The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-09-13
OFFICIALS HERE TO
INVESTIGATE
COLLISION
Trainmen and Employees Were
Examined This Morning
HELD BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
Interstate Commerce Commission
Inspectors Asked That Public
Be Excluded.

Officials of the Rutland railroad ar
rived here this morning for the pur-
pose of holding the customary investi-
CATION of the head-on collision a short
distance north of the local station
last Saturday evening, in which an
engineer and a fireman were Instant
ly killed, an engineer was fatally hurt
and over a dozen persons were in
jured
The railroad officials at the hearing
were General Superintendent G. l.. r.
French, assistant superintendent of the
Rutland and Chatham division, S. s.
Cotton, claims agent George X. Nc
Masters and attorney E. w. Lawrence
The state was represented by w. X.
Warner of Vergennes of the public
service commission. There were also
present at the hearing the two in
spectors from the interstate COM
merce commission who recently ar
rived here from Washington, James
S. Hawley and A. F. Duffy.
When the different officials assem-
bled at the local station at 10 o'clock
this morning IL was understood that
the hearing was to be open to the
public, but the interstate commerce
inspectors objected on the ground
that they are not permitted TO allow
any portion of their findings to be
known until after they have filed their
report at Washington. The hearing
was accordingly held behind closed
doors.
The investigation consisted entire
ly of an examination of train men
who were directly or indirectly con-
nected with the two trains involved
IN the disaster, the local passenger
FOR North Bennington which leaves
this station regularly at 7:45 each
evening and the south bound milk
train running from Alburg to New
York by the way of Chatham.
The officials were in session some
thing over an hour. The trainmen
were summoned, one at a time, and
questioned briefly Thomas F, Stat
terry baggageman on the passenger
train on the evening of the wreck.
was one of the trainmen examined.
This was Mr.. Slattery's first trip
away from home since the accident
and he was thoroughly exhausted
when the ordeal was over. He is
making good progress toward recov-
cry but is yet in a highly nervous
state because of the severe shock sus-
tanned in the crash.
Preparations for the public meet
ing of protest to be held at the court
house this evening are practically
completed. The meeting is called for
the purpose of permitting the people
of Bennington TO express their dis
approval of conditions that have pre-
vailed In the conduct of the telegraph
Office at the local station and which,
1t is generally claimed, were largely
responsible for the disaster and the
loss of three lives.
Wills T. White, the photographer,
took a number of views of the wreck
early Sunday morning and from ten
of these pictures he has made stere-
opticon slides which will be thrown
on a screen during the meeting
In view of the many railroad acct
dents in Vermont, recently, the fol-
lowing as to the record of the great
Pennsylvania system for 1910 is in
teresting:
mot a single passenger out of 1885,
100000 carried on the Pennsylvania
Railroad in 1910 was killed in
train accident. This is shown in a re
port issued by the company, giving
accident statistics for 1908, 1909 and
1910. for the Pennsylvania Railroad
lines east of Pittsburg and Erie.
Combining the statistics for this per-
iod, 1t is shown that in the three
years the number Of passengers
carried on the lines east of Pittsburg
and Erie was 371,S5S,277. more than
four times as many persons as there
are in the United States, and only
one of them was killed in train
wreck From these figures the prob
able risk of a passenger losing his
life in an accident on this road is
given as one out of every $40, 000,0 900.
In 1910 the lines of the road east
Of Pittsburg carried 14,1S0.22s more
passengers than in 1909. but the total
number injured in train accidents
was only eighty-four. or a reduction
OF exactly so per cent compared with
1909. These figures include every
case requiring surgical or medical
attention, however trivial. Only one
person out Of every LOCO, 900 passen-
gers carried was injured. The num-
Der OF passengers travelling a distance
Of one mile in 1910 was 5000. 900, 900,
so for each passenger carried one
mile 35.000.000 were carried in safety
to one injured.