Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-01-13
ENGINEER SEES
NO SIGNAL SET
TOSTOP DEATH
Saw No Warning Light Until
Within Few Car Lengths
of Coach, He Says

Batavia, n. Y, Jan. 13.-Oficials
of the New York Central Railway to-
day were continuing their investiga-
ton to place the blame for the
wreck at South Byron yesterday in
which twenty-one persons were kill
ed.
Thirteen bodies remained uniden-
titled in Batavia undertaking estab-
lishments this morning. John Fried
ley, engineer of the Southwestern
Limited, which crashed into the rear
sleepers of the Wolverine Limited,
maintains that no block signal was
set against his train and that he
saw no warning light until he was
within a few car lengths of the VOL
VERNE, which had stopped to take
on an extra engine for steep
grade. In this statement he is sup
ported by his fireman.
]. r. Dinan, superintendent OF the
western division, said: THE flag
man claims that he went about
twenty-five car lengths to the rear
of his train to signal the second
train. Torpedos also were put on
the track. The statement of engi-
neer Friedley differs materially from
that of the flagman. He admits, how
ever, that the signals were set at
danger when he went to look at
IneTn dIleT Ine dCCluelI.
Superintendent Everitt, of SYRIA
cuse, said Engineer Friedley was
"one of our most reliable employees"
The night was clear, Mr.. Everitt
added, and the engineer should have
been able to see for a mile.
Engineer in Similar Wreck
1t was recalled to-day that Engi-
neer Friedley was in similar wreck
twenty years ago. His train on that
occasion plowed into another at Ber-
gen the next station on the Central
east of Byron, and several persons
were killed.
The list of identified dead this
morning was:
Franklin e. Leonard, Bear Lake,
Mich.
S. d. Harvey, address unknown.
Ballard Jones, New York city,
Pullman porter.
Captain l.. Staud-Jiminez, New
York city, identification doubtfuD.
Thomas +. Cummins, New York
city.
Patrick Dougherty, New York
Mrs. Jennie Levine. New York
city.
But Three Escape From Car
The three persons seriously injur-
ed in the wreck are in Batavia Hos
pital. Physicians hold out little hope
for the recovery of Miss Flora
Dougherty, of Flint, Mich, but Mr..
and Mrs. Nathan Lichterman, of
New York city, will recover it was
said. These three were the only
ones to escape alive from the last
sleeping car on the Wolverine,
crushed under the second coach
which had buckled under the tre-
mendous impact.
One of the remarkable features
of the wreck was the fact that none
of the passengers in this second
coach from the end of the Wolver-
inc was injured. The rear end of
the car was lifted high in the air
by the force of the collision and
then it dropped through the roof
of the Inflated last car, but all of
the passengers escaped except for
bruises and shock.
An army nurse whose name was
not learned Gained the people in
this car and they made their way
TO the ground by ladders.
The woman first listed as Miss
Flora Doherty, of Flint, Mich, died
at the Batavia Hospital at noon to-
day, making the twenty-second
death. Her identification is not posi-
tive and there is reason to believe
she is Mrs. Flora Dougherty, wife of
Patrick Dougherty, of New York,
who was killed.