The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1902-06-18
NOTES OF SUNDAYS STORM.

A representative of the Journal
reached the scene of Sunday nights
washout and wreck about IL O'Clock
Monday going by team from this city
and being obliged to make circuit of
the mountains in Moretown, dis.
lance of some sixteen miles over the
widest kind of country that can be
found in Vermont and traversing
roads that were torn up by the storm,
in many instances holes being encoun-
tered large enough to put horse and
buggy into with the greatest Of ease.
Miles of the highway across the
mountain was hardly passable for
pedestrians yet thanks to the skill of
the driver the writer reached Middle
sex, having been obliged to walk a
part of the distance. At this point
the trouble had only half begun there
was no chance to reach the scene by
team as the Journal representative
found and the road leading to Water
bury was completely submerged.
Inquiry revealed the fact that the
scene of the wreck was three miles
from Middlesex and the mode of reach
ing there was by foot, taking the
track as the road. There were two
ugly washouts between the MiddleseX
station and the wreck.
\ view of the wreck from the
Waterbury end shows the scene in its
worst light as here one gets view
of the engine buried beneath the mass
of wreckage with here aud there a
twisted rail sticking from the mass
of ruin or gigantic boulder that min
| gled with the wreck as the train shot
over the embankment onto the lodges,
| fifty feet below. A stop had been
made a short distance from where the
washout occurred, to ascertain the
condition of the road and everything
seeming to be in shape the train
started again and increased its speed
to ten miles an hour when without
moments warning there came sud
den lurch and the entire train of forty
cars and the engine came to a sudden
standstill but the engine and eight
cars had run out upon the rails which
hung over the gorge caused by the un-
dermining and carrying away of the
abutments and it would seem that it
turned partly over i'll it's fall as it
struck the ledge below
The bodies of the unfortunate men
who composed the train crew were re-
moved from the debris only by the
hardest kind of work, upon the part
of the relief party it being extremely
dangerous to work among the wreck
age with the water below them.
1t was estimated Monday that des-
pite the heavy rain which prevailed
all the afternoon some 500 people Wis
tied the scene of the wreck
Reports continued to come III from
the remoter sections of the country
that were devastated by the cloudburst
in the vicinity of Worcester. The
damage to highways in Moretown and
MiddleseX is roughly estimated at
$40, 600. At Eagan's mill in Middle
sex the water came nearly to the top
of his barn, drowning an OK and two
COWS. In the immediate vicinity of
Worcester mountain the effect of the
water is evident at every point. There
is hardly bridge or culvert left on
any of the mountain roads.
Reports from Shady Rill state that
the storm and cloudburst wrought the
greatest of havoc on the highways,
the roads being impossible for miles,
owing to washouts, boulders in the
middle of the road and fallen trees
In Moretown the damage was mark
ed among the mountains, large trees
along the highways having fallen into
the roads by the banks giving way
that held the roots.
Between Moretown and Waterbury
for distance of two miles the ram
page of the high water of the Win
ooski river was marked along the
banks by the wreckage of bridges and
culverts
In the highways between these two
towns there were in the vicinity of
half hundred ugly holes which re-
sembled those made by an explosion
of dynamite, and temporary bridges
were constructed during the forenoon
hto permit road agents travelling, who
were endeavoring to fill the holes
with rocks and soil
A mile beyond MiddleseX the car
case of a COW and the wreckage of a
wagon were seen on the bank. A
short distance this side of MiddleseX
the water for distance of 3C0 yards
was too deep to permit of driving
through, there being current strong
enough to render such an undertaking
dangerous.
During the afternoon the water sub
sided sufficiently to permit of driving
over the river road, and many from
this city who were obliged to make a
circuitous trip over the mountains in
the morning returned by the nearer
way.