New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-07-12
L KILLED, 4S HURT
IN EXPRESS WRECK
Fast Train from Washington to
Boston Jumps from Vladuct
in Bridgeport.
GOING so MILES AN HOUR
Engineer, Making Up Time While
Running Through City, Is
Said to Have Ignored
Specific Orders.
GOING so MILES AN HOUR

r3,. Toleera ph 30 The Tribune
| Bridgeport. Conn. July 1l-Runnlns
| at sixty miles an hour over cross
over" switch. where the rules call for a
| speed of not more than fifteen miles an
hour. the Federal Express. one OF the
New Havcns fastest trains, jumped the
tracks and smashed down twenty-foot
cnbankment Just east Of the Fairfield
avenue viaduct here at $50 O'Clock this
morning. Twelve persons were killed IN
the wreck and forty-eight more or less
seriously injured.
The train. which consisted Of nine cars.
is combination Pennsylvania New
Haven through express from Washing
ton TO Boston. It comes into the Jersey
CITY station Of the Pennsylvania late al
night and is ferred around Manhattan
TO the Willis avenue yards, in Tho
Bronx. where the New York, New Haven
&: Hartford Railroad picks IT up for the
rest of the journey TO Boston. The
travellers on it are usually, as they were
to-day, persons from south OF New York
or from New England.
OF the nine cars which composed the
wrecked train to-day six were twisted
into a tumble Of steel. iron and WOOD.
one was broken up badly, and two, the
last of the six Pullman sleeping cars'
CSC ped practically undamsged.
Besides the dead and more seriousl"
injured al least fifty more persons were
slightly injured. OF the forty eight
whose injuries brought them 10 the no.
tice Of the police and hospital authorities
Of this city, at least eight will probably
die.
All day and all night the wreckers the
local police and trainmen worked over
the mass of wreckagc, but UP 10 mid
night no more bodies had been discov-
cred and none of the wounded In the
hospitals he'd succumbed to their init
ries
The police and the trainmen are Of the
opinion that there are still one or more
bodies IN the wreck Of the first Pull
man car. \ thorough search OF this car
could not be made because 1t Is covered
by the other wreckage.
The most remarkable thing about the
disaster was the comparatively small
number Of those killed instantly, for the
inside of every car except the last two
Pullman cars, was practically wiped
clean.
Crossing over the switch at sixty miles
an hour has been sscribcd as the only
possible cause for the wreck by every
railroad man who has been az the scene.
but no one has been bic 10 explain why
the train was going a such speed over
> the switch. The engineer, Arthur VI.
Curtis was killed in the wreck.
Say He Disobeyed Orders.
A fish stock car Of the United state,
Bureau Of Fisheries was the first car be-
hind the engine, and its presence there
constitutes the reason for the switchins
over Of the fast express. According to
= the officials of the road, the engineer had
orders 10 drop the fish stock car AT
Bridgeport The Fairfield avenue via
duct is a little more than a mile from
the Bridgeport station, and the fish car
was to be dropped at this city.
From the Mott Haven station, where
the Federal Express enters the New
Haven roads territory, the train USUALLY
! takes and keeps 70 the inside Of the two
eastbound tracks. The station platform
here, however, is accessible only from
the outside one of the two eastbound
tracks. so that 10 drop tho car here the
train had 10 go across 10 this station
| tc ecbeduiei
to make the Bridgeport stop only 10 dis
charge passengers from points south %
Jersey CITY, and SO far as could he
learned, there was no passenger for
, Bridgeport on the train. For this reason
? the engineer did not receive conductors
: signal for the stop, and the only ey-
PLANTATION that was advanced by railroad
men here to-day was that the engineer
failed to recall his orders 10 stop 10 drop
the fish car
, Al any rate there Is convincing tesTi-
, mony from points west of here that
the train was making sixty miles an
hour up to the time IT struck the switch
and the heavy weighted train at such
a speed was more than the switch could
bear.
: The engine tender, fish car, one bag
gage car day car and four Of the SIX
Pullman cars jumped the track, sepsr-
, ated. and with the exception OF the
J fourth Pullman. broke and crumpled up
? Pieces OF the engine could be found
along the track FOR a hundred feet, and
the tender finally stopped forty feet west
of the engine. The baggage car and
dav car cleared the viaduct but turned
over and smashed on the incline OF the
. embankment beyond. and the first OF
! tho four Pullmans landed on its roof
hallway across the street underneath
the Niaduct.
Woodwork Torn and Crushed.
D Inside the Pullmans. with the excep-
. tion of the last two, the fittings and
( woodwork were torn and crushed into a
= h,mbled mass The day car and the
2 baggage car were reduced to splinters
Q and the engine was so torn apart that
To- only the main body of the boiler and
c cab were left to distinguish 1t as part
5 of a whole.
. on the east side of the Niaduct the en-
bankment Is held and strengthened by