Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1915-12-01
CorOItr's Jury P nd, qhTGj Guilty
6foss h,gl'gencs Lna.gs Against Fiagman
Wisap. Engineer Tanketsiy and Fireman.

With uagllg.ncs iii connection will
She wreck. tbe jury of Corone
T. W. Summersett investigating
the death of H G Sewers and G
E. Hall Of Char .otse, who wer
killed whsn Southern train No
&8 struck the rear Pullman of th
football sp, .cisl ~ t he local vaAf
Wednesday night, late Saturda!
Afternoon returned the followln,
Verdios:
"rhst G. Il. Hall and II. q
Sewers came t. their death by be-
ing killed III wreck on th'
S,uthesn Raiiway III the Sails
bury var, III November "a, 1915
on second No. 80
"F.rse, shat Clyde Wllsrr, 6
Aagman, was grossly leghgens IL
failure to display th- proper sig
mails 80 lrots.t his srsln ssconc
No. 80, agai. ss ri, Nc. 3o.
"Seco.4d, that A. tankersiy, en
s,nser on ilaln N 38. was negl
gent III disrsgsrdiu3 signals az
block aud not bringing his tIal
poder ooulro. as , { ruls of tht
railway company.
Third, tnas Arthur Kelly, hre
man, Was guilty Of coutribntor'
ntyIigeuc, III falsing to o's.rv
aud notify the eAsln- ref the dis
played Signals on resr If tran
Geo ,ud NJ. 81 "
Wish an attendance of prcml-
nent railway officials and )aske
oro wd cf Interested spectators. the
Coroner began the invessigatlos
Saturday morulng at ii O'Clock
Among she railroad msn present
vsre 5ups. h L. Hungerfold and
A D Shsltol OF she Charlotte
aud Dan i l., divisions, Supb OF
Tsrmina x L Avery, E!eotr'Ca
Eugin.er W. J. Fox, G.. E. Ellis.
signal s.g ,,ee., o. G. Cash and J.
g. Hswtes, illsp sctors OF the ln.
tsrssste Commerce Comm:sslon.
Who raftlc. pated in tho railway
investigat,on at SpeLcer, were al
% present.
CoroLer Summersest's jary c Il
sisted f w. S. B:aokmsr, rea
estate dealer; H. A. Rouser, au-
t.mobile dealer; J II. Ramsay.
ex- postmk sister; O. M Hel defllte.
. coal dealer who for many years
vac q track cfhcial for the Sonth
sfn Railway; Frank R. Brown, q
business mali and W. F 5nid-r
cashier of the Wachovia Bank &
Trust Company.
Toe inquest vas held in the su
psrior Court room of the county
court house. Solicitor Hayden
Clement, who represensed she
Stats, explained at the outset
that this WAS voluntary inques,
aud that aay one could rofuse &C
answer Any question asked or re-
fase to testify at all,
The first witness was E. r. REQ
tor, tram dispstcher Of the Char
lotto division. who testified as te
The time trains moved between
Charlotte and Salisbury the night
of the wreck.
O. O. Ottenburg, signal and slec
tricsl maintaiusr of the Char
lotte division, testified that he
msde weekly and daily inspsc-
ii ns of block signals that on the
day of the wreck the signal past
under discussion was all right and
4he signal arms In correct position
when he arrived just after ths
wreck. There are two signal armt
on this particular pest and the,
we're set: the red abovs aud the
green below, indicating obstrucsee
track and the main liue switch
open leading to the passenger
station; the engineer seeing thi
should procsed cautiously ss un
der obstruoted block. The sigma
Was 6O8 feet from the wreck.
W. L. King, trainmaster of tn
Charlotte division, Q rroborate,
Ostenburg as to what the signal
meant in thls particular instance
The rules require the engineer t,
bs able TO stop within his vision
King read rules governing thi
point. Second NJ. 80 was cn
straight track just north of
aurve of three and one-half de
rses. Going around that curry
.nein sers could stop while maAin
ur OF fiv- miles an h-ur.
iagmsn is required to g, back a