The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1896-02-21

J Threc Passengers, Every One AbOnrt
i"tured-Ohe Perhaps Fatally.
The early mail train on the Rutlan
division of the Central Vermont raj
road, which leaves Rutland at Go
O'Clock, struck broken rail tire
miles above Ludlow Tuesday morning
and the entire train. with the cXcep
ton OF the locomotive and tender
plunged down 70 foot emfnnkment
steep and covered with boulders. Fiv
trainmen and three passengers wen
down with the train, and all wer
more or less injured. 1t is wonde
that no one was killed. The poin
where the accident occurred is jus
east of the summit of the Green Noun
tains, and where the road comes gu
into the Black river valley where TO
several miles it runs along high above
the stream and some distance from it
No. 81 freight train was just ahead o
the passenger train when it passed ;
broken rail, but only one pair o
wheels left the rails, a brakeman
gave an alarm and the tram was stop
ped. Rear Brakeman Fred Smith was
sent back to stop the passenger train,
but it came so quickly that he hadn'r
time to get to the broken rail- al
though in sight of the place. and he
saw the baggage car, combination mai
and smoking car and one coach crash
down the embankment over the rocks.
As the cars left the rails the steam
pipes wero snapped short and the es
Gaping steam, mixing with the flying
snow, made outside objects indistin.
guishable. Hardly had the cars stopped
/ before Conductor Sexton and his crew
had freed themselves from the debris,
and, though bruised and bleeding,
fastened to the rescue of the ras-
scngers The combination smoker and
mail car was found lying over 90 fee,
from the rails, right side up, with a
howlder weighing over a ton by its
side. The car turned over twice, dis
lodging the rocks, and all falling to-
gethcr The baggage car laid farther
away, completely demolished. a pas
senger coach stood on it's end down the
bank. The upper end reached within
II feet of the track. 1t was right side
up, but had rolled over twice in get
ting there. The cars had hardly any
thing of value unbrokcn. Conductor
Sexton was in the rear seat of the
coach, and when the car struck he
was thrown forward half way in the
car. and on the second lurch the rear
door, shaken from its hinges, flew and
struck his head. He landed in the
front part of tho car among the debris
with the door and 4 chandelier on top
of him. His injuries VIII inrapdcitatc
him from work for some time. The
experience of Postal Clerk George l..
e (Nln,tnr ihri
one. His car turned completely over
twice and was splintercd when 1t stop
ped. He was buried in the wreckage
and considerable work was required to
extricate him. but he escaped with
only an injured knee. a rock weigh
ing several hundred pounds was hurled
down with the car and lay close beside
him when he was pulled out. Mirac-
ulously he escaped with only few
bruises. The morning was bitterly
cold; the thermometer in Ludlow
registered 81 below at the time the ac-
cident occurred. Expressman f. 0.
Baker was found pinned down under
the debris the car and taken out
through small hole. He has many
serious bruises, caused by falling
baggage and express matter, but is
not in dangerous condition. L. j.
Barber of Rutland, employed by the
Central Vermont as carpenter, is the
most seriously injured. Surgeons say
it is doubtful if he lives. He was en-
ployed on the repairs to the passenger
depot there. He is injured internally
and his suffering is intense. Baggage
Master Fred Blood of Rutland was
seriously injured about the head,
The passengers were all in the coach,
but had they been in the smoker some
must have been killed. They were
William II. Steele of Rutland,a repre-
of Lamprecht Bros. Company,
bond dealers, of Cleveland, bound TO
Mass, bruised consid-
erably, and who went to Springfield
Tuesday night; j. Arthur Cape of
Meriden, CT, selling silverwarc for
Rogers Il Smith, suffering severely from
contusons on his legs, and Ernest
DicEerman of Mechanicsville, who
took the train at Mt. Holly for Boston,
bruised some what, but not seriously,
and who proceeded on his way. He
went with the engineer TO the farm
house, procured team and drove three
miles to Ludlow, giving the alarm and
getting doctors. He frozc both ears.
The locomotive was run by Al Pratt
the Oldest passenger engineer On the
road. He was running the engine the
night of the disaster al BrOckWay s
Mills. in 1878. when the train plunged
into culvert killing three and injur-
ing many passengers. He was serl-
ously injured then. Pratt says the
train was running 30 or 40 miles an
hour down "a steep grade. He felt the
engine when it struck the ground re
versed steam. and applied the air
brakes. He did not see the cars 90
down. The train broke apart between
the tender and baggage car. He stop,
ned and looked Tor the train. but could
not sec it. He and his fireman stuck
TO the engine till it stopped. then went
back to find the cars.
a wrecking train was sent from
Rutland, with Drs. Hanrahan, Grain
and Thompson and DIR. JENNIE Of st. |
Adams to care for the wounded, and
by 3 p. m, the track was cleared.
The accident was clearly caused by
n broken rail. which was due. Supt. |
thinks, to the intense cold. !
There was no flaw in the rail, the |
fracture was clean and the broken ends
Of the rail bright Nearly all the pre- |
vious night a Bellows Falls wrecking |
gang had been at work a little below |
the spot where the accident occurred /
clearing from the track Il freight train |
which the day before struck broken !
rail and was badly wrecked.
North Chester.
,.nid u;iyc came to us during Sun |
Iay might placing the mercury ut - |