The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-02-09
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENTS.

The Dominion in WInter-RailrORd-
Ing under DiRcultIes--The snow
Cut-The Noted Buildings of Mon
treal-The Mountain aud TObogan-
ing-Canada ms seen through YAM
kee Eyes, etc.
The sleeping train on the morning of
the 30th, ult., had among Its passengers
the Bennington delegation Of Odd Eel
lows, consisting of Mr.. Emory s. Harris
and the writer, who started for Island
Pond Uid. Montreal. The route chosen
was considered quite roundabout by
some, but the said delegation found in
this instance the truth of the old
proverb The farther way round is
the nearest way home" The snow
blockade of the week previous had just
been lifted, but as the railways had not
yet recovered their equilibrium the train
consisted only of combination coach
and a sleeping car. To this fact is prob
ably attributable the reason it is possible
to write these lines.
The first object of particular interest
was the snow cut at Shelburn. No one
who sees this will wonder that it envel-
oped three engines and a snow pillow for
several days. For half mile the per
pendicular banks, much higher than the
tops of the cars and just wide enough to
admit of the passage of trains, invites
the fury of the first blizzard happening
along that way to seriously impede trav
ell for another week. The spot is veri-
table return to some of the experiences
of old stage times at Bennington Centre,
only on a grander scale.
The next excitement encountered was
the derailing of the train at Essex juno
ton. During the night the track had
felt frosty and insecure The train was
two hours late and we were steadily los
ing. The press report of this accident
is as follows !:
THE night express train that left Rut-
land early Monday morning about one
hour late, under charge of Conductor
S. Bowtell and Engineer Edward Dodge,
met with a bad accident when entering
the yard at Essex Junction. AS the
train was crossing the switch of the
Burlington and Lamoille railroad, IL is
supposed that the switch rod broke,
causing the locomotive, combination car,
baggage and passenger and Wagner cars
to leave the track, The locomotive ran
along on the ties to a crossing, where the
planks threw it again on the rails. The
tender broke loose and turned complete
" over on the side of the track. The
baggage car then passed the tender, and
turned over on its side at the right side
of the track. The sleeping car stopped
the left side of the track. There was
but few passengers aboard, most of them
in their berths in the sleeping car; and
none of the passengers were injured.
Baggage master Leonard was thrown
against the car with some trunks, and
his right thigh was bruised hut no bones
were broken. The fireman, William
Phipps, had very narrow escape, He
had Just left the Ienden when the acct
dent occurred; and, upon looking and
seeing the tender bounding over the ties,
and knowing the engine to be off the
track, he made leap through the cab
window, landing in the snow without a
scratch. Had the accident happened on
almost any other morning, the result
would haye been serious, as this is usual
ly one of the largest trains on the road.
The passengers were transferred to the
lldlD,
were only few hours late"
The part we played in this transaction
consisted of wrestle with the stove.
MIR. Harris had started forward to sit
down beside the stove in the front end
of the car, while his companion held the
stove door open placing therein a stick
of wood. Just then the crash came. As
the corner of the car struck the tender
of the locomotive, tossing it rod away
as if feather pillow and landing it bot.
tom upward, Harris had reached to pull
the writer away from the open stove.
The conclusion threw both over the
sea s and for a few seconds there was
tremendous scrambling to get up which
was finally accomplished and as the
train stopped. The fireman, noted above,
had been seen by us a moment only be-
fore the crash came, and closing the
stove door the first thing was to see
what han become of him. Two others
broke into the sleeping car to ascertain
how the passengers therein had Jared.
No one seemed to be injured, but the
track -- it was the worst used up
railroad track the writer has eyer seen,
and this is the third time he has been
through accidents of this nature. The
brittle iron snapped like pipe stems and
the people came out of the dwellings
the great noise having at
tracted the attention of every body.
The Dominion in winter is quite an
other affair from that country in the
summer time. The level plains which
in their season are clothed with verdure,
dotted with hamlets and teeming with
a thrifty population, resembling in many
respects the thicker settled parts of our
Western States, lie in peaceful repose,
clothed with a mantle of monotonous
white The tops of the fences, the scat
terinp wood natchpa and rnnfa of the