The Meadow Tower collision and a divided jury (1896)

Two trains at one crossing

On July 30, 1896, an Atlantic City Railroad express and a West Jersey and Seashore excursion train collided near Meadow Tower outside Atlantic City. The coroner’s jury agreed that the victims it examined died in that collision.

Agreement ended at the question of blame

An August newspaper account preserved in Ocean City’s newspaper archive printed supplementary findings that did not speak with one voice. Some jurors criticized express engineer Edward Farr’s control of his train, towerman George Hauser’s decision to give the excursion priority, and excursion engineer John Greiner’s caution at the crossing. Another group emphasized Farr’s response to signals while questioning the towerman’s judgment.

The report also described heated debate over wording about train crews’ duty to obey signals. It preserves an argument about interacting decisions, not a single unanimous verdict assigning every participant blame. These were inquest findings, not criminal convictions.