New-York tribune., 1919-03-18
Hewitt Testifes
He Had Faith i'm
r. r.. T. Motornan
Takes Stand for Five Hours
to Defend Himself Against
Manslaugnter Charge and
Faces Hard Examination

NfNEOLA, L. l., March IL Charged
with manslaughter as result of the
fatal r. r. T. tunnel wreck of last
November, Division Superintendent
Thomas F. Blewitt took the stand in
The Supreme Court here to-day as his
avn final witness. He denied explicitly
and in detail guilt of any such negli-
sence or recklesSness as the prosecu-
lion has imputed to him. In selecting
emergency motormen to fill the places
NJ strikers on November l, he testified,
he took what he believed to be the
nick of several hundred men. In the
case of Luciano, or Lewis, motorman
Of the train wnich was wrecked, Mr..
Hewitt sworo that he was satisfied he
was getting an extraordinarily compe-
tent man.
Altogether the defendant, who is the
first of the six 3. Il. I. men to be
brought to trial on the manslaughter
charges. occupied the stand for near
lv FIVE hours. Notably calm and COM
posed at the outset, he was visibly
shaken by the long strain to which he
was subjected. AT the end of the day
his replies to rapid-fire cross-eX-
animation by District Attorney Harry
+. Lewis were coming in low humble
that scarcely reached the reporters
table.
Had Previously Misunderstood
Faced several times with answers he
had given before the grand jury hear
ing which apparently contradicted his
testimony of to-day, he shook his head
YEARLY and merely repeated:
Il must have misunderstood the
question
District Attorney Lewis, at the end
Of the session, said that he would have
have only one or two witnesses to cal!
in rebuttaI, and that the examination
of these would be very brief. The
trial has now extended over fifteen
DAYS, but it is expected that the sum
ming up on both sides will be COM
pleted tomorrow afternoon, and that
the case can be given to the jury by
nightfall
in voluntary statement issued at
the conclusion of his direct examina-
ton, Mr. Blewitt, replying to the prose-
cutions contention that he Disregard
ed human safety in order to keep trains
running. said,
''If my idea had been recklessness, I
would have played into the hands of
the strikers, for that was the very
thing that they wanted. My entire
motive was for the safety of the pas
sengers. II my prime motive had been
the maintenance Of the schedule,
could not have interfered with it more
than by putting on an incompetent
man who would possibly have an acci-
dent which would entirely upset the
schedule. BY so doing, l would have
played into the hands of the strikers" !"
Had Observed Motorman
The rest of the Blewitt testimony
was, for the most part, detailed
elaboration of this premise. He said
he had observed Luciano, driver of the
wrecked train, for two years as signal
man, crew and train dispatcher, switch
man, towerman and finally pilot motor
nan, and declared that he had been
markedly impressed with the man s
capability.
He cited many reports that had been
nade to him by others bearing out his
own high opinion of Luciano.
On cross examination District Attor-
ney Lewis concentrated attention on
the manner in which the defendant
permitted Luciano to be qualified. He
did not, however, succeed in shaking
the witnesses assertion that he believed
all the emergency men to have been
fully qualifed-Luciano most Of all