The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1924-07-24
|CORONER'S JURY
FAILS TO AGREE

Inquest Into Death of ke-
noshans at Sheridan Road
Crossing Postponed.
SEEK MORE WITNESSES
Unable to reach verdict, the coron-
er's jury which is Investigating the cir
cumstances under which Fred Halnnl
and Fortunate Egger was killed and
Arthur Younkins injured when the au-
tomobile in which they were riding
was struck by the 1915 northbound
train at the North Western crossing
at Sheridan road early Sunday morn
ing, postponed its investigation until
two o'clock on Friday afternoon. After
listening to the testimony offered by
ten witnesses and principals at the in
quest Monday Afternoon, it was the
recommendation of Coroner Truman i.
Parker and the jury that no decision
be made until additional witnesses un-
i able to be present at the hearing be
given an opportunity to tell what they
saw on the night of the tragedy. The
three witnesses who will be asked to
come to Kenosha on Friday afternoon
or present their testimony in written
form are Edward Steinman and Harry
Krause, both of Chicago, and H. II.
Rayner, of Waukegan. These three
were in automobiles going south on
Sheridan road which had been brought
to a stop just before the approach to
the tracks and which were, it is be-
lieved, waiting for the train to pass
before crossing.
It was the cars of these witnesses
that Hainni's car had to pass in order
to cross the tracks before the train,
! and it is the testimony of these people
upon which Attorney G. A. Mittelstead,
who is representing the estates of the
deceased, is placing his trump card in
determining who was to blame for the
accident.
The principal developments at Mon
days inquest included the testimony
of Arthur Younkins, who miraculously
escaped serious injury when he chung
i to the running board of the death car
when it was struck by the train; the
testimony of Michael zarraro, GOT
Fleet street, fagman at the crossing;
and the evidence given by Edward j.
Weber ard Spencer Howard, engineer
and firemen respectively, of the train.
Younkins told the coroner's jury Of
his meeting with his two friends early
in the evening and of their spending
the evening at the beach. 1t was close
to midnight, he said, when the boys
left the beach and went out for ride
prior to turning in at their respective
homes for the night. They rode down
Sheridan road at speed of about 20
| or 20 miles an hour, he estimated.
/ Fred Hainni was driving the Buick
touring car which belonged to his
brother, Gus Amend, and Younkins sat
in the front with him, while Egger sat
in the seat in the rear of the car.
eve came up to the crossing and
noticed that the gates were not down"
Younkins told the jury in somewhat
strained and nervous voice--he had
just come from the hospital to the in
quest-"and we thought that every
thing was clear, so we went straight
ahead. The next thing knew was
when I saw the front of the engine
bearing down upon US, and from that
time On / didn't know a thing until
woke up in the hospital" Younkins
was positive that neither he nor the
other men in the car heard any warn
| - SOL
they see flagman on the tracks.
Flagman Takes Stand.
Michael Zarraro's testimony at the
inquest was the most important of the
afternoon. The strain Of the series Of
events that had just passed in the last
few days told very plainly on his face.
His deep-sunken eyes were blood-shot,
and it was plain that he had been miss
ing some sleep lately. Michael works
| as fagman on the Sheridan road
crossing from IL p. m. to Z a. m. He
told how he had received the signal
| from the train which was coming to-
wards Kenosha just south of the SIM
mons ball park, and then attempted to
| lower the gates. There was a continu-
GUS string of motors crossing the
tracks at the time, and zazzaro declar-
ed that it was impossible for him to
| lower the gates without taking the
chance of catching cars on the tracks
| between the gates. AS soon as he no.
| ticed that he could not lower the gates
to his satisfaction, he grabbed his red
| lantern and rushed out on the crossing
blowing his whistle. He succeeded in
| tagging the cars and was ready to
watch the train fly past when he sud
denly noticed a car dart out from be-
hind two others on the road near the
tracks, disregarding, he said, his own
signal and that Of the train. Then
came the crash. Zazzaro made it
clear that his only excuse for not
having lowered the gates was because
he was unable to cut hole in the
continuous line of traffic at the time.
He declared that the automobile was
going at the rate of 40 or more miles
an hour faster than the train"
Others Tell of Crash.
Edgar Britton was called to the stand
to tell how he had for some unaccount-
able reason looked in the direction of
the crossing while in the neighborhood
and had seen the glare of the head
lights of the locomotive as he and his
wife were returning home on Willow
street, near the scene of the, accident.
Then he heard the shrek of whistle
and then a crash he said. moment