The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-08-25

motive. The hand and shoulders was
all that remained.
A story was persistent all day that
when the train passed Mortified there
was g car of horses in it and that the
men in the doorway waved to some
men standing on the station plat
form. Other people asserted that they
saw the skull of a horse beneath the
wreckage during the morning and
some went so far as to say that there
was mans body beside it. Supt
Soule stated last night that the story
was without foundation He said that
there were no bills Of a car of horses
and that he had called White River
Junction and they stated that there
was no car of horses in the train
when it left that station. The only
apparent foundation for the story
was the fact that there was a car
load of harnesses in the train. One
man stated tina the saw the hoof of
horse sticking out of the wreckage
within short time after the first
help arrived at the scene.
Another story was current that
man with his clothes afire was seen
to run from the wreck to the river
and was not seen after that. The
foundation for this tale was the fact
that one of the men who had been at
work on the wreck went down to the
stream to wash off the dirt on his
face and get a drink.
The work of putting in the new
track was begun about o'clock and
the New England States Limited was
the first train to pass the scene of the
disaster, pulling into the Junction
shortly after II. The work of removing
the wreckage was confined to open
ing lane for the track, which was
laid very nearly in the same place as
the original track.
Clyde Howell OF this city, operator
at the Junction during the night, was
called to the wreck and opened a sta
ton a short distance from the scene,
where he worked all day, with little
food and no sleep. The telegraph lines
went down when the trains came
together and one of the first things
done when the wreck crews arrived
was to string a cable past the scene
and get the wires into shape.
Farmers Saw it,
Several farmers living across the
river knew when the wreck occurred
and some of them saw one or the
other of the trains a short distance
from the place where they came to-
gether. One party of men saw the
light engine coming up and heard
what they thought was another train
coming down. One of them spoke Of
the fact and at that instant they
heard a crash and human cry. In
another second there came another
crash and pillar of flame shot up
from the spot They started for the
place and arrived within a minute
of the time the wreckage settled
down after the crash. The two trains
came ioge' her a car length or more
above where the wreckage now rests
and the momentum of the 40 cars be-
hind the All showed them along that
distance. The fire made it impossible
to do ything But in a short time
help began to arrive from Mortified
Falls and Northfield as these places
knew the wreck was inevitable sew
eral minutes before it happened. 1t
was impossible to approach within
several yards of the wreckage till
after the Mortified men had got their
hand engine to working and a stream
of water on the fire.
The wreckage was handled ex-
peditiously after the wreck trains ar
rived at the scene and the debris was
cooled off by the water. The heavy
compound enines on the wreck trains
were used to haul cables, and the
wreck was torn apart and dumped
down the banks. The first thin3 done
was to get the two tank cars down
the bank and carload of hard pine
lumber ne stined to tha Lane Man fac
turing Company of this city was also
dumped to get the timbers out of the
way. All of the trucks and other iron
work of about Is cars was piled in
heap and by making good bitches sew
eral tons of the stuff was hauled down
the bank at time. The crane on the
White River Junction wreck train
was used to good advantage in lifting
out the trucks and carrying them
back up the line and placing them
beside the track.
Camera Fiends There.
Relic Hunters and the camera fiend
were out in force. They clambered
over the wreckage and carried off
most anything from a twisted lantern
to a piece of scrap iron. The light
was poor in the afternoon for snap
shots and the smoke made it worse.
but several hundred people tried their
luck from various points of vantage.
The high hill back of the wreck and
he largo flat on tho O4bor eta