New-York tribune., 1913-06-21
00HER7Y SEES VISIONS
Of WRECK AS WITNESS
will Never Work on Railroad
Aoain, Engineer Cries at
Scene Of Fatal Disaster.
CORONER MEASURES TRACK
Finds Brakes Were First APP
pHed 1900 Feet from Signal,
Instead Of 400, as Was
Said on Stand.

,r.,m staff Correspondent Of The Trlhune.I
stamford. Conn. June 2O-Coroner Phe-
,.r continued his inquest into last week
.,.ck of the Boston Express here to-day.
.,s,ipe the session ON the tracks of the
v.v Haven road al the spot where
charles J. Doherty, the engineer who
..rssd the wreck. pointed out to him the
,,set place. as nearly as he could re
u,.mber it. where he made his first appn-
,,,io7 Of the airbrakes just before the
accident
This spot. as indicated by Doherty. was
,,rnd 10 be 300 feet from the distance
,irnal instead Of 400 feet, as Doherty had
,,,d The discrepancy was ascubed TO
the curve there. Doherty explained that
;. had been thinking, when he testified
before. of a straight line, and did not take
into account the long curve.
:, was at this place, he said that he had
~, m his first application Of fifteen
rounds OF air. having shut off the steam
,,,O feet further east. The second apph-
lr.bon Of ten pCnnds he placed at point
~, feet from the distance signal and the
ls,.I application Of his emergency brakes
.,1pO feet from the home signal which
ls 800 feet from the distance signal
| me purpose Of the Coroner in getting
ls.ss measurements exact was shown
rssn he continued the session at the
-own Hall. Here he put number OF en-
.,,s.rs and officials Of the railroad on the
...,d and asked them in hypothetical
,nsst,on whether an engineer in attempt
i'ng 10 bring his train 10 stop IN the
,os,ner indicated by these figures would
I,low good practice and the proper pre-
cautions. .-.--.-.-
rbsv all safeguarding their statements
With the proviso that these figures were
.o--oct-+be engineer would have shown
cood Judgment If the train did not stop
Sstore reaching the point Of the wreck
,bsv said. il indicated there was solile-
thing wrong with the airbrakeS.
Dobertv was taken 10 the scene OF the
,.-sct IN an automobile il was the plan
at FIRST 10 take him over the course III an
engine, but he baked at this refusing 10
enter the cab Of q locomotive
81 am through with railroading' ne
s,a "1 understand the company IS
goiog 10 take back John Harmon, the en-
g;,ssr succeeded, after he was sus-
oepded for running By a signal. am
clad Of that. but the railroad won't nave
any nrob,er1 so far as I am concerned
wouldn't run an engine again II you
pyt 2 sl00b.n in my hand every time
got into the cab.
every night when ] 20 20 bed j ieel
a. though some one was pounding NE
with a hammer from the inside. / see
all the time the poor. gray-haired woman
saw al the wreck That afternoon
when first saw her. the horror OF u
got 10 me. I sometimes wish ] mad gone
right through 10 the end. ! am ilVlhg
now only for my wife and two little chill
dren
q haven't a penny in the world. ana
the company closed my account with an
S final pay envelope. But I'll md some
thing else 10 DO and try 10 forget railroad
Ing Ny Oldest child-fve and half years
od-is getting just old enough 70 be Gu
Hous. and every time / take her on my
knees she asks ne 20 tell her about the
wreck It IS pretty hard 70 bear.
Doherty said the reason he refused 10
ride on the test train last Tuesday was
that he was afraid he would be called
on 10 ride IN the cab. and he could not
stand the ordeal
Charles Il. Morrison, signal engineer
vas put through a long examination By
Coroner Phelan as TO the measures the
railroad has taken for finding practical
stopping devices The Coroner drew
from him the opinion that a stopping de-
vice, working as It should, would have
prevented Thursdays accident no mat
ier what the engineer did.
He kept 10 ms stand, however that
10 device rad been found which could be
depended upon 10 work every time
The Coroner adjourned the Inquest until
Monday afternoon at . O'Clock, in Bridge
port.