The Somerset reporter., 1907-07-04
Bar Harbor Express Wrecked Near
Oakland.

Train No. 30, the Bar Harbor ex-
press, due to arrive in WaterVille at
l 40 p. m, over the "back route,0 was
wrecked Saturday afternoon at Rice's
crossing about three miles west of the
Waterville station. The tender of the
locomotive and ten cars left the iron.
the mail ear going into the ditch. The
loo omotiVe and the rear car were not
derailed. No one was killed. The
following were injured:
G. F. Ingraham, rs Grant St, Ban
gor, mail clerk, injured internally.
James Bilcher, Medford, Mass, mail
clerk, cut on head. A. F. Robinson,
Bangor, mail clerk, hurt in groin.
Harry Burns, Nobleboro, baggage
master, Commissions of right leg. w.
B. Jordan, Waltham, Mass, slight
shock. c. R. Mitchell, Lewiston, Me,
slight shock. Earle Nelson, slight
shock. NJ. Lizzie Bailey, Winthrop,
Me, under lip cut. B. S. Hard, Bev-
erly, Mass. collar bone broken. Geo.
W. brown, Boston, Mass, Ccolored
waited in dining car, ribs broken.
Harry Cody, Philadelphia, Pa, scalp
wound. j. S. Hendricks, Boston,
Mass, cook in dining car, cut and
hand injured Richard Young, Bost-
on, Mass, back sprained. B. F. Ben
son, Maiden, Mass, Pullman conduct
or, hip hurt. Frank Gogger, Delisle
Creek, \. B., injuries in the breast.
Train No. 30 left Portland Saturday
at Los a. M, in charge of Conductor
Jed Hathaway and Engineer E. A.
Horeyseck. F. S. Mcdonald was as
sistant conductor, and F. r. Grant
was fireman. The train was drawn
by locomotive, $50, one of the two
new engines of the Pacific type, which
were recently put in service on the
Maine Central. There were II cars in
the train, which consisted of mail car,
baggage car, Pullman chair cars Red
wing and Marie, dining car, smoking
car, TWO first class passenger coaches
and two second class coaches.
The train had $50 passengers out of
Portland, and it is estimated that
there were 325 on board at the time
of the wreck. The train passed
through Lewiston little behind time,
and left Belgrade 10 minutes late
and losing time. At Oakland the
train was 25 minutes behind its sche-
t dule. AT the time of the accident the
) train was going at the rate of 45 miles
an hour, one of the passengers claim
ing that he had just timed it for a
mile before the crash came, and that
the speed had not noticeably slacken-
ed.
A few feet to the westward of Rice's
crossing, a slight curve terminates,
and the track runs straight for some
distance. 1t was just at this point,
before the crossing was reached, that
one wheel of the tender left the
track and dropped between the rails
to the ties. This damaged The track
in such a way that the cars which fol-
lowed were derailed,
The mail car followed the locomo-
tive for some distance, then slid down
! the embankment, and came to a
standstill in position almost but not
quite, bottom upwards, with the mail
clerks imprisoned within.
The Pullman chair car Redwing
p was not far from its proper position
relative to what was once the road
bed but it had plowed deeply into the
ties and the gravel of the roadbed.
The interior was intact. With the
, exception of the buffet, and not one
of the passengers in this car was in
jured, although they were thrown in
: TO the forward part of the car by the
force of impact.
t The chair car Marie was tilted at an
angle of about 10 degrees and was in
somewhat worse condition than the
3 car ahead. Here the passengers were
given greater shaking up.
The dining car was tilted at danger.
Gus angle and would have gone into a
ditch had there been any at that
point, as it was 20 feet north of the
,,,f h te hof Gnnrnn
W. Brown, the waiter, received the
injuries, from the effects of which he
now lies at the Elmwood hotel in a
serious condition, with several ribs
broken. Brown was the most badly
hurt of anyone else on the i'll fated
train.
But the most terrible sight of all
was presented by the two day coach
es in the rear of the smoking car.
These were jack knitted at opposite
T angles across the track, and were
locked together in deadly grip. The
car floors were Uttered with broken
glass, and the forw ard end of the car
271 had plowed into the rocks and
earth at the side of the cut through
which the train was passing at the
time of the accident.
The narrowness of the cut was the
principal cause of the damage to the
dining car, which was jammed against
the jagged edges of huge boulder on
the left hand side of the cut, so that
the side of the car was stove in by the
tremendous force.
The two second class cars at the
rear of the train received the least
injury. Only one pair of wheels of
car No. 1870 were off while the rear
car did not leave the rails. Not a
pane of glass was broken in either of
these two cars.
The wounded were quickly attend
ed to. Most of them were able to
walk to the relief train, but it was
necessary to carry Mail Clerk Ingra-
ham and Waiter George w. Brown on
stretchers. The other passengers
boarded the relief train and the work
cars having been detached, the train
proceeded back to Waterville at a
slow speed in order not to aggravate
the distress of the wounded.
Local officials of the Maine Central
when asked Sunday afternoon for a
statement as to the cause of the
wreck, said that there was nothing TO
be given out.
Morgan's Business College at Wat
erville closed last week for a two
months vacation reopening again
Sept. 9Th 1907. The past year was the
f..lt IT, tDh t1fn n