"I was in a position at all times, from the depot until Hough was injured, to see all of Hough's movements and actions, and I did see them. The brakes on the engine were in good shape; I kept them that way all the time; I made it a specialty of keeping up the brakes myself. The automobile was about half way between the turn here [indicating] where you turn around the corner Park, and crossing, right front, just about the middle of the block from the fire station, when I first saw it.
"Judging from the movement of the car, it was 35 or 40 feet, nearly the width of the street, this side of the railroad track, when he commenced turning to the left as if to go around the end of the car. He was on the extreme right-hand side of the street, before he commenced turning to the left, as appeared to me, we were turning to get around the end of the car. He followed the right-hand side of the street, and on the right-hand side of the street, until he reached a point opposite where the little cement post is in the street east of the crossing, and then commenced to turn to the left, as though he intended to run around the south end of the coal car, and go on over the crossing. I did not at any time blow the whistle from the time I started my locomotive some two or three hundred yards north of Ellis avenue crossing and until Hough was injured. I saw the automobile coming at a rapid rate of speed just after he turned the corner.
"At that time I was apprehensive that he would run into me. As well as I remember, the injury occurred about 8 o'clock. It was dark and rainy. It had been raining, but it wasn't raining very hard at the time he got hurt. It was our custom to stop and flag the crossing. I don't know about any rule of the company being in force at that time to stop and flag this particular crossing, but the book of rules require you to flag all crossings when you are shoving cars ahead of you. I can't remember exactly whether I was flagged to stop for this crossing or not on this particular occasion.
"As I moved south from the depot towards and over Ellis avenue crossing, I was on the east side of the locomotive. During all of that time I kept a lookout towards Ellis avenue crossing and the street on the east side of it. I was in a position to see and did see all of Hough's movements and signals, during that time.
"From the time I passed the depot going south until the accident, I watched and looked for the movement of automobiles east of Ellis avenue, and I kept my eye on those automobiles as near as possible. The air on the engine was working in good shape. I think it was some 13 or 14 feet that the train moved from the time it struck the automobile until it stopped; we took all measurements that night before we moved anything. I remember Mr. Rentzel, D. Crumpler, old man Crumpler, and the roadmaster's clerk were all there when we took the measurements, but I don't remember now what they were. In fact I was carrying one end of the tape. I wouldn't say whether it was 21 feet or 25 feet or what. When the automobile struck the car it was nearer on the left-hand side of the crossing going west. I couldn't say exactly how far it was to the left of the center of the crossing. We had crossed the center of the crossing with the end of the car. The car was loaded with either sand or gravel or both. The track was practically where the injury occurred. It is about 50 yards from the railroad track to the first turn in the street coming east from the Ellis avenue crossing, but I have never paid any particular attention to the distance across there. I could have seen the automobile approaching the track, looking east, when he made the first turn around the park, I guess I could have seen him 50 yards, if I had been looking across the town. The automobile was just about halfway between the turn here, where you turn around the corner of the park, and crossing, right front, just about middle of block of fire station when I first saw it. The automobile was going at least 25 miles an hour, and continued at practically that same speed until the collision.
"Crumpler swung in on the left side of the crossing, and looked to me like he was trying to run around the end of the car. I don't think he would have turned exactly as he did turn, if he had been trying to avoid striking the train, as there were two other automobiles over on the other side of the crossing, already over there on the left-hand side of the street coming east. Crumpler's car was on the extreme right-hand side of the street before he made his turn to the left, about like they usually drive on the north side of the street there. There was a cement box out in the middle of the street, and he was on the right-hand side of the box, and that is where he began his turn.
"When I am about to go over a crossing in a case where it is an unusually public crossing, such as Ellis avenue is, I myself personally look up and down the street to observe persons who might be about to make the crossing, in addition to observing the signals of my train crew. On this particular occasion, when Hough was injured, and before I started over the
crossing, I looked east on Cotton square from Ellis avenue crossing for persons or cars approaching the crossing and I kept a watchout in this direction as I proceeded over the crossing. Before proceeding across Ellis avenue at the time Hough was injured, the fireman was ringing the bell continuously and had been doing so from the time we started down through the passenger track and up until the time the engine was stopped to flag the crossing, and did not stop ringing the bell at all.
"I don't remember seeing any signals at all by Hough when we stopped to flag the crossing. I don't remember seeing Bill flag me at all, as when I saw the car coming I saw what was going to take place. Bill could have flagged me at the same time, and on account of my watching the automobile I might not have seen it, but I saw the car (the one Crumpler was driving) before anybody else saw it. I saw just exactly what was going to happen before anybody else saw what was going to happen. At least, what I figured was going to happen did happen. I figured that if I did not catch the car on the end of the coal car, that he was bound to hit the car at the rate of speed he was driving (Crumpler), and that somebody was going to get hurt.
"All the time I was seeing this car and realizing what was about to happen, I knew that Hough was hanging on that stirrup; I had my eye on him all the time, on him and the car together.
"It was the custom to have a light on the rear end of the train when you are backing up at night when you are switching."
"I am a boiler maker by trade, but I am working here now in a drug store. I have worked some in the railroad business; I fired some and did switching work. I saw the accident in which the plaintiff in this case was injured; I was between the Brookshire Café and the W. O. W. Restaurant at the time the accident occurred.
"I saw an engine on the track before the collision. It was down right in front of the station, backing up towards the foundry or machine shops at about 10 or 12 miles an hour. I saw it when it entered and while it was crossing Ellis avenue. It was going at about the same rate of speed at that time, as it was when I first saw it. From the time I first saw the engine up by the depot, it didn't stop until the collision occurred. I saw a man on the end of the gondola car that the engine was pushing. He was on the end of the car nearest the crossing, on this side of the car (east side of the car). He looked like he was maintaining his hold on that side of the car by having one foot in the stirrup and the other arm hooked in the step, and he had a lantern in his other hand. I couldn't tell which way he was facing very well, but it seemed like he was using his left arm to hang on with.
"The man on the end of the car was flagging, when I first noticed him and when the end of the coal car nearest me reached Ellis avenue and up to the time of the collision he was flagging, and then the accident occurred. I saw him giving signals. When he gave the signals, it looked like the end of the coal car was 30, 35, or 40 feet above the north line of Ellis avenue. He was continuing to give the signals when the coal car entered Ellis avenue. He gave him a washout signal. It is the quickest signal to be taken by the engineer. It means to stop, and the engineer is supposed to heed that quicker than any other signal given. The end of the coal car on which the plaintiff was riding came to a stop after the collision, about on a line with the left-hand side of Ellis avenue (as one goes west), judging from the way the coal car pushed the automobile, the coal car must have moved something like one-half a car's length from the time of the collision until the coal car stopped. I have run a locomotive and have seen them stop in obedience to washout signals."
