Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1910-08-25

MOntpel1Cr. Aug 2.-F1Ve lives were
snuffed out in a head -on collision of freight
trains on the Central Vermont railway
between West Berlin and Mortified Falls
at nine o'clock this morning. and several
other trainmen were badly injured The
dead are: William Brunnell OF North
field. conductor on the southbound light
train, pinned between engine and ca
boosc; L. Duhuc Of ST. Adams, fireman
on southhound train Frederick Berry
man of st. Adams, engineer on north
bound train, Joseph Lane OF New York,
conductor on northhound train: Harold
s. Lanigan of New York, brakeman on
southbound train. The injured are: En-
Gineer William Wynn OF ST. Adams, col
lar bone broken. hip dislocated; j. Il.
Smith of Montpelier. hip broken. badly
cut about head. and Charles Boat of st.
Adams, brakeman. suffering from shock
but not seriously hurt.
The telegraph operator at Mortified
Is said to have had orders to hold the
northbound train at that station to meet
the one thaa was running light, south
bound. The name OF the operator could
not be learned but he Is said to be new
man who assumed his duties last night.
and the heavily loaded freight. consist
ing of 30 cars drawn By engine Al, went
through Mortified on the steep down
grade at speed of 30 miles an hour
The operator rushed out Just as the ca
boose was passing the station. He made
frantic efforts to attract attention and
followed the train TO the dry bridge in
Mortified Getting so response from the
ait,,,,. =,
crash which came few minutes later.
TRIED TO WARN ENGINEER
II Is surmised that the reason that
Conductor Lane and Brake man Lani-
gan We're riding on the engine when
the collision occurred was because
they had seen the gestures OF the tele-
graph operator and had gone to the
head of the train to communicate with
the engineer. Seven cars of the up
train were demolished. It was said
that in one car there were three
horses which were being taken to the
Morrisville fair that their bodies were
cremated in the fire that followed the
collision and that two men, who were
accompanying the horses, persisted
with them This report. however. can
not be verified and It is stated Mt the
headquarters of the road In st. Adams
that the way bills Of the train do not
show that there were any horses on
board.
Where the accident happened is one
OF the sharpest curves on the Central
Vermont.
The southhound train consisted Of
engine 339 and caboose and was 60
ing to Northfeld to carry members OF
the Vermont National guard to Bur-
iington.
with the exception Of the engineers
and flremen those killed were strang-
ers to Vermont having taken tho
places OF the roads employees who
went on strike last month.
In the heavy train were two tank cars
OF kerosene and next to them were cars
loaded with hard pine. roofing paper fur
niture and granite. These were piled in a
heap down a-foot bank. The kerosene
caught fire and the whole made a fierce
b'azo that kept rescuers and wreckers
many rods away for hours.
The fire alarm was sounded at North
field and a hose company and hand en-
CINE We're hurried to the scene. They
did much service in extinguishing the
flames and cooling the ruins 80 the
wrecking crew could work
The first thing done was to take tho
charred and unrecognizable bodies of the
dead from under the ruins. with the ex-
ception of the cars burned, the remainder
of the long train did not leave the rails
and it was pulled back to Mortified.
In
load of dynamite and ono car of gaso-
line.
GREAT CROWD ASSEMBLED.
A representative OF the Free Press from
Montpelier WAS at the wreck within an
hour after II occurred. The Are was then
burning Its fiercest and not until later In
the afternoon was II possible to make any
attempt to clear the track. II was neces-
sary to lay new rails and ties for several
rods as the great heat had destroyed the
track. The day passengers were carried
by and the tracks made passable at
lol5 this evening. Hundreds OF teams and
automobiles carried "A great crowd of
spectators to the scene of the wreck and
getting out tho bodies and clearing the
track was watched by moro than a
thousand people.
BERRYMAN'S BODY NOT FOUND.
St. Adams. Aug. 2l,-Frederick Berry,
man. the engineer killed In the head-on
collision at Mortified Falls this morning,
had been n resident of this city for sew
eral years. IIo is survived by his wife and
nine children. Evelyn. Percy. Clara, Fred,
William, Lillian. Caroline. Ronald and
John Bergman. Mrs Bergman and the
eldest son. Percy, went on the l0;S9 O'Clock
train this morning and returned this
afternoon on the special from Essex
Junction as no trace Of the body of Mr.
Bergman had been found
Mr.. bergman belonged to the local or |
der of brotherhood of Locomotive Engin- |
GERS and was member OF st, Lulse's Epis- |
copal Church. Tho two elder daughters.
Evelyn and Clara. left last night for a.
visit In Sarria, Ont. but will return home
as soon as possible.
Mrs. William I. Wynn, whose husband
was an engineer on the other freight
train. and who was severely injured went
to Montpelier on the 1879 train YESTERDAY