Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-09-16
"a DEAD, 81 INJURED.
Continued from Page One.)

the first doctors reached the scene. dis
closed to them the full extent of the
disaster. The sides of the passenger
coach Law on either side of the track.
A little farther on was tangled mass
of iron and steel from which the steam
was still rising and which once had
| been two locomotives. Off to one Slde
was a crowd of people hurrying from
| one writing form to another in vain
attempt to ease the pain and stop the
| flow of blood. On the other side of the
track all were silent as one by one the
| shattered bodies of the dead were laid
| in an ever-increasing row until Is We're
resting side by side beneath the trees.
| AS soon as practicable the more Sc
riously injured were laid on a stretchor.
taken to a train and conveyed back to
this place and then up the river to
Hanover, n. H.. where they were given
the best medical and surgical treat
ment at the Margaret Hitchcock hos
pitai at Dartmouth College.
| But before the train reached here
eight more had succumbed to their
wounds. which brought the dead up to
| "a. During the forenoon q of the in
iured We're taken to Hanover. while the
| trains to Concord. nine of them going
| by the way of Franklin and the others
through this place and ClaremOnt.
The railroad officials were notified
very soon after the accident. Conduct
| or Brown of the express walked back
to West Canaan and calling Supt. Ray
at Concord on the telephone. that OIL
| cial with several others and force of
doctors from the capital city arrived at
| the scene at 7.30.
No effort was made 20 clear the
| tracks until the wounded had been
| cared fer and sent away and arrange
| ments made for sending the dead to
| Concord.
The scene of the accident was
| thronged with people all day and the
work of the train wreckers was i'm
peded by the curious throne. The track
was cleared finally this afternoon. al
| though several hundred feet of rails
| had to be relaid. The rear of the eX-
press train stopped directly on bridge
over small river. but fortunately tn"
| sleeper did not leave the track.
| Supt. Ray. as soon as he lad ar
ranged for the victims of the accident.
began an investigation pf the cause.
and this afternoon gave out the fol
| lowing statement:
The accident was due to Il miSun-
| derstanding between J. A. Grow ley, the
| night dispatcher at Concord. who has
been in the service seven years, and
John Greeley. the night operator at
| Canaan. who has seen 90 years service.
| in transmitting a train order One Of
| these two men made the fatal error of
| taking cipher for four. The train
order which Conductor Lawrence of the
! freight signed for at Canaan Station
| said that train No. 80 was running l
hour and 10 minutes late. On this order
| the freight conductor could easily have
| made the side track at West Canaan
| and this was his intention. Ordinarily
| train No. 81 follows No. 80 81 minutes
later. but the freight conductor held
| an order received at Canaan that M.
| "a was 40 minutes late. 1t was the
freight conductors intention then to
keep on to West Canaan. Train Dis
patcher Crowley of Concord states that
he told the Canaan operator that No. 81
was l hour and 10 minutes late. 1t was
this mistake of taking cipher for Il
figure four that caused the wreck"
One Of the passengers on the train.
who was in the smoking car to the
rear of the Inflated passenger coach.
said that there must have been 80 peO-
pie in the car when the accident oc-
Cured.
Il had one of the seats in the middle
Of the car when the train left White
river Junction and like every one else
was doing when some one at the head
of the car woke up and began to sing.
This aroused nearly everyone else in
the car and some of the men decided
to go back to the next car for a smoke
1--WE had scarcely taken our seats in
the smoker when the brakes were sud-
denly set and we were all thrown out
of our seats. The next instant there
came the crash and I found myself
covered with broken glass from the
window, but unhurt
I'VE dragged ourselves from under
the seats and stumbled out of the rear
door. The front one was completely
blocked by the end Of the passenger
coach. Everyone seemed daZcd and for
what seemed four or five minutes, there
was absolute silence. Then we heard
gr"ans. means and finally Shrieks from
the front Of the train and, running for
ward. we saw the wreck of the paSsen-
ger car, 1t was just light enough to
see a little but it made one sick to
SEQ even that much. Every one worked
hard. however. but it seemed hours
before help came"