The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-02-28
Although Is Passengers Had
an Exciting lime
LANDED ON M. & W. TRACK
Jumped Rails at Curve in North End Of
the City, and in It's Fall Carried
Down Thirty Telephone Wires.
Line Still Blocked.

No. 81, Of the Barre & Montpelier Trac-
tion company, carrying sixteen passen-
gers, jumped the track just south of the
jackson turn, near the Emslie green
house, at $3.50 last evening and plunged
straight down the l2.foot embankment
onto the track OF the Montpelier Wells
River railroad. Not one of the passen-
gers was injured, and, though motorman
Counter was thrown out of the window,
before which he was standing, he also cs-
capped injury. II is said that the car
was moving slowly and went down the
bank easily. The passengers were thrown
from their seats and some of them slid
down the aisle to the front end of the
car
The car is tipped to such an angle
that it is impossible to walk up the aisle
without grasping the seats. The front
end of the car landed on the ties OF
the NJ. & w tracks and the rear end
sticks up in the air FIVE feet above the
tracks of the electric road. The end of
the car blocked up traffic on the NJ. &
w. road and knocked out good many
OF the telephone lines between this city
and Montpelier.
The car left Montpelier for Barre at
6 o'clock in charge Of motorman Counter
and conductor Dean Slack, and had just
completed the sharp turn south of the
Emslle greenhouse when the accident oc
CURED. The car was running ON nearly
straight rails. Just what caused the
wheels to leave the iron is not definitely
known, but the general belief is that
water had collected during the day inside
the tracks and had frozen even with the
top OF the rails and threw the wheels
off. The forward trucks, going off tirs~.
turned the ear to the right, so that il
was squarely at right angles to the track.
The track runs very close to the bank
and the front end Of the car first struck
the board fence, breaking this down. and
went over the bank. The end OF the
ear, just as it pitched over the bank,
struck the telephone wires, the poles of
which are set beside the NJ. & w. tracks
The strain on the wires broke pole
off near the ground.
The only thing that saved the car
from tipping over and rolling down the
bank was the fact that the forward
trucks swung the end OF the car around
so that ii pitched straight down The
car went down so easily that none Of
the windows in the sides OF the car
was broken, and the only window brok-
en- was that one in the front of the
motoTman.
The wrecking crew was sent up to the
scene last night and began work at once,
stripping the car underneath. The rear
trucks were stripped off in the accident,
but the front ones went down with the
car. The railway company has job
on its. hands to get the car back up
the bank The car, when the trucks
and motors are on, weighs about Is tons.
Traffic on the street railway has been
kept up by running cars to the wreck
and the passengers changing cars. The
Wells River suburban train which left
Montpelier at $3.50 this morning ran as
far as the wreck, and the passengers
were then transferred to the electric car.
Telephone Company Damage
The telephone company was knocked
out almost completely for connections
between this city and Montpelier The
only line left in working order was one
that runs over Beckley hill. Nine Barre
and Montpelier trunk lines. two Mont
pelier and Woodsville trunk lines and
several local lines were put out of COM
mission. About thirty wires in all were
pulled down by the car. and the tele-
phone workmen stated this morning that
there was no doubt that the descent Of
the ear was eased considerably by the /
wires. as the wires held. after the pole I
broke and when they were cut last nighW
they were found to be drawn as tight
as possible without breaking.
When trouble was discovered at tho
local central station, wire chief Collamer
soon located it, and with foreman Hodg-
don went at once TO the wreck The
wire chief proved of good assistance
to the carmen, as they We're unable to
telephone anywhere, and the chief went
to the Jackson house nearby and, TAX
ing the telephone from the wall, set IL
up on a pole and established a station,
so that the carmen could get in COM
munication with the car barn At nine
o'clock this morning, the damage was
repaired temporarily so that the lines
were all working again.
The ear had not been moved at noon
to-day. so the 1925 Wells River train
could not pass. Therefore. the engine
Mountain King with box ear attached,
was run down to the wreck, and mail
and baggage was transferred from jhe
regular train.