Evening star., 1939-08-15
Railroad President
Hints Train Saboteur
Is Known 10 Police
One Man Is Believed
Responsible for Wreck
Which Took u Lives
Pictures on Page Az
BY the Associated Press.

! By the Associated Press.
RENO, New, Aug. 15.-A hint that
officials might know the identity of
the person responsible for the crash
of the streamliner City of San
Francisco" which killed "A and in
jured more than 100, was contained
today in a statement by A. D. Nc
Donald, president of the Southern
Pacific.
1--WE have some definite evidence, :"
he said, but it is Of such a nature
that we do not feel free to divulge
it at this time"
Mr.. Mcdonald expressed belief one
man was responsible for the wreck
of the crack 17-car limited as it
crossed bridge over shallow Hum
boldt River, about $50 miles east
Saturday night. Mcdonald came to
the scene to assume direction of the
investigation.
"Earless Man" Is Cleared.
Several men were rounded up yes
terday and questioned about the
disaster, including Bob La Duceur,
who was held, Chief of Police Andy
NJ Welliver of Reno said, because
he answered the description of a
so-called "earless man" whose
strange actions had made him one
of the main objectives of the search.
Chief Welliver said La Duceur
would probably be released today,
as T. j. Mclaughlin, F. B. I. agent,
had established that the man was
at Pyramid Lake, New, Saturday
night and Sunday morning and
could not have participated in the
wreck.
Acting on information from rela-
tives of Mrs. Henry P. Vaux of Port
Ledge, Rosemont, Pa, and her
daughter, Miss Susan NJ Vaux,
searchers found the bodies of the
two in the demolished drawing car,
Twin Peaks" In the same car the
searchers found the body of an un-
identified Negro, apparently porter.
Car in Center Section.
Relatives of Mrs. Vaux and her
daughter, not being able to find their
names on either the casualty lists or
the list of uninjured, made inquiries.
Railroad records showed the number
of their section and coach. The car
was found to be one in the center
of the wreckage.
Albert johnson of Chicago, at first
reported to have been killed in the
crash, was found last night to be
alive, though in critical condition,
in an Elko, New, hospital.
Mr.. Mcdonald, explaining why he
believed one man responsible for the
disastrous derailment, said:
"A man would be fool to take
another into his confidence in
thing like this. A confederate would,
sooner or later, he bound to squeal."
He advanced the opinion the crime
might have been perpetrated by "a
man with diseased brain-possibly
one with grudge against some in
dividual on the train, satisfying that
grudge without regard for the other
lives that might be snuffed out"
Jeffers Joins Inquiry.
M. M. Jeffers, president of the
Union Pacific, which with the Chi
cago e. Northwestern operated the
streamliner jointly with the South
ern Pacific, arrived to aid in the
investigation.
After Mr.. Jeffers, with other rail-
road offlcials, went into the locked
and guarded room where the mis-
placed rail, ties, spikes and other
bits of evidence are held, he emerged
to declare:
There is not the slightest ques-
ton about it.; it was deliberate sab
otage"
Dan O'Connell, chief special agent
Tor the Southern Pacific, aided Mr..
Mcdonald is conducting the investi-
CATION, IN which they were Joined by
two F. B. I. agents and State police
officers. Mr.. Mcdonald said j. Ed
gar Hoover, chief of the Federal
Bureau Of Investigation, had been
requested to detail several F. B, I.
(see TRAIN WRECK, Pare A-s7