Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-07-30
THE STORY OF THE ENGINEER.
HOW FOUR MEN WERE KILLED AT THE
PowNAL r. r. CROSSING.

!.
Though there have been great many
reports of the terrible railroad accident
which occurred near Pownal, Sunday of
last week, the story of Engineer Warner,
who had charge of the passenger train,
has not been given. He saw as much as
anybody and experienced a great deal
more.
Engineer Warner is a tall, we'll built
man, and very pleasant talker He has
been engineer on the Fitchburg for a
great many years and has always been
considered very careful and trust
worthy man. During his railroad life he
has killed only one person previous to
the accident of Sunday week,-a man
who was lying on the tracks near Mel
rosr, =. /. On that occasion, as we'll as
III lh, 'ccident Sunday, he was not to
blalur.
Warner runs the Sunday afternoon
train to Troy, the $40 express train out
of Williamstown every week day even
ing, and returns on the 5:07 express in
the morning. He started out on his Sun
day afternoon train in good spirits, leav-
ing the WilliamstOwn depot just two
minutes late, with engine SO. He speed.
lily got his train under motion and was
making about forty miles an hour when
he passed the Vermont line, which is one
mile the other side of the scene of the dis
aster. The remainder of the accident is
best told in Warmers own words:
GAS we crossed the first bridge, which
is some distance this side of the accident
| saw a freight train approaching and
noticed that It was Slavin's. As we
neared each other and my tram ap.
preached the crossing, 1 reached up and
pulled the whistle, giving two long and
two short blasts, the signal for a cross
ing My fireman rang the bell.
1--WE were passing the freight train
when Slavin blew his whistle, and at
just the same time | noticed, coming
across the crossing the head and should
ers of horse. | says: There's horse
on the crossing and reversed my engine
and set the brakes. My fireman said:
There's wagon, too.
You cannot imagine how quickly it
all happened. Why, it was just as if you
jumped right in front of my engine. No
sooner had the words escaped my lips
than there was n jar, crash, and we
were by the crossing.
my train went only short distance
before it came to Standstill | backed
up to the crossing Immediately and |
shall never forget the terrible sight.
will not attempt to describe it, We put
the bodies on the train, took them to
POwnal and proceeded on our way
WAS the run to Troy hard one?
Just put yourself in my place. Those
four men appeared to be in front of me
all the way and could think of nothing
else. 1t was the hardest run have ever
made, and have made quite a number
during my railroad career.
when we arrived in Troy a score or
more or the passengers came up and said
many kind words to me, which were
very comforting and which | will never
forget. They gave me their names and
addresses and said that they heard the
whistle very distinctly and also the bell.
They said that | was in no way to blame.
II made my next run on the night ex
press the following Monday night, and
that, too, WAS a hard one. AS we APP
preached the crossing | thought of all
that had happened, and was anxious to
get by the place as quickly as possible.
blew the whistle for a long ways and
we sped over the crossing and ON our
way. You cannot imagine the relief l
felt when we rushed by in Safety
Though Engineer Warner cannot be
blamed for the accident in any way, he
lGclS very D|uly over III. lie is n careful
and trustworthy man, one who realizes
how many lives he carries in his hands,
and one of whom the company should
feel proud. He has run his engine
every night since and returned every
morning
f. G. Smith. one of the railroad COM
missiOners of Vermont, was in Williams
town Saturday, investigating the acct
dent. Mr.. Smith had Engineer Warner
of the express train, also Engineer Slavin
of the freight train and the two firemen
and Edward White, who saw the acct
dent, in the railroad yard office, and ques-
toned them very closely concerning the
disaster. The stories which he received
correspond to those told in the papers.
A North Adams lawyer, who is inves-
tigating the accident in the interests C.
relatives of those who were killed, says
that 2 suit will be brought against the
FitchOurg railroad to recover damages
for the parents or relatives of the four
who were killed. He stated the only
difficulty that he would have to over
come would be the Sunday law of Yer
mont regarding pleasure driving on Sun
day, but as that law was never enforced
and the party were only passing through
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