Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-09-17
BIAS IS CHARGED
To INVESTIGATORS
OF ABBA. WRECK
Receiver Bugg Asks |, c, c,
to Recall w, ], Patterson
and Associates, Claiming
Patterson Is Union Man

The interstate commerce commits
sion, at Washington, has been re-
ouested by Benjamin L. Bugg, re-
ceiver of the A, B. & A. railroad, to
recall w. j. Patterson and his asso-
ciates, who have been in Atlanta all
week, investigating the causes of the
Cascade crossing wreck on Septem-
Der Z, which the railroad attributes
to an incendiary explosion. Colonel
Bugg charges that Mr.. Patterson Is
a member of one of the striking
unions and has shown himself to be
partisan.
Another development Friday was
the announcement by Colonel Bugg
that a four-foot section of steel rail,
evidently blown out by the force OF
the explosion, had been found by
track foreman in repairing the road
bed where the wreck occurred. The
official investigation at the capitol
closed before the piece of rail was
discovered, said Colonel Bugg. The
statement says that the rail was
found about ninety feet from the
point where lie SAplOolOii ONSoA 1SN'
in the direction the train was NOV
ing, and that ''the portion blown out
Is intact in one piece, showing con-
clusive1y that the force which tore it
out was applied from underneath and
could have been no other than an ex-
plosive."
Colonel Bugg's telegram, which
was dispatched Friday morning to
C.. C. McChord, chairman of the in
terstate commerce commission, fol-
lows:
section three of the act approved
May, 1910, requires impartial inves-
tigators to ascertain cause of wrecks.
AS organized labor has challenged
findings of the receiver as to the
cause of the wreck on ths Atlanta,
Birmingham and Atlantic railway,
near Atlanta, last week, your inves-
tigators cannot be considered i'm
partial, because the yare members of
la Dor unions which are now strik-
ing against this property. 49,
patterson, who is here now, is a
member of the Order Of Railway
Conductors, one of the striking
unions. He is not impartial and has
shown himself to be a partisan. Re-
quest withdrawal Of present investi-
gators and assignment Of non-par-
tisan, impartial representatives of
commission to make this investiga-
ton
w. J. Patterson, to whom refer
ence is made by Colonel Bugg in his
telegram, is assistant chief Of the
bureau of safety of the interstate
commerce commission, and, with two
inspectors, has been in Atlanta since
Monday investigating the causes of
the wreck.
At the first session of the commit
tee Attorney Reuben r. Arnold, of
counsel for the railroads receiver,
voiced an objection to Mr.. Patter-
sons line of examination of Con-
zductor Ross, who was in charge of
the wrecked train. The attorney
contended tF' an extended cross
examination of the conductor con-
corning the air brake appliances on
the train was imma terial to the in
vestigation, and declared with con-
siderable emphasis that if Mr.. Pat
terson was trying to ascertain the
cause of the wreck he had made On
inauspicious beginning. He insisted
| that the A, B. & A. railroad was
not on trial or under investigation
as to the safety appliances on it's
| trains but that the sole purpose of
the inquiry was to ascertain whether
the Cascade wreck was caused by
an incendiary explosion.
| The statement that the axle, truck
wheel and rail would be forwarded I'd
| Washington, for the completion OF
! the scientific tests, was erroneous.
They are in the possession of the rail
road and will be sent to the shops at
| Fitzgerald, it is said.