River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1892-09-15
TRAINS COLLIDE.
Nine Persons Killed and Thirty-Eisht In.
jurea in a Disaster Near Boston.

Nine Persons Killed and Thirty-Eisht In.
Jurea I'm a Disaster Near Boston.
BosToN, Sept. 12.-To dense fog and
apparent carelessness on the part of
the engineer of the freight train are &c
be ascribed the fatal accident on the
Fitchburg railroad shortly before IL
o'clock Saturday evening at West
Cambridge by which nine were killed
and thirty-eight injured A few
hundred feet beyond the West
Cambridge station a single track
branching from the main line
constitutes the Watertown branch.
The outward Watertown train which
left Boston at 1918 Saturday night was
well filed with passengers Detained
a few minutes at Charleston, where
the Fitchburg crosses the tracks of the
Boston & Maine it reached the cross
ovel two or three minutes late and there
waited for an inward bound passenger
train to pass on the main line before
switching over to the branch The
conductor knowing that freight was
coming up in the rear sent brakeman
back with a red lantern. The fog was
thick and the engineer of the
freight asserts that he saw no
danger signal. just before the
freight reached the brakeman, the
inward passenger train having thun
dered by, the outward train sounded
the recall to the brakeman and began
to move toward the cross-over track to
the branch. All the cars had crossed
over except the rear one, when there
was short blast for down brakes
from the engine of the freight in
the rear and an instant later crash.
The engineer of the freight saw the
danger too late TO avoid the accident
His big engine plowed its way through
nearly the whole length of the rear
coach and passengers were crushed be-
meath it or jammed in between the
sides of the car and the engines hot
boiler.
Escaping steam added to the torture
of the injured and sealdad many who
had otherwise miraculously escaped
harm. Surgeons and ambulances from
Cambridge, Somerville and Bosto
were quickly on the scene, and the re-
mains of the dead were tenderly cared
for and the wounds of the injured
promptly dressed. The list of the dead
is:
Miss Margoire Adams, IS years, Watertown,
died in hospital; John II. Barnes, 81 years,
Newton; Miss Rhita Feyler % years Walt
ham; John Hudson. 81 years. " atertown; John
Lane II years, Waterfowl; H. f. Merriheld,
Watertown: Leon o. Raymond, freight brake
man, Winchetdon; Standish p. sullivan, So
years, East Watertown; Benjamin Tuck, Is
years, Watertown.
The official investigation into the
cause of the accident will undoubtedly
result in placing the blame where it
belongs, but the railroad people them
selves do not hesitate to charge En-
gineer Goodwin, of the freight,
with the responsibility. The switches
at the junction of the Water
town branch with the main line
are moved from signal tower and are
protected by signals, which under the
interlocking system now in such gem
eral use by the railroads cannot be
wrongly set ard which if seen and
obeyed will prevent even the possibility
of accident. That Engineer Goodwin
ran by one of these signals set at danger
is said to be true. 1t is also said that
had he seen and obeyed the signal and
brought his train under control, as the
rules of the road require, he would
never have crashed into the rear of the
passenger train. While the fog may
have obscured the signal from Good
wins sight it Is said that the rules of
the road required that he should come
to full stop if necessary to see and
read it before passing.
The rear brakeman of the passenger
train, who shortly before the accident
was sent back about 600 feet to notify
the engineer of the freight train of dam
ger ahead. states that he went back as
directed and signaled the freight train
and his signal was answered by two
whistles, which is the usual answer
that all signals have been seen and
noted. The reason tor the collision,
he feels sure, was that the engineer of
the freight train could not control his
train, which was of thirty cars, the
greater part of them containing lum-
har- oil haauv