Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-09-01
James T. EIdridee of Boston, broken hin.

James T: Eldridge of Boston. broken hip
. ney of Cleveland, O., badly bruitet
= Winchester of West Roxbury, bruised
Sumner Cummings of Worcester, bruised
and sprained knee; Mrs. s. w. F. Gum
mings of Worcester, compound fracture O.
the leg and bruised; Wellesley Porter, buf
fet car porter, of Boston, fractured thigh
Arthur Williams of Lenox, bad soalr
wound; Frank Lang of Chicago, bruised
ton, fracture Of left thigh; Mrs. Helen
Rich of Pittsfeld, cut face; Walter Haw.
kins of Pittsfeld, bad scalp wound and
serious confusion of mouth and nose;
Lewis Mitchell of Albany, badly bruised
and fractured ribs; William Horton of
Albany, locomotive engineer, badly bruised,
left hip broken and internal injuries feared
.Waldron johnson of Boston, porter, bad
scalp wound; John Emerson, brakeman, of
Boston, left eye badly bruised; E B.Adams
, | of Holyoke, head bruised; Mrs. Avery of
Holyoke, hip injured.
The bridge looks as though 1t had been
| thrown from its butments rather than
broken down. 1t has fallen to the right of
the track, and the locomotive also lies off
to the right. These facts suggest the the
ory that the blow of the locomotive as 1t
struck the bridge from the curve sent it
bounding off its foundation into the river.
The repairs on the bridge, which were GO
Ing on at the time of the accident, were
similar to those made on other bridges of
the line. Their object was to strengthen
the bridge and enable it to carry the in
creased of the rolling stock. The floor
has bssn completed anew and heavier tim
bers and ties have bsen put in. The
trusses were not finished and 1t was these
the men were working upon when they left
their work at the dinner hour.
/ r. F. Hawkins, whose employees were at
work On the bridge and the railroad Off
Gals are confident that the bridge did not
fall from weakness, aud there is no evil
denee that any carelessness of the men,
such as leaving tools around, helped to de-
rail the train. The railroad officials say
that they find no marks on the bridge
such as would be made by a derailed train.
| They have no theories to offer to account
| for the fall, but promise complete inves-
tigation. Mr.. Hawkins has a tentative
theory which agrees with the supposition
that the locomotives heavy, six wheeled
one-struck the bridge harder blow than
1t could bear. The bridge WAS probably
built about twenty years ago by the Leigh
ton Bridge company, and has been rebuilt
once or twice.
John E. Dewitt, president of the Union
Mutual Insurance company of Maine,
was about fifty years of age. He
was born in Pennsylvania and
afterwards moved to New York where
he was clerk in mercantile house. Later
he became interested in insurance and was
made agent of the PhSnix and New York.
| From the Ph9nix he went to The United
States Life Insurance company, of which
| he was made president, building up the
| company from a small beginning to great
| company. Mr.. Dewitt married Miss Haw-
| ley, cousin of Senator Hswley of Connect
cut. She survives her husband and also
/ two children, Clarence, a student in Yale
college, and Bertha.
Mrs. Washington Moore, who lives with
/ in 900 yards of the fatal bridge, had her
hands deep in dough when she saw the
train dart by. Almost an instant after
ward che heard a sort of Kissing, grinding,
crashing sound, as If Cyclone had Just
resshed the country. Mrs. Moore did not
need to run to the door to tell her what
had happened. She knew almost by in
stinot. She could see great mass of tim
bers and dust heaped up in an immense
pile, while the passengers were already de-
scending from the coaches and running
toward the bridge.
With the remarkable GOODNESS of New
England housewife Mrs. Moore began to
set her house in order for the injured.
Soon people with cut heads, etc., who were
in vain trying to staunch the blood, frac-
tured Iibs and sprained backs began to
troop toward the house. Mrs. Moore made
them as comfortable as possible. She was
assisted by Mrs. DR.. Littell of Brookline,
who was suffering from severe scalp
wound.
Mrs. Moore says that DR.. Littell was the
coolest woman she ever knew. The doctor
had been on the buffet car when the crash
came. She was thrown on her head but
succeeded in escaping through a window.
Soon SO many went to the house that the
carpets in Mrs. Moore's parlors were liter
ally dyed with blood. The townspeople
deserve unstinted praise for the way they
threw houses open to those in distress.
Tie passengers, too, acted in the coolest
and bravest manner.
There was no want of medical assistance.
Drs. T. F. Brock and Charles P. Hooker
of this city. Medical Examiner Shepard of
West6eld, DIR. Shepsrdson of Chester and
DR.. Deane of Blandford did yeoman service.
Superintendent Gallup says that there
is no reason to believe, so far as hs knew,
that any careleasness of the workingmen
who were repairing the bridge contributed
to it's fall. They were not at work on the
floor of the bridge, which was finished,
guard rail or timber, and all the railroad
officers had no theory to account for the
fall tonight.
Roadmaster Russell was unable to &C.
count for 1t from the hasty investigation
he made after the sccident, and Master of
Transportation Underhill professed to be
equally in the dark The latter looked for
| marks to show that the locomotive or cars
| left the rails on the bridge, but failed to
| find them. The bridge was being repaired,
| as all the bridges on the road have been,
in order to bring it up to the proper
| strength to bear the increased weight of
locomotives and other rolling stock.
After the floor was repaired it was not
| desmed necessary to slow trains when they
crossed the bridge, as the timbers and
weight-bearing parts had been strengthen
and cause of the collapse discovered If
possible. A new bridge will be built at
once, trestle taking It's place meanwhile.
| In spite of the effort of the railroad Of
fcials to keep the fact secret, it be-
came generally known that a train
from the scene of the Chester disaster
would arrive in the evening, bring
ing the bodies of the victims, and the
station was crowded with morbidly Gu
rious spectators. The train was expected
at 9 o'clock, but 1t was delayed both in
starting and on the way, and it was 1910
before it arrived. The crowd was swarm
ing across the track and was chased away
with some difficulty as the dead train
slowly came into the station and ran
through to the eastern end with Its gloomy
burden.
From the front CARS poured throng of
frightened looking travellers who had been
transferred from train 10 at the broken
bridge and had been travelling for more
than an hour with constant Interruptions
on the road.
Then tine train rolled on till the baggage
car, which came last, stopped opposite the
smoking room at the east end. A score of
{ stalwart men formed a double line from
the car to the door of the station, firmly
locking hands to keep back the surging
| crowd that pressed forward and climbed
} | on trunks and ratings and windowsills to
see the bodies of the victims. Between
3 these improvised walls a stretcher was
{ borne back and forth in what seemed an
I unending funeral procession.
Women scrambled for places and tried
t | to elbow their way to the covered view
4 | and the windows to the room used as
t morgue were black with staring faces
? Terribly long the procession seemed, nov
. it was a man with a crushed head, now
q only a long shspeless thing with the blood
Y slowly ooziDg through the wraps chsrita
Q bly, thrown over 1t.
T The crowd was very quiet till suddenl,
IS there was heard wall of anguish, as
| strong man first heard the news of his be
Q | reavement. That cry unnerved man,
+ | spectators, who had steeled themselve