The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-06-24
INTO A BOULDER.
Maine Central Freight in a
Smash.
WRECK DONE BY A BOULDER Ar
FREEPORT.
Narrow Escape of Engineer GrifHn-An
Unfortunate Blast.

| Narrow Escape of Engineer Grifin-An
| Unfortunate Blast.
| A serious accident occurred on the
Maine Central near Freeport yesterday
| forenoon. The regular freight train which
leaves Portland in the morning for Bath
| left Freeport as usual about 9.45 q. m.
About mile and a half beyond Freeport
a construction train was at work extend
| ing the double track toward Brunswick.
| Yesterday forenoon the crew were BLAST
| ing in quite a deep cut at the time when
the freight came along and by curious
chance large boulder was thrown into
the track in front OF the approaching en-
gine.
| When tho engine struck the boulder the
fore trucks were torn out and the ma
chine went to wreck followed by the
cars of the freight.
| The train was in charge of Engineer
Hiram Griffin of Knightville and Con-
duotor Charles Berry. The engineer re-
versed the engine as ssbn as he saw the
obstruction and t hen jumped. de was
hurt quite badly, as he struck on his
hands and knees. A special train
| brought him into Portland during the
| afternoon.
| Wrecking trains were sent out at once
from Portland and Brunswick, but it
was i'm possible to clear the track in time
to allow the regular trains to proceed
during day. The express trains were
sent by way of Lewiston, and passengers
for intermediate points between Water
ville and Portland on the Kennebeo line
were delayed.
Engineer Hiram Griffin of the freight
train which was wrecked near Freeport
was brought TO his home Dear Knight
vile yesterday afternoon. He was at
tended by DIR. Twitohell, who found that
Mr. Griffin's legs had been badly crushed,
the skin scraped form his sides, back and
legs, the bone Of one leg injured and his
| shoulder dislocated. Although suffering
great pain Mr. Griffin was able to talk
some about the accident. He said that
| he was on engine 42 drawing train Of
| Is freight cars. When he reached the
| place where the boulder was on the track
he was running at a fair rate of speed
and did not see the big stone until he
came around the curve. His fireman,
Sam Pettengill was standing ON the gang
way of the engine and a brakeman on
the other when the train went around
the curve and both men saw the boulder
at the same time as he did. MIR. Griffin
said that he did everything that he could
to stop the train. He reversed the en-
| gine and when he saw that collision
was inevitable he tried to get out of the
cab. But Pettengill and the brakeman
| were clinging to the gangways on either
side and waiting till the last moment be-
fore ne jumped. This left the way
| blocked for the engineer who climbing
up on th window sill of the cab and
balanced himself moment and just be-
fore the crash jumped out He struck on
the ledge, and in telling the story yester-
| day afternoon said that he thanked God
| he was alive"
| Mr.. Griffin said the accident could not
have been ayerted as he understood the
| big boulder had lodged on the track just
before his engine came round the turn
and there was no tino for signalling him
to stop.
Pettengill was also injured and was
| badly strained and bruised.