The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-03-10
TWO RAILROAD ACCIDENTS
YLLLAINOUS ATTEMPT no WRECK
THE BOSTON EMPRESS.

Marvellous Escape of the Train-A Crash
ON the New England Read Near Putnam
SECTIONS of n Freight Crash Into Each
other-Flfteen Cars smashed.
Stamford, March 9,-The eastbound
fast Boston express that passes through
here at 12:49 a, m. daily narrowly es-
capped wreck this morning, unknown
men having tried to throw the long and
heavy train into the ditch, just west of
this city. A railroad tie was found
wedged firmly in the cowcatcher and
protruding out to one side. The tie
had to be sawed in two to get it away.
The train then proceeded on it's way,
and many of the passengers We're not
aware of the great peril they had been
in and their most fortunate escape.
The train was running at high speed
when it struck the obstacles and this,
it is thought, saved the train. 1t was
a very narrow escape.
The Stamford railroad employees were
notified, and made an investigation.
They found that the grade stakes along
ance of third of mile to the west,
or to Sellecks cut, had been swept
away by the protruding tie, and that
the bolts on the South street overhead
bridge showed where the tie had scrap
ed along over them.
AT Selleck's cut several ties identical
with the one found on the locomotive
and several pieces of steel rail were
found scattered on both sides of the
track, as if they had been struck and
hurled aside by train The ties bore
marks where they had been hit by the
locomotive, and everything points to a
deliberate attempt to wreck the fast
express.
A SMASHUP.
Putnam, March 9.-Last night short
ly before o'clock an eastbound freight
consisting of fully forty cars, and
known as the double" train, broke into
three sections on the grade in the cut
near the railroad bridge over the Quit
nibaug river, about two miles west Of
Putnam Center.
The rear portion overlook one of the
front sections on the bridge, and crash
ing into it, piled cars Unfortunately,
hurting them from the tracks, scatter
ing the contents for many feet and re-
ducing the cars to splinters. Fifteen
cars were wrecked. A big oil tank
with the flat car on which it rode, was
hurled from the bridge a distance of
forty feet, where it partially buried it
self in the river embankment. Seven
cars were thrown from a small bank,
and lie in bits along the tracks. The
rails on both Of the double tracks We're
twisted into all sorts of shapes and
traffic this morning was completely
| blocked. No one was killed, and no one
seriously hurt. Wreckers are at work
clearing away the debris The freight
was in charge of Conductor James
Bleakney of Boston and Engineer
James Matley, and consisted of about
thirty cars, all heavily loaded. The
engineer with the first.part of the train,
! three cars only in his batch, put on all
steam and kept ahead of the detached
sections but the latter finally came to-
gether with the result as stated. 1t
was nearly ten hours before the tracks
were clear and a train got by the
wreck Carloads of brick, soft COAL
window glass, grain, silk and other
valuable stuffs We're scattered about
and much damage has been done along
this line. The damage is estimated at
from $4,000 to $4,000.
Middle Brakeman Potter was thrown
from another car of bricks down an
embankment and escaped the slightest
injury, as did also a tramp who was
in one of the box cars that went over
| the embankment.
The bridge on which the accident oc-
CURED is about $50 feet long, but it
does not appear to be injured, The
bridge is about fifty feet above the
| roadway.