The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-11-25
George A. DeMora, J. L. Carmalt.
 Respectfully submitted


 tor of his examination into the causes of and circumstances connected with the accident occurring at WestpOrt on the third day of October, 1912, in the operation of the plant and equipment i of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad company, resulting Flora M. B. Gayit, Mary Hamilton, Jessie H. Hanson, George l.. Clark, J. J. MokIer and Mark Wheeler and injuries to sundry other persons. To the Honorable Public Utilities commission:
 Gentlemen: The following is a re- port of my investigation of the above accident:
 The investigation of this acident, particularly as to the examinations of withees with sg was made e in eon5unedion G mission, member of your commission and myself being present at the hear ing m 2, held he Id. by the interstate Commerce 8 and g, 1912.
 At 4:44 o'clock p. m on Thursday, October 3, 1912, in daylight and clear New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad westbound passenger express train, No. B. consisting of engine No. 1914, Pacific type. one mail car. one baggage ear, four parlor cars and four coaches, was derai1ed and wrecked when crossing from track No. 1 to bound passenger station at Westport.
 Explosion Occurred.
 Judging from the evidence of sew eraI who witnessed the accident and from well defined marks on the rails, ties and interlocking apparatus. the frog of switch leading from track number three to track number five, track number five, about 450 feet from the point of derailment.
 An explosion occurred, probably caused by the boiler being punctured " Riverside avenue. The concussion was sufficient to break windows 100 feet away.
 In crossing the bri7ge over River side avenue the north girder was torn away from the bridge. seats and floor system and deposited on. top of the of the tracks; and the next girder between tracks number three and number five was crushed and crowded down into the street below.
 The mail car, which was coupled to the engine, was thrown over on it's side and stopped just east of the en- the engine and landed right side up. | minus it's wheels, on track number one Parlor car, number 2145 (the against the engine and evidenty was ignited from the fire box of the en- zine. This parlor car and the two next l behind 1t, number 2234 and number 2249, were wrecked and totally de- l stroyed by fire. The remaining parIor car number 2217, and the four coaches in the rear. were but slightly damaged. ! There was evidence that the gas | tanks under the parIor cars exploded and were responsible for the burning 1 of the cars- @ Material Damage SyO,4S5.
 The estimated damage to equipment. l track and bridge. is placed at s70,49s. l but the saddest part of the whole af- 1 fair was the death of seven persona l and the injury to 36 others. Four of 1 1ol parlor car, number 2145, and were probably burned to death.
 The engineer and fireman were | killed and. one mail clerk was so ser iousIy injured that he died while be- ing carried to the hospital.
 The railroad traffic between New | a four track division. The southerly tracks, which are designed to accom- modate east bound trains, are num- bered s'two'' and four and the north erly tracks used for westbound trains. are numbered .one'' and -<three.''
 To operate the road to the best ad- | divert trains from one track to an- other; by so doing, express trains are permitted to run around's slower ones while both are under headway. For such movements. crossover switch es are located at inter1ocking signal towers. These switches are handled by opera tors in the towers and are so in- terIocked that it is impossible to change them until corresponding sig nals are set for the guidance of ap- preaching trains.
 on this division, viz: No. 5's, No. 10's and No. 1P's. The numbers refer to the size of frogs used. The curvature of the track associated with number eight frog is much sharper than with either a number 10 or number Is; in other words. the curvature de- creases as the frog number increases.
 Public Utilities Commission
 Order and Record
 Westport Wreck-October 3, 1912. : The foregoing report, in so far as it states the circumstances and conc1u- sions as to the causes of the accident. is approved and made part of the commission's record of the causes, facts and circumstances of said ac- cident.
 ton of this case that the primary cause of the accident was the failure of the engineer to observe and follow the rules of the company, which, if compiled withs would have prevented the wreck.
 This commission can pass no order which will overcome human frailty in so far as the individual is concerned. | proves that human agency, under the most favorable conditions and ex- ercised by the most trusted and com petent employees, is liable to err, and | to adopt such improved mechanical devices and construction will tend to prevent the disastrous results of human failty.
 The operation of a four track rail- road necessarily requires the main tenance of crossovers for detouring i, trains. The crossever where this ac- cident occurred was number 10. It appears from the physical conditions, observed immediately after the acci- dent, that the engine took the cross fror f-a a1l hes fr 1l<