St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1885-07-23
ACCIDENT TO THE NIGHT EXPRESS.
FORTUNATE ESCAPE OF PASSEN-

ACCIDENT TO THE NIGHT EXPRESS.
FORTUNATE ESCAPE OF PASSEN-
GERS.
The night express north on the Pas
sumpsic road met with an accident
near Barton last Friday morning. The
following account is condensed from
the Barton Monitors report:
On Friday morning as the express
train was coming down from the sum
NIT car jumped the track about three
miles south of this station, and Il pas
senger car and Pullman sleeper were
thrown into the ditch and pretty badly
smashed. The passenger car was
pretty well filed with passengers,
mostly Canadians. This car was not
turned completely over but tipped mp
on one side and brought to a standstill
by striking into a bank on the side of
| the track. The passengers were most
! " thrown into the forward end of the
| car, considerably bruised aud terribly
scared. Willis Clark, the popular mu
stefan, as returning from St. Johns
bury and happened to be in the car !;
he had his clothes torn and had a
| slight wound on his leg. These pas
sengers were all rescued safely and
| taken into other cars and went for
ward at once to their destination. The
| sleeper Jared worse, being turned
| square over on it's side and forced by
it's momentum along over rocks and
other obstacles quite distance. One
side of it was badly smashed and it re-
ceived injury to running gear aud was
| broken about the ends and l0orWaYS.
| George f. Leonard was conductor of
this car, and he had four passengers,
each asleep in their berths. The news
boy, Edward Phelps of Concord, n.
H., and the porter comprised the bal
ancc of persons in the car. Mr.. Leon
ard had crawled into Il berth for a lit
tie sleep and the first he knew he was
violently thrown in his berth and
heard crashing, caused by the break
| ing of the car on the rocks. The car
stopped at once and he found himself
and a lady and child near him un-
hurt. One man was thrown out of his
berth and fell down on to the side OF
the car and out through window--the
car lying upon the ends so that he had
room to sit erect on the ground nndel
the middle of the car. The porter was
on duty and had just blown out his
lights, it being daylight. This WAS a
fortunate circumstance as no fire from
the lamps occurred. The news boy
WAS pretty badly hurt about the head
and shoulders but was able to go TO his
home three hours later.
+ 1t was reported that an examination
showed that, by some means, the coup
ling bolts at joint in the rail had
been removed and the joint so left that
it was showed out of place far enough
to leta truck off, causing the accident.
We examined the place carefully and
are inclined to think that one vince
climbed or jumped the rail causing the
! derailment of the two rear cars. The
accident occurred on a curve and it is
possible the heavy sleepers forced the
rail out of place. The escape from !;
much more serious accident was re-
markable. The cars fell off on the up
per side of the track, in a place free
from lodges and huge stones that cover
much of the ground along this part %
the road. Had they turned over on
: the other side of the track they woult
have gone down a steep embankmen
= among rocks, or at other points woult
, have run into great boulders oragains
lodges. Henry Mower, one of the old
est engineers on the road was runnin.
the engine, conductor Bean had charg,
of the train. The track was repaire,
in n few hours.