The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-11-03

for the refusal to carry out the recom-
mendation OF the Federal War Board to
put twenty-nine experienced motormen
back to work. which would have averted
! tho strike and this frlghiul accident
I which resulted therefrom.
| These men were responsible for plac-
ing man without experience In charge
/ or n train carrying hundreds of pas
| sengers. There were many other mex
| perienced men operating trains, was
creditably informed yesterday. The time
has come when the reckless disregard OF
| life by officials OF rapid transit lines
must cease, and as District Attorney !
am sure you will take such measures as
will bring to justice the officials who
allowed green motorman TO operate a
| crowded train"
Timothy S. Williams, president. and
| other officers Of the =. II. T. were ques-
| toned by District Attorney Lewis and
| members of the Public Service Commits
sion. For publication Col. Williams said:
! 1t has been impossible yet for our Off
| Gals TO ascertain the cause Of the acct
! dent except that II was due to a derail-
ment, because they have thus far been
excluded from the investigation on the
ground and from communication with
| most of the train crew.
MY information Is that Lewis was
/ appointed guard In December, 1914: was
| made crew dispatcher last January
| and early in September 1918. he quail
1 fed as n motor switchman. motor
| switchman Is a motorman who Is gem
| orally used In the yard but who Ia quail
| fed to make trips on the main line and
who from time TO time makes extra
| trips on the main line. When I say that
! he Is qualified as motor switchman I
mean that he had the necessary instruc-
| ton for operating trains and had gone
! through preliminary experience In run
| ming trains not only on the Brighton
! Beach line but on the Culver and Bay
| Ridge lines"
Is. II. r. 10 Pay Victims Expenses.
Col Williams sent letter to Bor-
| ough President Edward Riegelmann
| saying that the latter could draw on
| the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company
| for any sums needed for the burial of
| wreck victims and for medical treat
ment OF the injured unable TO pay for
| 1t themselves. Col. Williams had heard
that President Rieselmann intended 10
| raise fund for these purposes.
Police detectives took 10 the office of
! District Attorney Lewis three men de-
| scribed by him as important wit
nesses." They were B. y. Brodie, train
master at the Culver depot. !Coney
| Island. and L. B. Webster and G. p.
| Talbot. despatchers at Brighton Beach.
They were not under arrest They were
! accompanied by their counsel. ex-Judge
, Isaac r. Oeland who has been acting az
| Special Assistant United States District
| Attorney in prosecuting the 'raincoat
| cases" He denied yesterday that he
! was acting for the r. r. T. in advising
Brodle. Webster and Talbot, the reason
| for whose questioning was not revealed.
The Distric, Attorney said that the
| charge of homicide would be laid against
| officers of the y. r. T. IL they were
| found TO be responsible for the wreck.
al have not changed my opinion" he
| said, that the disaster was caused by
| the incompetency and recklessness of
| the motorman and failure OF the officers
| Of the p. r. T. Company to provide the
! trains with competent and efficient
| motormen. ! intend to find out why
| obsolete wooden cars were used"
| Mr.. Lewis and the Public Service
| Commission simultaneously divulged the
| fact that n steel cold chisel about seven
! inches long had been found not long
after the accident beside the track at
! about the spot where the train Jumped
| the rails. thirty feet north OF the NAL
| bone street tunnel Mr.. Lew's's curious
comment was: ~ don't attach much
| Importance to this. but It will make
! good newspaper stuff The reporters
| asked him what he meant by this.
Train Ran Over steel ChiseI.
Mr.. Lewis replied that the chisel bore
marks which convinced him II had haen
| run over by train. Asked II he thought
Il had been dropped or laid on a rail
and had caused the derailment, he said
1T think the train hit II. II the speed
| Of the train had been six miles on hour,
as II should have been on this curve the
chisel could not have caused the acci-
dent. The train was going at least thirty
| miles an hour. Motorman Lewis says
| so himself"
From this the interviewers gathered
| that the District Attorney thought the
| train was going so swiftly it would have
| jumped the track anyway. chisel or no
| chisel. The chisel was found by rep
| resentative OF the Public Service Com
mission and "a citizen" the District At
| torney said. The point where 1t was
picked up is 50 far from the car wreck
age as 10 preclude the likelihood OF its
| having come from the tool box OF one
| Of the demolished cars.
| A fattencd surface near the chisers
| top Is considered by the Public Service
| Commissioners as some support for the
conjecture that IL might have been
vedged between tne rails ny stElhtTS
! with the intent OF deraling a train. or,
! they said. Il might have been fiattened
, by a sledge hammer while in use in the
| construction OF the cut and tunnel and
| overlooked when the workmcn gathered
! up their tools.
As it stands. the chisel constitutes a
| scrap OF evidence. worth anything or
! nothing as the investigation may de-
! velop.
One result OF the wreck was swift
| settlement OF the strike which had
| caused the b. r. T. to employ substi-
! tute motormen in important Jobs The
| railroad agreed to reinstate all the men
| who had gone out. including the twenty.
nine recommended for reinstatement by
| tho War Labor Board. They will have
| the same rating as they had before, and
! full pay for all time out.
L. s. Attorney Takes Up Case.
The Government started an indepen-
dent inquiry through Melville II. France.
United States Attorney for the Eastern
, District Of New York. lie said he
| thought that In the circumstances the
recommendation OF the War Labor Board
| for the reinstatement OF Jewish en-
| ployees discharged for observing the
Jewish New Year as holiday amounted
| TO an order.S He added that II this belief
! was sustained he would take prompt ac-
! ton, and that revocation of the COM
! pany's franchise might result.
| The National War Labor Board will
not investigate the wreck. according TO
a statement Secretary Jett Lauck of the
board made last night In Washington.
4 THaTA Loot tAh 40 Il "a MID