Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-09-13
WPER|0R COURT
Railroad Wrec k at
Monmouth Aired
In Case Of State VS.. DIVIDE Maitars
Of Lewiston-verdict Of Guilty IN
Case of State VS.. Allie B'aisdeii
Tried Wednesday


The matter Of the throwing OF the
switch of the Maine Central railroad on
June Is last at Monmouth and the COL
lsion of two trains caused thereby was
before the superior court at the Ihurs-
day session. The case was that OF state
Us Divide Maltais of Lewiston, charged
BY indictment with displacing the switn
with intent that cars OF the railroad
should be injured and resulting IN the
cars being injured. To this charge NAL
.ais pleaded not guilty. F. W. Clair OF
Waterville was attorney for the respon-
dent.
County Attorney W. H. Fisher in stat
ing the case said that Maltais. the re-
spondent, was cook on the work train
which was standing on the siding on
the day alleged and that he had trouble
with the foreman and different mem
bers of the crew and had made threats.
The case as outlined by the county at
torney was that the freight train came
in on the side track, the switch having
been tempered with and displaced The
only keys to that switch were in the
possession OF the foreman and the as
sistant foreman with the exception OF
ore KEY which was in the COOKS car.
where it could have been taken BY Mai
tals. The evidence in the case must
be circumstantial." said County Attor-
ney Fisher. for no one saw Maltais dis
place the switch
The working of the switch and the
-. 1
signals at that siding were explained
by John p Scully of Lewiston, who Is
employed by the Maine Central rail-
road as assistant roadmaster. He tes-
tilted that the work train on the side
track consisted of four cars. He hal
seen tho cars both before and after the
collision and he testified that the car at
the erd Of the work train. i'll which the
men Of the crew were sleeping ana
which was hit by the engine OF the
freight train was badly demolished
Witness explained the working Of the
automatic switch stand which was
brought into the courtroom. He testi-
fed that if the light oil the switch stand
was not lighted at night an engineer
would have no notice to see that the
switch was open for the siding.
Joseph Macque of Pennington, fore
man OF the railroad crew of the work
tram at Monmouth on June IS stated
that the work train there at the Aanna-
bessacook siding consisted of four cars,
sleeping car. a fiat car a cook car
and another car for the foreman and
/ his assistant. Tho car at the west end
Of the train was the sleeping car in
which eight men OF the crew were sleep
ing. the other man of the crew Charles
Partridge, having gone to North Mon
mouth that evening. Witness and the
assistant foreman both had keys to the
switch and the only other key was in
tho cooks car And he testified regard
ing trouble Maltais was having with
members of the crew. On that morn
ing. after witness had heard the train
Tagging the block. he saw Maltais com
ing from the direction of the switch.
Witness noticed that the switch target
was almost triangular and found the
! switch point open one and half inches.
! He threw the switch back onto the main
| line and put in a new lock. He knew
/ OF no business that Maltais would have
down the track that morning. Witness
| told of the crash that came that night
when the men on the work train were
! sleeping. and as he was leaving the car
he saw the engineer of the other train
and Maltais, who was fully dressed. The
end of the car that was struck was all
TO pieces and the whole train was show
cd ahead some. Witness went down to
the switch and saw that the switch
stand light was not burning. The switch
was thrown way over and the lock was
unlocked He knew of no way the lock
could have got into that position I'M
less it had been unlocked by someone
and put there.
Upon cross examination Mr. Marc
que testified that he had signed a
warrant for Maltais' arrest on the
charge of having cheated in a trans
action. Witness had strong suspi-
cion from the morning he found the
switch thrown that Maltais was try
ing to do the fellows up. On the
day after the accident MIR. Marcquo
had made a long report of the af-
fair. He had not accused Matais Of
throwing the switch, the day after
the accident. The switch stand at
the Monmouth switch was not the
same as the one exhibited in the
court room. Witness thought the
switch lock had been broken by hav-
ing been hit. The work cars would
be moved from the siding OCCASION
ally to allow other cars to use the
siding but the men in his crew rarely
threw the switch.
T., Fred Cowen, assistant foreman of
the crew, testified regarding trouble
Maltais had had with members of the
crew but had not heard Maltais
make any threats. He testified about
finding the switch points thrown off
on the morning before the accident,
the lever being up and thrown partly
around. He had found that the lock
would not hold. it evidently having
been hit with rock. He testified
about the collision and afterwards
finding the car on the west end being
pretty well demolished. He had seen
Maltais, who was up and dressed and
was carrying green lantern. Wit
ness went down to the switch stand
and found it set for the sidetrack.
Upon cross examination witness
testified that the train which collided
with the work train was special
freight. The train coming upon a