The Newtown bee., 1909-08-13
The Newtown Bee. Newtown, Friday, August la, 1909.
HOME NEWS.
RAILROAD ACCIDENT AT CORN.
 WALL BRIDGE.
Train Master Carr a Hero.

The fast express train on the
 western division of the New York.
 New Haven X Hartford railroad,
 which left New York at 3.32 D. m,
 was wrecked Saturday evening al
 GAO o'clock at Cornwall Bridge, and the escape of the passengers
 from serious injury was little short of miraculous. The engine, with the exception of the tender truck re-
 mained on the track, and but for this 1t is probable that the accident
 would nave been q frightful one as
 the locomotive kept the train steady and the cars ran along on the ties
 for about three-quarters of a mile.
 None of the cars were overturned.
 While early reports had 1t that the accident was 'due to spreading rails
 the company is inclined to scout this
 theory and cited the fact that the
 track at this point was new, having
 been laid two weeks ago. It is be-
 lieved that side bearing on the en-
 zine broke. This caused the engine
 to sway. The tender went off first
 and this led the cars off. The fact
 that the cars went off inside the
 curve goes to prove, the company
 feels, that the derailment was not
 due to excessive speed. The cars in
 the train were all-steel and would stand almost every kind of banging.
 In other words they were regarded as wreck proof. In some places the
 rails were bent up into a letter "S."- It is pointed out that unless the cars had been of the best construction the rails would have been driven up through the cars and caused loss of life. Engineer Reuben Wilcox of Pittsfield was at the throttle and Frederick w. Tanner of the same city was the conductor in charge of the train. The passengers feel that much credit is uue Engineer Wilcox for remaining at his post anu stop ping the train so promptly after he realized that something was wrong. Train lAaster Carr, who was on the train received quite a shaking up, but was able to give his personal at tention~tO the care of the passengers and to send for the wrecking crews and give general oversight to the supervising of the work usually caused by a derailed train. After giving instructions, Mir Carr went to the station where he fainted at the telegraph key. He was telegraphing to New Haven concerning the acci- dent. He did not regain conscious ness for several hours. He was cared for by Dr Robinson of west Corn wall and taken home to New Haven Sunday afternoon. MT Carr's eX- hibition of iron nerve was one Of the features of the accident that stands out prominently: George O'Dell, the proprietor of the general store at Cornwall Bridge, did the greatest business of his career as he disposed of quite stock of eatables and all the soft drinks he had on hand. The buffet car was the worst broken of all. The platforms of the others were all "stove in' by the force with which they came together. One of the passengers in the second Pullman said that the cars left the ties and bounded at least three feet in the air and then dropped to the ground, which threw the occupants about, but without doing them any injury to speak of The train crew, acting under orders from Train Master Carr and Conductor Tanner, did every thing possible for the comfort of the passengers and especially to the women, many of whom were in highly nervous state. The extra train reached Pittsfeld about a. m., Sunday morning. A large force of men worked all night and by Sun day morning the road was cleared so trains could pass. The damage will amount to a few thousand dollars.