Ligonier Valley Rail Road Newspaper Articles
We have compiled over 1,400 newspaper articles that mention the Ligonier Valley Railroad, or related subjects. The articles were originally published starting in 1873 and our collection runs through 1995. Enjoy!
Latrobe Bulletin
Thursday, April 17, 1913
Prosecutions Follow From Wreck On the Ligonier Valley Railroad
Charges of criminal negligence were preferred, yesterday, against George Senft, Frank Noel and Russell Minnich, three officials of the Ligonier Valley Railroad at the time of the fatal wreck occurring on the Wilpen branch on the fifth of last July.
The informations were made yesterday afternoon, when County Detective O. M. Flemming, at the instance of District Attorney W. T. Dom, appeared before Justice of the Peace Hunter, of Greensburg, in the role of prosecutor.
The informations were made under the Act of March 22, 1965. The Act defines negligence, and fixes a maximum punishment at a fine of $5,000 or five years' imprisonment.
It was charged against the three men that they operated the road so negligently as to make possible the wreck. Mr. Senft, who was general manager at the time, is alleged to have failed to take the proper precautions to prevent the departure of the passenger train, after knowing that orders had been given for the freight train to start. It is also alleged that he allowed the passenger coach to be run ahead of the engine. Noel, who was employed in an official capacity at the time, is alleged to have allowed the passenger train to leave Ligonier, after ordering the freight train to start from Wilpen. Minnich, who also was an official at the time, is charged with having known of the order about the freight train and with having failed to take the proper precautions to prevent the departure of the
passenger train.
Mr. Senft and Mr. Minnich are in California at the present time and it is not expected that they will return in time to permit of the setting of the trains for the May term of court. Mr. Noel, a resident of Ligonier, will not be asked to stand trial, it is said, until the other two men return from the west.
The charges have been brought, it is supposed, as the result of conferences between the Attorney General and the District Attorney. The District Attorney attended the coroner's inquest, held last Summer, at which time responsibility for the wreck was placed upon the company, by the jury.