EARLESS MAN ARRESTED

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 39, 15 August 1939, Page 9

EARLESS MAN ARRESTED

TOOLS FOUND NEAR RAILS

EVIDENCE OF PLOT

(By Telejrraph—Press Association—Copyright.)

(Received August 15, 1 p.m.)

SAN FRANCISCO, August 14.

I The casualties caused in the wreck !of the crack streamlined express i "City of San Francisco" ■when it. was j derailed in the Nevada Mountains {were 21 person? killed and 69 injured. Fifteen other passengers are missing. Eighteen bodies have been recovered and three more are visible in the wreckage. A widespread hunt was made for an earless man who is believed to be a saboteur responsible for the wreck. He' was seen peering down from the walls j of the canyon after the crash. The object of the sabotage is believed to have been loot from the dead and injured. The railway police later announced that they had arrested an earless man. He was taken off a goods train near Reno and removed to the police headquarters, where, however, he insisted that he had not been in Eastern Nevada recently. Police officials, however, said he was bitter against the Southern Pacific Railway, alleging that he hafcl lost a foot and had his ears mutilated in a railway accident some years before. He gave his name as 3ob Laduceur and his age as 28. Tools which are believed to have been used in moving one of the rails were found near the scene of the smash, including two crowbars and a driftpin used for splicing broken electric cables. MORE THAN ONE INVOLVED. Officials said that the crowbars indicated that two or more persons were involved in the plot to wreck the train. The plotters were evidently familiar with the railway mechanism, since they did not break the electrical connection between the rails. If they had, block signals would have operated automatically. The scene of the wreck is an isojlated section of the line, and it required hours for doctors, nurses, and rescue trains to arrive. Farmers were the first there, and they had the gruesome task of removing many of the bodies. Nearly all the dead were found in the dining and club carriages. The train, which connects San Francisco and Chicago, makes the trip in 39 hours, averaging 60 m.p.h. It travels at a speed of 70 m.p.h. on some of the level sections, but. usually at about 50 m.p.h. in the mountainous area where [ the wreck occurred.