The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-11-07
Railroad Commission Reports.

In the matter of the fatal accident to Jud-
son j. Rashaw at Walden, August 9th, 1888.
This accident occurred on a siding at Wal
den Summit leading to gravel pit that
was being operated by Caldwell & Varnum,
contractors who were employed by the st.
Johnsbury & Lake Champlan Railroad
Company doing earth work, filling a trestle
near by. The accident occurred on land
without the limits of the railroad company
and on land owned by contractors. Rashaw
was emplowed by Caldwell * Varnum as a
day laborer. 1t appears from the evidence
that there were seven empty and three
loaded cars standing on this siding, waiting
to be pulled out and taken to some other
point on the main line. Rashaw worked
only one hour that morning and stopped,
complaining thai he was not feeling well.
He rode that morning from Danville to
Walden on the engine of the way freight,
and, on arriving there, he met the contract
ors' train which was on the siding and
helped load some pipe from a building near
by. The trainmen went with the engine to
the depot. short distance, to receive their
orders, which took them half an hour.
Meanwhile Rashaw sat down by the side of
the track so as to be in the shade of the car.
He fell asleep with a part of his body
across the track. The engine came back
and made connection with the cars without
waking Rashaw, and as the train pulled
out the two last cars passed over him. One
with other injuries caused his death in
about three hours. He told the fireman
that he had no one to blame but himself,
and the board so finds.
In the matter of the fatal accident to John
Erickson at Proctor September 18th, 1883.
John Erickson was a laborer in the employ
of the contractors engaged in the construc-
ton of the Clarendon and Pittsford railroad
at Proctor. He was proceeding to his work
upon the morning Of the accident, seated
upon the forward end OF a handcar In at
tempting to alight from the same before it
had quite stopped, he was hit about the
head and shoulders by the handle of the
lever with which the same was worked, and
received such injuries that paralysis re-
evening. The car would have come to full
stop within few feet, when he could have
alighted without danger, and the cause of
the accident was his own conduct in care
lessly putting his body within reach of the
descending lever
In the matter of the fatal accident to Eu-
gene c. Cowen, on the st. Johnsbury 8,
Lake Champlain railroad, at North Concord,
October 10, 1888. Eugene g. Cowen of
Whitetield, NH. was brakeman on No.
8 freight train, running from st. hnsbury
to Fabyan's n. H., and in the employ of the
White Mountain division of the Boston &
Maine railroad, which is operated in connec.
ton with the St. Johnsbury & Lake Cham
plain railroad. He arrived at North Con-
cord at $50 P. NJ, October 10 last, just after
dark, and, in shifting cars, stepped between
them to couple them. In so doing he caught
his foot in a track frog and before he could
extricate himself was run over, sustaining
injuries from which he died in few hours
He gave the usual signal with his lantern to
the engineer to back up, so that he could
make the connection, and no blame can be
attributed to the trainmen for the accident
The board would call the attention of rail
road managers to the appliances in use
which would make this class of accidents
much less or quite impossible, and every
possible regulation should be made and
means provided for the safety of employees.