Putnam patriot. [volume] (Putnam, Conn.) 1872-1962, 1910-12-30
Worst rre,sh, Wreck IN Years.

feaE-ena brakeman, y woman land
two small children, in East Hartford,
are mourning the loSS Of a hushandand
father: Two men are ia tie Day kim
ball Hospital, tins city, seriously in
jared, and thousands Of dollars worth
81 property destroyed. Ia one Of the
worst wrecks that has occurred In this
vicinity in years. The accident hap
psned Al North GfeSseuordaIe station,
Al esea Thursday evening last week,
aheu an East Hartford extra freight
train ran into LEGAL freight Ne, -.
The dead, George rafts, East Hard
fond, engineer en- the extra.
The injured, John T.. Murphy. OF
Providence, fireman Of the extra, had
scalp wound and minor cuts and brui-
SEES. Will probably recover.
James b. Peters, ChaTlestown, Mass
broken knee cap and bruises.
From various persons present when
the accident occurred, incidents which
20 TO make up the following story were
CLEANED:
When the local freight, south bound,
arrived at Webster the extra was maxi
ing up its train, and got out Of the way
for the local to pass. The latter Was TO
proceed to North Grosvenordale aud
thence take the siding so that the ex-
ira could pass. The local took the sid
ing, as intended, and, while waiting,
the engine pulled out on to the main
line, SO that the ninth or tenth car was
opposite the north end Of. the depot
where freight is unloaded. The con-
duetor ordered the flagman, who had
been on The road but couple OF months,
TO go back and protect the train. IL
later developed that the flagman not
only failed TO go back with red light
but even changed the caboose lights 10
green, and went within, and probably
went TO sleep.
The rest of the crew were at the
freight room unloading freight from
the car which had been drawn oppos
tie IL. The position of the train formed
letter ), the rear end being on The
siding, and the engine and nine cars
reaching out on TO the main line.
The extra came at the rate of about
10 miles an hour, expecting That Il had
clear passage all the way As exam
ination of the engine later showed the
engineer had the Throttle reversed to
! 49,. a
turn To the north~a.i here was nc
warning light but, on the contrary The
green lights ON the caboose led the EN-
gineer to suppose the local was on the
siding and all was clear for him TO
pass, so he continued the high rate of
speed, and was upon the freight that
blocked the way before he had time 10
realize IL. There was crash that could
be heard all over the siliage--a grind
ing OF iron and rending of wood; and
quicker than IL takes to tell II the en-
CINE was in the river at the bottom OF
twenty foot embankment, bottom
side up, and fifteen freight cars had
lost ali semblance of Oeir original
shape, and were a naass OF splintefed
| wood and twisted iron--demolished rs
though made of paper nache. And
the engineer was still in his cab be-
meath the river, where his body was
recovered ten hours later, frozen still
| His legs had been cut of In two places,
his nose and head split open, and arms
/ L. HrSl al "A f4H her
frozen beneath the icy water. But he
had not suffered, as death must have
been instantaneous.
Peters, the head. brakeman, said he
was In The cab. had taken drink of
water, returned the jug 10 the accns-
| toned place, and rs he turned around
saw the danger right upon them, and
| Jumped. He struck full in the icy Wa
ter below, which was not deep, and as
| he heard the grinding and crushing he
thought of Niagara Falls. lie crawled
10 house near by.
| Murphy, the fireman, was thrown
through the gangwsy clear Of the en-
CINE. He heard the awful noise and
saw the debris falling all around him,
and he expected every moment that
| his time had come. lie crawied out
| of the way. and was near the caboose
when found.
| Both Of those men were brought 10
this city where the ambulance was In
" waiting to take them TO the hospital.
As the ambulance could take but one
passenger. IL became . question which
should go first. Peters showed his
fortitude by saying: sTake Murphy; !
can get along better without leg than
he can without = head So Murphy
went first.
Mean " hile the men on the local who
we're engaged in unloading freight, had
worked on, thinking their train was
protected by their mate They were
horrified when they heard the sounds
OF the oncoming extfa and knew thst
nothing could be done 70 prevent cot
Iision. They called 70 the engineer
and fireman Of their train 70 Jump and
run, and themselves ran Immediately
for their lives. The fireman jumped
and ran, but the engineer displayed
the bravery 70 often setoId- He stuck
70 his post, pulled out The lever d his
engine, and gos bis train under Say In
% endeasor 70 le.ssn tn impact -