Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1907-09-20
COLLISION CAUSED
Loss OF 25 LIVES
AN EXPRESS AND A FREIGHT
CRASHED TOGETHER.
ON BOSTON G. MAINE ROAD
A Mistake in Train Dispatcher's Or
ders Resulted in a FriehtfuI Dis
aster Near Canaan Station,
Vt.-Dozens Injured.

White River Junction, VT. -
A fearful head-on collision between
the southbound Quebec express and
northbound freight train on the
Concord division of the Boston &
Maine railroad occurred four miles
north of Canaan station early Sunday,
due to mistake in train dispatch
er's orders, and from a demolished
passenger coach there werere taken
out 20 dead and dying and 26 other
passengers, most of them seriously
hurt. Nearly all of those who were
in the death car were returning from
fair at Sherbrooke, Quebec, 160 miles
north.
The conductor of the freight train
was given to understand that he had
plenty of time to reach siding by the
night operator at Canaan station, re-
ceiving, according to the superintend.
ent of the division, copy of a tele-
graph order from the train dispatcher
at Concord which confused the train
numbers 80 and 81.
The wreck occurred Just after tho
express had rounded into straight
stretch of track, but owing to the
early morning mist neither engineer
saw the others headlight until 1t was
too late
The southbound train was made up
at Sherbrooke Saturday evening, where
1t picked up two sleepers from Quebec
and two more on the way down. It
consisted of the baggage car, passen.
ger coach and smoking car in that or
der, with the sleepers in the rear The
traiN left White River Junction at
$3.50 a. M, 40 minutes late, and was
followed 20 minutes later by the Mon
treal express over the Central Yer
mont railroad.
The Quebec train is known as No.
80 and the Montreal train as No. 34
In the meantime a northbound
freight train known as No. 267 had ar
rived at Canaan, IS miles down the
road, at 4:10 a. m, on time. Accord
ing to the division superintendent, W.
R. Ray, ]. r. Crowley, the night train
dispatcher at Concord, sent dispatch
tc John Greeley, the night operator at
Canaan, that No. 81 was one hour and
ten minutes late. The order which
Conductor Lawrence, of the freight
train, showed after the accident dis
tinctly states that No 80 instead of
No. 81 was an hour and ten minutes
late.
Conductor Lawrence, believing that
he had sufficient time in the hour and
ten minutes to reach the side track
at West Canaan. four miles beyond,
before No. 80 reached it, ordered his
train ahead. The superintendent de-
clared that the accident was due to
the mistake in placing a cipher after
the three in the number of the train,
instead of four
The morning was dull and misty In
the New Hampshire mountains and
the long freight train with a score of
heavily loaded cars numbered up the
long grade toward West Canaan at
the usual speed. On the other side of
the curve was the Quebec express,
sliding down the single track with her
load of passengers and the four heavy
sleepers in the rear. The freight
train was on straight piece of track
about a mile in length, and the Que
bee express had rounded a curve into
this stretch when the two engineers
saw the headlights of the opposite
train burst out of the fog. Both en-
gineers set their brakes and jumped,
while the two locomotives crashed
into each other and, locked in a firm
embrace, rolled into the ditch.