The Green Forest tribune., 1914-08-21
esponsibiIlty for Motor Wreck May
 Never Be Fixed.

ReSpOnSlDllty TOT MOlOF WTeCk way
 Never Be Fixed.
 Responsibility for the wreck at Tip ton Ford, caused by the collision of a Missouri & North Arkansas motor car with the first section of passenger train No. 56 of the Kansas City Southern, running as freight, probably never will be positively fixed" said A. J. Adams, inspector for the interstate commerce commission to Joplin Globe reporter
 "One of the two things caused the collision, said Inspector Adams, !" and no direct testimony ever will be brought out to prove whether Operator Hadley in Joplin gave tfemeeting or- der to the crew of the motor car, in which event the three men disregarded it, or whether Operator Hadley GssSv.'t r give them the order, allowing them t9 speed to their doom unaware of it's prox- imity. -.-.-......--
 Nothing was brought out at the hearing which showed that the oper- ator did not deliver the order, which he affirms he did, and as the crew of the motor car perished, thier story never will be told.
 No responsibility whatever can be attached to the crew of the passenger train for the accident, as they were carrying out thier portion of the meet order just as it was given them when the crash came.
 '1n regard to the construction of the motor car, which was built by the Gen eral Electric Company, it was an all- steel car, costing $30, ,000. It was about seventy feet long and was supposed to accommodate seventy passengers with out overlooking, According to the tes- timony of several passenger, who were on the car and who survived, all of those in the car when the accident occurred were seated and several seats were vacant. So far as we have been able to determine, fifty mine passengers were in the car, of which twenty-four escaped death and the other thirty y-five were killed. There may have been more in the car.
 ''I think beyond question the victims of the affair were suffocated by the fumes from the burning gasoline be- fore the fire ever reached thier bodies. Probably 105 gallons of gasoline were in the tank of the car at the time of the wreck, and probably the jar caused a connecting pipe to part, scattering the volatile fluid. Those killed were thrown into a pile in one end of the car by the shock in stunned con dition, and few of them ever knew what had happened in my opinion.
 |" It was one of the worst wrecks we ever have investigated, and is un- sual in the fact that no direct testimony can be obtained regarding the location of blame for it. I have probed ac- cidents where dispatchers have given wrong orders, where operators have failed to deliver orders and where crews have overlooked them, but never before has it been impossible to get con- elusive evidence against the blame worty individual.
 "Our investigation has been made un- der the federal accident law, which em- powers the interstate commerce com mission to order probes of wrecks when they deem it advisable, and our object is, first, to fix the blame and second, recommend such appliances or changes in the system of the road as will pre- vent recurrence of the accident. Our findings will be given to the commission within short time, and by the commits sion published with whatever changes considered necessary.