Waterbury Democrat., 1902-09-04
ENGINES CLASH.
Head On Collision In Yard At
Highland Division.
NO ONE WAS INJURED THOUGH


Crew of the Engine That Went I'M
derneath Jumped Just in Time to
Save Their Lives Engineer Aldridga
Stuck to His Post and Nearly Sues
ceeded in Stopping the Ponderous
Machine-Crash Occurred On Siding
So That Traffic Was Not Delayed.
A head-on collision occurred at the
freight yard of the Highland division
station about 20 minutes Of z O'clock
this morning, which did considerable
damage to property, but fortunately re-
suited in no Injury to human lifes The
crash was heard long way from the
scene of the mix-up and attracted a
big crowd to the spot, and naturally
the first thing people asked as they
rushed up and looked at the disabled
engines and battered cars was if any
body was killed.
The accident happened at the bend
In the road between the freight house
and West Main street. Freight No
lS9, in charge of Engineer Cheney Aid
ridge of Fishkill Landing and Fireman
Z. M. Russell of Plainville, due here J
at $40 a. M, was rolling in twenty
minutes late and when some distance
north of West Main street Engineer
Aldridge sighted an engine coming to-
wards him. 1t was the switcher at the
Highland division station, Engineer
James A. Mulligan and Fireman Mar
tin Gavin, both of Waterbury. with
nineteen freight cars attached, most OF
them filled with coal. Engineer Multi
gan saw the freight bearing down on
him with pretty good speed and feeling
that. there was no chance of avoiding
collision, Mulligan and Gavin con-
cluded to- make a jump for their lives
and promptly jumped towards the
fence Of the Waterbury Brass Co,
Gavin catching the pickets with such
force that he almost sunk his fingers
into the wood. Mulligan didn't get
that distance from the engine but he
reached place of safety JUST as the
two engines came together, and not q
moment too soon to avoid a horrible
death. The switcher was crushed and
bent into various shapes and at the
spot where the tender was forced
against the boiler, so that il the en-
gineer had remained at the throttle he
would have been killed first and then
roasted. The positions occupied bv
the switcher and the freight engine
looked very much like the pictures
shown of duel between wild animals
in Darkest Africa" the cow-catchers
twisted about the engine making an
excellent representation of the antlers
or horns of the combatants. In this
case the switcher made a poor fight
The front part Of the engine climbed
onto the platform Of the freight en-
gine, thus lifting the wheels Off the
ground. and with a few more motions
of the freight the switcher and tender
would have been tossed off the track
How the machinery of the switcher
and engine got so completely knocked
out was something nobody could tell
They couldn't have Jared much worse
If they had taken tumble down an
embankment ten miles long. One of
the box cars, an empty, was upenffpd
and ripped up badly. but aside from &
this none of the other cars attached to
the switcher suffered much The
brakemen on the switcher were James
O'Connor, William Rogers, Peter Nee
han and James H. Sherman. None or
them got a scratch, though all tell of a
sudden, unexpected standstill, followed
by terrific jar that came near pitch
ing them headlong off the cars.
Engineer Aldridge's train left Hart
ford this morning, and owing TO a de-
lay at East Hartford 1T was about
twenty minutes late in getting here. It
had tWenty-eight cars attached, some
of them filed with kegs, barrels and
hogsheads of beer, and it was enough
to make a fellow mad to see the vessels
piled up here and there, but not drop
escaping from them. Three or four
cars on the freight gave out, and some
of the others got hard knocks, too, but
not enough to render them unfit for
use. The damage to the engine was
slight. With some repairs on its bulk-
head it will be as good as new. En-
gineer A1dridge and Fireman Russell
remained at their posts and whiEN they
had close call, still they came out of
the wreck with flying colors. AS sopr.
as Aldridge saw what was up he whis-
tied brakes on. and one of the brake
men known as "Dutchman" came with
in an ace of losing his life while en-
deavoring to carry out the order. He
was swinging on the brake when the
engines crashed into each other. ana
the force Of the shock lifted him off
the platform and threw his heels In the
air, but he held on to the brake and
was right side up as soon as any of
the boys.
1t was said that the incoming train
was travelling at the rate OF fifteen
miles an hour and the switcher at
three miles an hour. but of course 1t
would be hard to be sure about this.
Anyway. one of them must have been
speeding along at a good clip, and
iudging by the result II would seem
that the freight must have had the
more steam on. for 1t gave the switch
er y fearful bfoadside.
Freight Agent Learv and Yardsmas~
fer Fagan were on the ground soon
after the smashup, and as quickly as
the morning trains were out of the
wav the wrecker was brought into play
and the track cleared as quickly as
possible. The accident occurred on
siding so that the regular schedule of
othar trains was not INTERRUPTED.
The damage is not so great as iE
was at first supposed. Road Master
J H. Smith estimates the damage at
abort S4oO. Two box cars. which were
filled with. barrels OF beer. were dan~