Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1889 — THE ENGINEER DRUNK. [ARTICLE]

THE ENGINEER DRUNK.

BEASON OF THE ACCIDENT ON THE ROCK ISLAND. The Coroner’s Jury Holds Twombly and His Fireman to the Grand Jury—The Latter Makes a Confession Hinting that the Engineer Was Asleep. A Chicago dispatch says: Engineer Twombly was under the influence of liquor when he ran his engine into the Washington Heights passenger car. The coroner’s jury held him to the grand jury to answer to the killing of six persons. Fireman LaCloche was also turned over to the grand jury. The Rock Island company, Conductor Buford of the freight train, and the crew of the passenger were severely censured. After the verdict had been brought in La Cloche admitted that he had sworn falsely before the jury, though he pretended that his perjury was the result of excitement and confusion rather than a deliberate misstatement. LaCloche admitted further that he had seen Twombly' under the influence of liquor two or three times in the last month. LaCloche took Lieut Healy aside and confessed that he' had not told the truth on the witness stand. To the lieutenant then and to other persons afterward LaCloche said that the engineer and himself had taken two or three drinks before going out with their train Tuesday evening, He intimated that Twombly was asleep while the heavy train was thundering forward a few hundred feet from the passenger coach. Twombly was leaning out of the cab, he said, and he could not say whether the engineer was asleep or not; but he knew that his companion was under the influence of liquor. LaCloche swore before the jury that he did not see the red danger signal until within three or four ear-lengths of it After the verdict he admitted that he saw it half a mile away. By his post-verdict confession it appears that both Twombly and LaCloche jumped as soon as they saw their danger. From other portions of his admission it seems that Twombly and LaCloche, sobered by the accident, walked several blocks together that night and concocted the story the fireman told the jury. Intimations were given out also that high officials of the road had connived at the suppression of the facts.