The Washington herald., 1911-07-12

ters. The roof and side of another were
ripped clean when IT raked the stone
work Of the viaduct And the impact of
the fall was so fearful that the berths
and the furnishings were torn away and
jumbled In almost inextricable confusion.
People were pinned in their berths, and,
although not hurt by wood or metal,
were suffocated as they struggled to get
free
Only two persons saw the Federal yell
then leap into the air and whirl over the
stone bridge as the train plunged from
the switch. One Of them was Clarence
Hemingway, the tower operator. Tie
other was Mrs. James c. Horan, a stout
lady who had been greatly annoyed by
MOSQUITOES and couldn't sleep during the
night. But It was all over 50 swiftly
that neither Mrs. Horan nor Hemingway
was able to crystallize their impression.
They remembered seeing the whole train
swerve, rear bIackly against the grayish
light and fail into the cut with roar
that almost deafened them.
Express Behind Time.
Y The signal tower, where Hemingway
was on duty early this morning, stands
a mile and a half west Of the New
York. New Haven and Hartford depot.
The operator at 3:33 a. m. was tanning
himself by the tower window, cussing
the heat, as he said to-day. There came
to him, family at first, and then in fine
crescendo, the roar of the approaching
Federal express. 1t was behind time by
an hour and thirteen minutes, and was
under orders to stop at Bridgeport, so
that the Fisheries Bureau car could be
dropped of. Ordinarily the flyers for
Boston whizz through this town on the
inner east-bound track without paying
any attention to the crossover switch.
The Federal only stopped here, anyway,
when it had passengers from somewhere
west of New York to let off, and that
did not happen often.
1t should have gone through Bridge
port at 2:19 a. m, but the Pennsylvania
Railroad delivered It to the New York
New Haven and Hartford an hour behind
the schedule, and more minutes were lost
rounding Manhattan and getting onto
the Harlem division at Willis avenue In
| the Bronx.
Hemingway, having received orders to
connect the crossover switch with the
inner east-bound track, threw over his
lever minutes before the Federal showed
UP, obeying the signal from the tower
miles to the vest. He was astonished
to see that the Federars engineer was
coming on full tilt at a gait that tests
the resources Of solid straight tracking
and was never expected to be loosed on
to a curving switch. He leaned from the
tower window greatly alarmed because
he had never seen an engineer take "a
chance Of that kind In all Of his rail-
reading.
The crossover connected with the in
ner east-bound track squarely in front Of
the tower, so that Hemingway had .
clear view OF what happened, even
though It took place in a flash. The Fed
eral thundered up to the tower, a black
streak in the vague light, and with flame
jumping from the stack of the big ten
wheeler that was doing the pulling. There
was a Shrek OF iron being torn sud
denly from supports, a grinding and
crashing as some OF the cars left the
track, and then a terrific, overpowering
roar as the locomotive leaped from the
viaduct into the cut and was followed
by five cars, the fish car, the day coach
and three Pullmans.
The distance between the switch inter-
section In front of she tower and the
stone bridge where the train went over
a steep embankment, at least twenty
five feet high, is about loo feet. The ex-
press took 1t in one leap It seemed to
Hemingway.
Tower Operator Shocked.
The physical shock and the certainty
that came to him as a railroad man Of
what lay down in the cut completely un-
nerved the operator. A section Of steel
rail, snatched up by the wheels OF a
Pullman as they fed the track, was
thrown in an arch of twenty feet, and
rocked the tower with the violence Of
the impact. Hemingway was scared. For
an instant he thought the tower was go
ing. Then he pulled himself together.
caught up a lantern, and ran over the
SCARED ties to the viaduct.
Mrs. Horan, in her night clothes, was
at a second-story window OF her big
frame house to the south Of the tracks.
Setting on the crest Of a fine lawn, the
house commands clear view Of the rail-
road to the east and west. Sleepless
from fighting mosquitoes, she remained at
flicker OF signal lamps down the yards.
She heard the Federal humming its
speed song many miles westward Then
in no time at all she caught the first
| glimpse of the headlight and watched the
black streak grow bigger.
And then came the grinding and crash
ing, moments glimpse OF great cars
rearing up and shooting over the sheer
walls Of the viaduct. another long crash
as the cars hammered each other into
the stones and dirt and settled into
place, and then she heard the kissing
Of escaping steam and a medley of
sounds that shocked her. When she
looked again. witch fires were playing
over the wreck and chasing each other
along the abutments of the stone bridge
The locomotive. Ieaping from the force
Of its great speed over the broken
ground at the bottom of the cut, had
battered down or literally cut IN two
telegraph and trolley poles. The mass
OF wreckage was alive with escaping
electricity, short circuits caused by the
downfall Of heavily charged wires, that
threatened to make trouble a little later
when the Bridgeport firemen and police
got there.
Mornino was corninz mn rants,,, 49,,