News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1906-12-05
TERRIBLE RAILROAD ACCIDENT
Three Killed and a Score or More
Seriously Injured by Railroad Ac-
cident at Vergennes.

Seriously Injured by Railroad Ac
cident at vergennes.
BY rear end coll ision between mix
ed train and a gravel train at least foul
persons were killed and over 80 were in
jured about so rods south of the sta tio1
at Vergennes last Saturday morning al
9 20 o'clock on the Rutland railroad
The wrecked cars Immediately caught
fire and three of the dead were burned
beyond recognition. Besides the deaG
over 30 passengers are mi u ed more OF
loss severely and several others sustain
ed minor injuries. Not since the wreck
of 20 years ago, when a train pitched
off the high bridge at Hartford has sucE
horrible railroad accident occurred in
| Vermont. The dead are : Mrs w. A.
Lawrence, Bristol; Mrs Nellie B ,rnard
, Bristol, and M ISIS Corinne S,OWe, Bris-
| toll.
The regular mixed train, northbound
due at VergenDes at o. clock stood
on siding under orders to meet the
mail train southbound from Burlington
due at9.l7. A gravel train, northbOund
was also under orders to meet the mail
at that point.
The mixed train was made up with
a day passenger coach and combina-
tion baggage car and smoker on the
rear and freight caboose just ahead
of the smoker. Projecting from the
siding and out on the main track was
the com bination Car and day coach
Into this the engine of the gravel train
crashed. The force of the impact drove
the passenger coach and combination
car together in the form OF an inverted
V and pitched the cars down over 20
foot emban kment. The engine plowed
half way through the caboose before it
stopped.
The two passenger cars were in flames
almost before they lodged at the foot of
the embankment The fire caught
from coal stove in the day coach.
Only the prompt work of the firemen
prevented an even more horrible acct
deGt. But in spite of all efforts the
scenes resulting from the wreck were
heart rending.
Both coaches were filled with passen-
gers and to aid the injured and to search
for the dead among these was the first
thought and effort of the doctors, nurses
and other volunteers. Three bodies,
burned and charred beyond recognition,
were the first removed from the wreck
Later the bodies of three ladies from
Bristol, were known to have been among
the passengers, were found and identi-
fed.
The three bodies identified were
those of Mrs. W. A Law renee, wife of
one of the prominent citizens of Bristol,
served as senator from Addison cOun-
ty in the Legislature of 1904; Miss
Oorinne Stowe, teacher in the Bristol
school, and Mrs Nellie Barnard, one of
the leading young ladies of the town.
OF the passengers the greater number
were members of the Drury opera COM
pany of colored singers, on its way to
Burlington to open an engagement at
The Strong Theatre.
Miss Rosetta Faux, prima donna of
the Drury company, Is at the Mary
Fletcher hospital, still alive, but is ex-
pected to die. Three others who were
in the wreck are in precarious condl-
ton, Archibald @. Dixie, assistant prin.
cipal of the Bristol high school, side
crushed and injured internally; Rich
ard H. Brooks manager of the Drury
company, right leg crushed and left
foot amputated; T. w. Savage OF Gran
vile, N, Y, financial hacker of the
Drury company skull fractured and in
jured internally; Theodore Drury, own
er and manager of the company, frac-
tured hip. OF these Mr.. Dixie is at |
Vergennes.
The accident is accounted for by the
failure to work of the brakes on the
gravel train. The crew of the mixed |
train had tried to take the siding, but
the length of their train would not al |
low it to be entirely side tracked.
Mrs. Wallace Frank of Bristol tells
of the wreck as follows:
81 sat probably in the fifth seat from
the second car. Mrs. Barnard and Miss
Stowe were in the second seat in front |
of me and Mrs. Lawrence occupied the
second or third seat in front OF them.
The first intimation I had that there
was trouble was when l heard the
whistle of an approaching train from
the direction in which we had come.
1t could not have been over two sec
onds before the car was struck and the
next thing | realized was that | was
pinned fast by my clothes. / saw Mrs.
and Miss Stowe in full sight.
They were pinned down and unable to
move. They were both conscious and
[ could look into their faces. Mrs.
Barnard spoke to me, but 1 cannot re-
gail what she said. She was pinned in
a sitting posture and seemed unable to
move. Miss Stowe was lying on her
back and unable to move. / could look
INTO Miss Stoves face. Fire broke out