys-
TENS or lax methods, in the finding OF
Coroner Eli Mix just made public
The finding holds Augustus B. Miller,
engineer on the White Mountain ex-
press. and Conductor Brace G. Adams
and Charles Henry Murray of the Bar
Harbor express, criminally response
BILE for the accident
Miller was arrested on a bench
warrant and taken before Judge Eo-
win b eager at a special session OF
the criminal superior court yesterday
afternoon and was arraigned on a
. charge of manslaughter. His case
was continued to the regular October
term of the superior court and he was
released on bond of $4,000. Murray
is still held under a. coroner's war
rant. being free under $4,000 bond,
and Adams, the conductor, has not
yet been taken into custody Bench
warrants, however, have been issued
for them and Murray will report to
the states attorney today and Adams
is expected to also
states Attorney Al1ing will try the
cases at the October term of the SUI
perior court.
Coroner r.
signal system on the Hartford division
is safe if the company rules are not
violated by the men and calls atten-
ton to what he calls a sorry record
of discipline. ''It is apparent, he
saws, these violations (the improper
Tagging of trains and the running by
of sisnals) of the rules have been too
frequent and too numerous.
He saws further: 81 urge upon the
public utilities commission of the
state Of Connecticut thorough 1nVes-
tfeation of the system OF discipline of
said coFnpany's employees. i believe 1t
to be a very fruitful field for inquiry
and one to which their attention
should be Immediately directed"
The coroner absolves the company
from blame for the rule violations, IN
the following paragraph:
II therefore find that said company
has not countenanced the violations
of these rules and under the #condi-
tons existing has endeaVOred, when
ever said violations were brought to
their knowledge, to prevent their re-
currence."
The coroner's finding on this matter,
coming on top of staten ents made by
General Manager c. L. Bardo at the
investigation of the Stamford wreck,
to the effect that the road could not
get competent men and could not
properly control its EN- ployes, because
of the interference of the labor
unions, cannot help but be considered
decidedly significant.
In the course of the finding, Cor
oner Mix states that Rufus w. Wands,
engineer on the Bar Harbor express,
was also guilty of gross negligence in
running by banjo signal %, but, he
says:
ct find that this negligence was an
incident rather than the proximate
cause of the wreck that followed.
Unless, therefore, the knowledge of
the incompetence of his conductor, of
his nag1man. or of both of them, and
OF the engineer of the train following
can be brought home to Wands by
evidence or testimony, his conduct
cannot be held criminal for the death
of said deceased
Regarding Engineer Miller, Coroner
Mix says: sit is clearly and uIlmistak-
ably apparent that had Engineer Mil
Ter Of the White Mountain Express
observed the rules which were clearly
understood by him and by which he
was running the train, the wreck
would have been prevented"
He says further on: 81 find that it
was Engineer Miller's duty to ap-
proach each signal that he might read
the name, ascertain if it was set in
danger, and If so set. be able to stop
before passing it.
In this regard, Coroner Mix is op-
posed by many of Miller's fellow en-
been necessary to slow down They
claim that it was only necessary to
start to slow down after the signal
was seen and that it was expected
that the train would be carried by its
own momentum a, short distance past
the signal
The coroner finds. from the testi-
znony of experienced engineers
that the banjo signals are safe if
the company's rules are lived up to-.
He finds further that the morning of
the wreck was a foggy one and that
Miller should have exercised particu-
lar care.
Brace c. Adams, the conductor of
the Bar Harbor Express, the coroner
finds, had complete control of the
train. and it should have been his
duty to see that Murray properly did
his duty, and that in this particular
occasion, knowing that it was a situa-
ton of more than ordinary danger
and having already reprimanded Muir
ray once for not going back far
enough to flag, he should have been
particularly careful. He says: E"Tak-
ing into consideration the dangerous
position said Bar Harbor Express was
in and the Unfavorable condition of
the weather, it was clearly the duty of
the conductor (AdaIns) to get away
from this danger at once and clearly
his duty to have left competent flag
man behind
The coroner finds that FTagman
Murray failed to go back the re-
quired distance to flag the other train
and that he was altogether lax in his
methods He says: cit is claimed that
he did not have time to go back the
required distance before being called
in by a signal given to the engineer