Show DAGE SUIT Wedel AgainsttheU P and O S L Railway Companies The 56000 damage suit of J W Wedel agaInst the Union Pacific and Oregon Short Line dragged along all day yesterday In the federal court The examination of wItnesses for plaintiff wa finished at the close of the morln session and the after noon was occupied by witnesses for defense de-fense The testimony In the case bee rather dull and uninteresting toward the middle of the afternoon so much so that even Marshal Miller relaxed from his accustomed alertness In pre serving decorum In the court and relapsing lapsing Into a siesta snored vociferously vocifer-ously helpless to bring himself to order Ie Grand Young create several smiles when he asked the passenger engineer If at the poInt where the collision occurred he could s IQO miles ahead Judge Powers the opposing op-posing counsel serously suggested that perhaps Mr Young meant feet which correctIon was cheerfully accepted On redirect examInation the plaintiff J V Wedel testified that from his exierience as n brakeman and conductor con-ductor a train with 30 to 40 car part of them loaded one JanneY coupler is not sufficient to hold them This testimony was in support of ale gatons In the complaint of a weak and defective coupler TInes then gave his opinion as to the number of feet withIn which a train could be stopped by the application of ar brake at different rate of speed Sam Wlad a engineer of 25 years experIence was called to give his opInion on stopping trains ge air brake Robert N Watson brakeman with plaintf Vedel when the accident occurred oc-curred and plaintiff In a corresponding damage suit said that he was standing on top of the caboose and saw the headlight coming out ot FIsh cut He was in the act of getting down though the cupola to tag the incoming train when he was rendered unconscious by a crash which he suppose was caused by the coming together of the two sections of the freight train which had parted When he came to his sense which was after the pasenger train struck he found himself lying In the sage brush some distance from the I track The teslmony of plaintiff was fin 4 t lObed at 1230 p m and at 2 oc k Mr Age mae the opening statement for the defendants Joseph F Davis civil engineer forte for-te Union Pacific exhibited a map which was placed In evIdence sowIng the track as to grade cure e where the accident occurred R T Hiyar conductor on the passenger pas-senger traIn sad that his train was two minutes late at Peru that the speed of the train was 21 to 2 miles an hour when the collision occurred which was 23 a m After the cob lson he looked at his watch and noticed the time In order to mae a report of the accident Engineer Murphy who was pulling the express sad that owIng to the cure the head end of the boiler made an obstruction which prevented him from seeIng the caboose of the freight train more than 35 feet ahead but he thought that the fireman who was on the left and north side could have seen as fa as Green River however when the fireman B H Baxter was placed on the stand he testified tat he frt saw the caboose from the side wIndow at the distance ot from one t two ca lengths ahead There was a red light on the caboose The last witness for the defense yesterday yes-terday afternoon was J T Johnson whose testimony was intended a an Impeachment of Robert N Watson Witness sad that in conversation with him Watson stated that he was sitting sit-ting In the cupola of the caboose and thought the headlight behind was that of the helper which would look out for them Watson in givIng his testimony denied de-nied havIng mae such a statement The trial was not concluded when court adjourned until today |