Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1911-09-01
TWENTY-ElGHT KILLED.
G. A. r. Train Plunges Over Bank
into River.

y
spread rail on trestle near here today
and two day coaches from the mid
section of the train plunged downward
40 feet, striking the east embankment
like a pair of projectiles. Twenty
eight persons have been killed and more
than GO injured. The wreck was the
worst in the history of the Lehigh Val
ley line in this State and one of the
most disastrous ever recorded on the
system.
Crowded with passengers, many of
whom were war veterans and excur-
sionists from the G. A. r. encampment
at Rochester, train No. made up of
fourteen cars, drawn by two big mogul
engines, was forty minutes late when it
reached Rochester Junction, and from
there sped eastward to make up time
before reaching Geneva. The engines
and the two day coaches had just passed
the center of four hundred foot trestle
over Canandaigua outlet, $50 yards east
of the station at Manchester, at 1885
o'clock when the Pullman car Austin.
the third of a long train, left the rails.
1t dragged the dining car with it and two
day coaches and two Pullmans in this
order followed.
All bumped over the ties a short
distance until the coupling between the
first day coach and the diner broke
The forward end Of the train dragged
the Gerailed Pullman Austin and the
diner over safely, after which both
plunged down the south embankment
and rolled over. The free end of the
Inflated Lehigh valley day coach, where
most of the slaughter occurred, showed
out over the gulf and, followed by a
Crank Trunk day coach stripped the
rear guard off the south side of the
trcste and plunged into the shallow
river more than forty feet below.
The end of the first day coach that
went over struck the east embankment
of solid masonry and, with the other
GO-foot cars behind it, both shot against
the wall with terrific force In an in
slant the crowded cars lay a mass of
crumbed wood, metal and glass, under
which hundred men, women and child
rem, many of whom were killed instant
ly, were buried. The most destruction
occurred in the head day coach and a
dozen persons were later taken dead
from the second day coach, which, fol-
| lowing the first over the trestle, snapped
its rear coupling and thus saved the
rest of the train from being dragged
over. This second day. coach struck on
the bottom and stood end up, the rear
end projecting a few feet above the top
Of the trestle. All of the passengers in
this car were piled in tangled mass of
broken seats at the bottom of the car.
Indescrbable pandemonum followed.
The Pullman car, Evelyn, which remain
ed on the bridge with one end project
ing over the gulch, and several cars be-
hind it, deraied, and in immediate dan
ger of going over on the mass of wreck
age below, were soon emptied of all
their passengers and these, aided by
gangs of railroad employees from the big
freight yards al Manchester, rushed to
aid. The groans Of the injured were
heard below and all possible speed was
made, but it was several minutes before
anybody reached the cars at the bottom
to effect rescues.
The cars did not catch fire. Axes
We're secured and body after body was
removed and carried by the rescuers.
knee deep in the river bed, to the bank
on the west side of the trestle. There
the dead and injured We're laid out on
the damp ground while planks and tim
Der, taken from buildings in course of
construction, were requistoned and a
field hospital was established.
1t was more than an hour before
many of the injured could be removed
and special trains from both Geneva
and Rochester brought physicians,
nurses and medical supplies. The
railroad station at Manchester, a cider
mill and an ice house We're used to give
temporary shelter and treatment to the
injured
1t was necessary to chop through !
the sides and bottom of the day coach |.
and the work of removing the victims
moved with painful slowness. The |
mortality was high among the older
passengers, most of whom We're battle |
SCARED veterans of the Civil War and |
their wives.
The breaking down of telegraph serv-
ice added to the confusion because of |
the inability of those who are safe to
send advces to anxious relatives.
In the Manchester station tonight the
hats of the men in blue, with their gold |
braid, and the more pretentious head !
gear of the Sons of Veterans are piled |