The Portland daily press., 1891-12-05
FOUR TRAINS ALL PILED IN A HEAP.
Peculiar Railroad Accident In Con-
necticut Yesterday.
Another Surprising Thing Is the
VI, Small Death List.
Only Two Were Killed and Not MANY
rr Injured. .rrr,,f.

Ndo q On0 dOCiNCnL ~ 1aot
Thompson, CT. this morning at O'Clock.
The engine of the Southbridge special
freight was doing some switching on the
west-bound track, when night freight 212.
east-bound. Conductor Dorman crashed
into It. Dorman received orders at Put
nam to run ON the west bound track until
he reached East Douglas and then cross
over. A number Of heavily loaded cars
were thrown onto the yeastbound track by
the shock and before a dagman could be
sent out, the Long Island express, bound
east, came crashing on to destruction. The
catastrophe was further increased by the
D0at express WHICH followed In tue wake
OF the Long Island express. the engine OF
which plunged Into the rear end OF the lat
ter, scattering destruction on all sides.
Henry Tabor, engineer Of the Long ISL
and express, and Jeremiah Fitzgerald. the
fireman who was taking the place of the
regular fireman were killed. Areport that
q passenger was burned to death in the fire
which ragged fiercely among the debris was
not verified.
The injured ara said to be as follows:
JOHN CHAMBER, Brookline, slightly
hurt.
EXPRESS MESSENGER MARSHALL.
BAGGAGE MASTER CHASE.
ENGINEER AND FIREMAN OF THE
FREIGHT.
The Long Island and Eastern States line
OF which the express was the general train
leaving Long Island City at IL pm. Thurs
day, was formally opened the 10th Of Sep
tember. 1t Is the first to run full vesti-
buied trains OF sleeping cars between Bos-
ton and Brooklyn.
BosToN, December 4-When the train
arrived here with the passengers of the
trains wrecked at East Thompson, CT,
several persons gave accounts of their ex-
periences in the crash.
One OF the slightly injured passengers
was seen as soon as the train stopped. He
declined to give his name, but said that he
was passenger on the Long Island train,
and was first made aware Of the collision
by being thrown into the aisle from his
berth. He was sleeping with his clothes
on, and as his injuries amounted to few
bruises and a sprained wrist, he went at
once to the forward part OF the train. The
freight officers told him that they were
acting according to their orders. They
were shifting the whole train from the
right to the left track, so that the express
struck the freight diagonally and forced
the cars In the forward part OF the train
against each other. piling them up and
throwing them down low embankment.
The express, he said, was on a smooth
portion OF the roadbed, SO that its cars
merely turned over upon their sides. The
Goals from the engine set fire to the freight,
and at the time he left large number of
Dales OF cotton were burning. The fire
was communicated to the sleeper, and he
said he had heard of person being burned
In that car. Inquiry failed to verify this
rumor.
The local train, he said, was not moving
at high rate of speed when it struck the
rear OF the express. so that the result was
not so serious.
Among those who alighted from the train
was tall, stalwart, swarthy man Of from
thirty-fve to forty years of age, who was
almost Immediately surrounded by a num-
Der OF friends. These saluted him, with
much feeling evidently, with such cries as
You are lucky man, Mike, /" "You had a
mighty narrow escape"
And, indeed, he had, for the object of
this hearty congratulation from his fellow
railway employees was Mr.. M. j. Flynn Of
greenfield, the regular fireman on the Long
Island Express. He was on his train at
the time, but not in the cab with his engi.
neer, firing, as usual, He was taking Law
OIL for day. and his substitute, poor Fitz-
gerald, was mengled corpse.
. conductor ingalls,. on reaching Boston
this afternoon, was surprised to learn of
the exaggerated accounts OF the disaster.
he had been In several accidents on the
New York and New England railroad, and
while he had never seen worse property
wreck, yet this accident had not caused ap-
parent injury to single passenger
either on the Long Island or the
ooat train. Mr.. ingalls, had charge
OF the Norwich boat train and left Putnam
about ten minutes behind the Long Island
train. There were about seventy-fiye as
sengers for Boston and the intermediate
points at which the train stops. The train
being light one, as far as Its weight was
concerned, had probably gained on the
Long Island train several minutes before
East Thompson was reached. The first
intlmation be had of any danger was the
blowing OF whistles by the engineer of the
boat train for flag, and at the same time
the air brakes were applied. Mr.. Ingalls,
was standing In the aisle near a door.
There was a tremendous shock and the
train came to standstill. The engine had
telescoped the rear Pullman car of the
Long Island train but fortunately there
engineer and the fireman of the boat train
jumped just before the collision occurred
and escaped without injury. All the pas
sengers Of the boat train at once left the
cars and although there was some excite
ment there was no panic. None of his cars
were burned,
A middle-ared gentleman of medium
height, we'll dressed, and apparently some
what OF traveller, told one of the most
thrilling tales Of the wreck. He said that
he hailed from New York city. but refused
TO give his name. Said he:
Il nave all the notoriety l want, having
been In the Eutopia accident some little
of the Long Island train, the car which the
engine, Of the boat train ran partly
through.
At the time of the first accident was
asleep, and as soon as l could collect nv
senses started to dress. As looked out /
saw man about 27 years OLD, fully dressed
waking toward the front Of the car. As
he came abreast of me he said:
Il guess | will go out and see what the
matter Is"
"He. passed to the front door, and tugged
at II about half a minute. Finding that
1t would not yield TO his efforts, he turned
and walked leisurely toward the rear. He
maze no remark as he passed on this time
AS ne passed | looked after him, and saw
him Just about to take hold OF the knob of
the door, when the engine of the boat
train crashed through the rear of the ear
That was the last have seen Of him. In
my opinion he was burned up.
After L got out, and made no cere-
mony OF climbing out almost naked. l
searched about the car for signs of him,
but could find nothing to indicate his fate.
Inc reason that was In such hurry to
get out without my clothes was because
! ne engine had penetrated the car to almost
tne next birth to mine. The car caught
hre at once, so that you can understand
why did not stand on ceremony.
Il did not get my clothes until some time
later, but lost my hat and boots, For
tunately found a box Of hats burst open
and after little trouble picked out this
taking soft felt hat from his head but
showing his slippered feet could not
lind any boxes of boots lying around loose,
when got out of the car, saw a large
lat man with nothing on but a pair Of
drawers, but can't say what became OF
him."
Inc large fat man was found in the rear,
car, but nothing could induce him 70 talk
From some of the train hands it was
learned that he had to 60 naked until the
first station beyond the wreck was reached,
Then he was supplied with some old
him tailor fashion. The only injury that
he received was broken finger.