The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-11-29

luS " ISliOl ID IiCIi Mummy ht,o bSVI
absolved from all blame by the rail
road company.
Bodies Are Recovered.
The bodies of the two men who went
to their death when the engine fell,
were recovered yesterday. The body
Of c. S. Concannon, the engineer, was
found yesterday afternoon at o'clock.
1t was found about forty feet away
from the engine on the engineers side.
The body Of Herman Atkins, the fire.
man. was found at 10 o'clock yesterday
morning in the sand Neither body
was mutiliated, according to advices
which were received here. 1t Is not
known whether the men were scalded
to death, or burned with fire from the
fire box, since the engine is believed
to have turned completely over in go
ing down.
The bridge tender was Yesterday
exonerated by E. S. Bradford, general
agent Of the Burlington there, and
Superintendent of N-idses Fl. G. Bark
er of Hannibal, according to a Quincy
report Evidence showed that the
block was against the Burlington train,
but Concannon kept on moving slowly
until the engine tumbled from the
bridge. The wrecking crew started
today to raise the locomotive.
The Bridge Tenders story.
The Quincy Wing yesterday prints
the following version from the bridge
tender:
Charles Clinton. the bridge tender,
claims that he had the semaphOre set
as signal for the train to stop. while
some passengers who got off as soon
as the train stopped. say that It was
not set and others say 1t was Other
witnesses from the bay island and
from points along the bay front say
that the accident appeared to have
been caused by the engine crew not
taking proper precautions. A man
and woman bv the name of Chase,
who live on the bay island. not far
from the bridge draw, say that they
saw the approach Of the train and
were witnesses to the plunge that the
engine took into the bay. They say,
it is understood, that the engineer fail
ed to stop his train, as Is customary,
upon approaching the draw and to
await for signals to come ahead. Other
witnesses to the accident claim that
the bridge tender saw the impendtng
disaster and ran. out on the bridge with
a lantern and tried to stop the train in
that manner, but his danger signals
evidently were not noticed
After the wrecking crew arrived
from Hannibal last night and removed
the dangling tender sufficiently to
allow the bridge to close, Wh'r re-
porter interview Charles F. Clinton,
bridge tender and obtained the follow
ing version of the disaster:
az opened the bridge at 6:20 O'Clock
this evening to allow the steamer
{, ardie Eastman to enter the bay. Be
fore opening the bridge I fixed the
semophores to stop any trains or en-
zines that might come onto the bridge.
The Gardie Eastman had been through
the bridge only about two minutes
when it whistled for passage out. But
in the meant time I saw the K line train
No. Is on the bay island approaching
the bridge and I decided to close the
draw before allowing to boat to pass
out. / knew had the semophores set
against the train and never once
thought that 1t would come on while
the signals were against her. ] was
on the inside Of the engine room and
had Just started to close the bridge
when I heard crash and on looking
out I saw the engine tumble into the
bay. 1 had not given the train flash
signal to come ahead and l cannot
understand why it came on with the
boards against it and without a fash
signal After the engine went In
again orened the draw to allow the
Cardie Eastman to pass out. 1t went
ont on the east side OF the boom tif-
teen minutes after I first opened the
bridge to allow it in.
About the Dead Men.
The Hannibal Journal gives the fol-
lowing sketch of the dead engineer
and fireman:
C. s. Concannon, the dead engineer.
was one. of Hanniba's leading ctti-
zens. He had been in the employ OF
the Burlington for something like
twenty-seven years. He came here
from the Aurora division more than
quarter of a century ago. He was
considered one of the safest and best