Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-10-07
INVESTIGATION
Of the Recent Railroad Wreck at
Benton Given a Hearing Before
Railroad Commissioners.

The hcarins before Tie Bnavl of
f,'ih"2d commissioners in regard -
| II" freight wreck ut Benton between
r s{"lar No. IS and tn" extra work train
! IN charge Of Conductor Ellsworth DIM
i BAR. III which Frank ia hanger Of Rum
ford Falls was killed and ,'he-sta,
| Haynes was seriously injured on the
attcrr"nn of "Wednesday. n.i. : WAS
| h"l Saturday morning in the superior,
court F"oil n this city. TIL hearing
WIs conducted " Col J. i. Peas:
i I'll other i,!cmhtr of the board present
was li"0. Frank Kaiser Of If;,l}. Seth
N. Garter Of Auhurn assisted, uv h:
| thIri = johnson al this city r,,ros,n,-
! "a the Main" 'r:luH! Railroad ard
| Hon. Fic,l ItHl.rN n,"ne. County At
] tGrnc!' WIS n:'rS mt for til" STAT. Rail-
ro":t officials Who attended III" hear
| inc vera Morris MrDoHa!l. 8. ,.,ral
SUI ri'nondeni. Frcd s.:n>n.n and
| 'h'rI Il. Priest. assistant suporin-
trnG ~:
'N'@ he,tr:ng w4* called to ,.,s,cr ut
11%" "'ri",',. Wit, the Src;t'in; of the
W.;i.@- 80 :. Train NJ. % c"s&t. con
du -'"r VI h"r +. Butler. I'":.l..:,;jr j
6. h!rlf"'H'1 and y. r. ?;naulGtra and
t'il'.'nHn HoitCrt =. Aref!ort.;l were
| i'r' sort. i'2";neer Ali>trt f. H,r.ur1
was ai.,,' III on ':trornt ~ injuries. The
lncrr"r5 q IT," extra tr"i2h, at Tho
hearing W,Jr> cn.i l'lrt j. r. T.. pi;r!,lr.
brakeman Il. - %;illi*t.n @n,l a. ".
Mi. =, also En2ino0c: Il. +. rT',.tvr".
III fir v itness called was Archer
4. Butler Of this city. conductor N
tram Ne. %. His testimony was as fol-
'"NS: Had been in the e'nplov OF tha
ra'3""1d Sine Feb. H. 1908, and been a
conductor ,lncc the fourth day Of !a@I
january. On the morning of Oct ,. he
va; on train No. s. due 80 leave Ban
cor al 80 4. NJ. ana due into Water
vile at 12.51 p. NJ. on this morning
hcr W""o | hour and 10 !ninltcs late
"it OF HInGrr leaving there Ii ga A.
VI. The caCea for the delay was thai
Ihr train Wars late in being made ur.
lnd they had an order to meet engine
No. 1lG at F2ranr. Thcv proc, aacd Is,
'',l'll, j" SPECIAL incident occurring I'M
III The collision.
u" said that he hal received orders
3tt"r lis ID naTturc from Bangor Ut
eli: ION and West Benton. He had re-
iVtl order. before this but didn't r.
Htmhcr what they were Tho order re-
t"iVcd Mt Clinton was No. ~ and read
as follows: NO. y. GWentY-onc) VII
ran Watrrvillr To Newport Junction
ahead Of time. meeting No. %. Gwcnty-
ciGl'D at West Benton and kocping til"
main liaC. meeting engine No. 212 HOuS-
ton C0ntiut tor aud engine No. 2f%. Frost.
conductor at Clinton" Butler .'cccivaG
this order at l.5G F. VI. The order h"
received AT West Pcnton read as fo!-
low: '.\ll freiehtG and extra tr;.ini
can u:sn five minutes on tn" time nf
No. II between West Benton and WI
tcrviIl".' after he passed Nc. u IL !ldi
IN" RIGHT nf way to Waterfalls ward
Thy left West ronton at 2.4S y N.
tW hours, at.3 eight minutes late AMI
II; n consisted Of engine No. $40 with
- loads AMI one empty besides the
buggy.
N'hsn asked what occurred after
=. vim Ennton, Ia rc,licA that Il"
til ught they had broken apart. lie WAS
III he tair,u%0 IT the tine Of tho col
lis. NJ. At til" time of The accident
~ III, rlan Iclunr,r was in tho engine,
NJ Donald on top oI tine train ;lH6
Sounding was with hnnscl: in Ii"
caI pu4r. Id ;1id not know how H"lnnr'r
.ut OF the engine. ON Investigation h.
fu;,ud Tia; II of the ears on his train
y re tcr,il"d. Bcl;.nGtr was found M
Ter II refrigerator cor NJ. Isl. NJ. G. Il
L. iIc was dead 1t the tirlc Em@nrc"r
EiriSn Was cut about the head hut
va; III" to 10 around Fireman
HAYNES WAS lviMH on IN" ground. Rut-
!,r estimated that III; train vas tray
cling about + miles m hour. ON cross
"x;..uirHt;on. h stated that TIL" "rl'r
h,. rJ lived at Is nton had nothing r.
latin" to I'll" extra AMI had II" knoNt-
"I;9n w it, coming. ana rc;i%"l,s to be-
Ii, ~. that he hal q clear track int"
WAtrrViHo. Hal plenty Of time 20 make
Watcrvillr on 40. II.
The next witness WAS Head Brakeman
T. G. Mcdonald of Erewer. lie stated
that he Lad been in the employ of the
company sine" July g 1907. and Fad eX-
pcliCncc previous. Was On ;on Of tn"
cars about Il cars from tie engine Did
not see extra coming. but when accident
occurred he jumped. as lie saw the cars
ahead riling up. The car on which he
was riding WAS drrailod. lie was badly
shaken up. lie said that at Benton he
HAD coupled up the train, but BClangcr
rode an the engine He haG not seen the
orders ana Know 1ntiin tnlN rs 'tllillHllill
Gated to linn. II" knew nothing of til"
coming Of tho extra. CroSs-rxamined he
stated that the distance where the acCi-
dent occurred was about tlr.e-Huartcrs
Of Il mile cut of Benton station. Saw all
orders received but none regarding extra
cncine No. sol
A. L. Spau1inG Of Newport, rear b"ake-
man on the regular freight. was next.
He has been on tie road since oct. ".
1916 He was in the cahoose at the time
and thought they had broken apart. He
also krcw the conductors ord r but moth
ing OF the extra.
Fireman Robert f. Aughterson Of Ban
COR. Of No. %. stated that he had been
in the employ since Aug. 81 last. This
was lis second trip over that road. He
rem embcred leaving Benton and of the
orders told him by the engineer Her
SOM He knew nothing of the extra run
ming east from Watervillc Estimated
hat they were running i miles an hour.
Pplanger. who was on the freman's side
in the cab. was the first to see the ap-
preaching train. He shouted to jump AMI