The day after the wreck, vice-president Finley made a speech in which he said: "The train consisted of two postal cars, one express and one baggage car for the storage of mail... Eyewitnesses said the train was approaching the trestle at speeds of an hour." The Southern Railway placed blame for the wreck on Broady, disavowing that he had been ordered to run as fast as possible to maintain the schedule. The railroad also claimed he descended the grade leading to the trestle at a speed of more than . Several eyewitnesses to the wreck, however, stated that the speed was probably around . In all likelihood, the railroad was at least partially to blame, as it had a lucrative contract with the U.S. Post Office to haul mail, and the contract included a penalty clause for each minute the train was late into Spencer. It is probably safe to conclude that the engineers piloting the "Fast Mail" were always under pressure to stay on time so that the railroad would not be penalized for late mail delivery.