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The TrialAtherton's trial opened in Prince George on May 10, 1951. Justice A.D. McFarlane presided and a 12 member jury was selected to hear the case. The Crown prosecutor was Eric Pepler, Deputy Attorney General for British Columbia. He was a decorated World War I Officer, who was wounded in the war.
On the first day of the trial, Diefenbaker insisted on talking about the wooden cars with steel framing. The cars should have been steel. Diefenbaker said that in all his time he had only ever seen soldiers transported in wooden cars. Diefenbaker said, or rather asked, "I suppose the reason you put these soldiers in wooden cars with steel cars on either end was so that no matter what they might subsequently find in Korea, they'd always be able to say, 'Well we had worse than that in Canada ?"
The judge found this improper and argued that this was a statement rather than a question. The judge said, "Well, I'm very doubtful, but ?" Then Colonel Pepler interrupted, "I want to make it clear that in this case we are not concerned about the death of a few privates going to Korea."
What Pepler meant was that the charge did not include the death of the soldiers, but rather the death of a C.N.R. crewman. Diefenbaker used Pepler's error to his great advantage. He said, "Oh, you're not concerned about the killing of a few privates? Oh, Colonel!"
There were two old soldiers from the First World War on the jury and one said loudly to the other, "Do you hear what that blankety-blank said?"
From then on things went Diefenbaker's way. For the next two days, Diefenbaker often took the attention away from Atherton's charge by accusing the C.N.R. saying that the mistake was not human, and the railway company needed to take more safety precautions. The jury deliberated for 40 minutes before returning their verdict.
Atherton was acquitted.
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TelegraphsKamloops - Transmitted by dispatcher Eugene Tisdale
PSGR. EXTRA 3538 WEST MEET NO 2 ENG 6004 AT CEDARSIDE AND NO 4 ENG 6057 GOSNELL
Blue River - Transmitted by operator Frank Parson
PSGR. EXTRA 3538 WEST MEET NO 2 ENG 6004 AT CEDARSIDE AND NO 4 ENG 6057 AT GOSNELL
Red Pass - Transmitted by telegrapher Alfred John Atherton
PSGR. EXTRA 3538 WEST MEET NO 2 ENG 6004 AND NO 4 ENG 6057 GOSNELL
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