Evening star., 1942-12-01
1rainEngineer
Found Guilty in
B. & 0. Wreck
McCleIIond Held in
Jail Pending Passing
Of Sentence Friday
BY PAT JONES,
Star Staff CORRESPONDENT

ROCKVILLE, Md, Dec. Ray
mond Rufus McClelland, Baltimor
d Ohio Railroad engineer VIII
thrice in the last 10 years has beer
chosen to drive presidential spe
cial, was found guilty early toda,
of manslaughter in connection will
the three train crash at DickerSol
September "a.
The jury deliberated three hour
and 10 minutes before it returned
to the courtroom a little more thai
half an hour after midnight ant
stood while its foreman announced
its decision with single word
guilty" Only a handful of spec
tators remained to hear the verdict
The 59-year-old defendant stoot
without change of expression afte,
the verdict was given and waitet
motionless until he was turned ovel
to the sheriff to be placed in th'
Jail on the top floor of the Mont.
gomery County Courthouse unit
Friday. date tentatively set for sen.
tence to be passed. His punishment
may range from 10 years in prison
to 81 fine.
Engineer Testifies.
An indictment against McClellanc
was returned by the Montgomery
County grand jury for each of the
l3 victims identified after the wreck
but his trial was in answer to a
specific charge of manslaughter in
the death of DR.. Frederick Hoch-
stetter of Pittsburgh, one of the
passengers.
Ten witnesses were called to tes-
tify, among them the defendant
himself. who remained on the stand
for an hour and a half during the
late afternoon. After a recess for
dinner arguments were begun at
7:30 pm. and continued until after
9 pm. When they were ended
Judge Charles w. Woodward. sitting
Jointly with Judge Steadman Press
colt, charged the jury with the brief
statement that it should find the
defendant either guilty or not
guilty of the one count in the in
dictment.'
During the early part of the day
testimony was presented to show
that McClelland had violated sew
eral rules laid down by the railroad
for its engineers. These included
passing through a yellow signal At
Tuscarora, II 900 feet from the scene
Of the accident; ignoring the arm
signals Of guard stationed on
Monocacy Bridge within a mile of
the wreck, failing to stop after
bursting two torpedoes and failing
to stop to cXtinguish a burning fusee.
Recalls Admission.
In his argument, States Attorney
Ben G. Wilkinson recalled that Nc
Clelland had admitted the accident
never would have happened if he
had oheyed the rules. He also cited
a statement he said the engineer
had made on the day of the wreck
that he had been following train
No. 18 up the hill to DickerSon every
other day under yellow signals and
that he expected the signal to be
the same that day.
Al one point in his argument the
States attorney waved before the
jury a photograph of the battered
and demolished Diesel locomotive of
train No, 20, the engine McClelland
was operating, and asked, DO YOU
think he would be here today if he
had stayed in his seat?"
You know and I know" said the
prosecutor. that the defendant was
guilty of failing to apply his emer-
gency brake. excessive speed and
utter disregard of human lives"
McClelland maintained steadfastly
during the lengthy questioning BY
both sides that he had remained ir
his seat until he was knocked from
1t by the impact of the crash and
that he applied the emergency brake
after; he had passed the fusee and
seen the red signal standing 262 feet
from the point where train No. Is
had stopped because of faulty air
brakes.
Stress Actions Before Crash.
Much OF the testimony during thu
DAY was given in answer to questions
designed to show exactly what went
on in the cab of the Diesel engine
curing the few seconds before il
ploUed into the rear of eastbound
train Nc. Is, throwing its rear coach
over against a westbound freight
passing at the moment. The State s
ann was to prove that Engineer Nc
Cielland had deserted his post and
mad dropped on the floor of the cab
leaving the dead man" automatic
brake device to retard the speed of
his train before it crashed.
B. & O. Division Supt. Paul K.
Partee, among others. testified that
the defendant had said on the dav
OF the wreck and at hearing con-
Quoted by the railroad in Baltimore
two or three days later that he had
thrown himself on the floor of the
cab as soon as he had seen the red
signal and the rear of the train
ahead of him.
The engineer denied that he ever
had made such a statement and
ADDED at one point that. if he had
said ii, he had done so because he
was too mustered after the accident
TO realize what he was saying. He
held in his defense that the flagman
on train No. l8 had not come back
lar enough to place the torpedoes
and fuseeS. especially in view of the
dense fog that existed that morning
and that he was not required bv
rules to apply his emergency brake
until after he saw the red signal
near the stalled train ahead.
He testified that he had not seer
the signal at Tuscarora until after
he had passed it and then, on looking
back, thought that the paddle was
going down to yellow" and that il
had been tTipped from clear to eau
ton oy his own train. He admitted
that he saw Paul E. HeiSkell. guard
stationed at Monocacy Bridge. who
told the court he waved his hat Wig
orously in the hope of stopping No
20 before the crash. but added that
he thought the guard was saluting
him.
Il went on around the curve after
! passed over the bridge" McClel-
land continued "I Sau tho freiuht