Norwich bulletin., 1912-11-18
Special to The Bulletfn.)

Putnam, Nov. 17-One life was crushed out and twenty cars were piled in an almost hopelessly tangled mass on the main line of the Midland di- vision about a mile west of the Put nam station just about midnight
 The wreck was one of the worst in this section in many years, and was due, it is possible, to the failure of fag1nan to go back the proper distance from the train he was supposed to be protecting from any other that might be following 1t
 Train Left Standing on Steep Grade.
 Like the wreck between Oxford and Webster, 4S hours before, this one was caused by a rear end collision Extra freights 40 and 412, both east bound from East Hartford, figured in the smash. According to railroad mems accounts of the accident, extra 40 had been halted just west of the western limits of the local yards. The locomo- tive of this train was then detached and run down to the station to take a supply of water and fuel, the train meantime standing on the steep grade up the line. The Idea of leaving the, train there, which was a heavy one, was that advantage might be taken of the heavy down grade to get the train
  mate destination was resumed.
 A Possible Fatal Mistake.
 Frank Gallagher of East Hartford was supposed to have gone far back from the rear of train flo. to signal any train coming along, but was not seen to go the entire distance They reason that probably he was aware that 40 was forty minutes ahead of 4i2 out of Willimantic, and figured that 40 would again be on its way before the freight following along, and may not have bothered to go back the prop CT distance
 If this be true, it was a fatal mis- take. Sweeping along the very steep downeTade with Its heavy train of 35 loaded cars, 412 was almost upon the rear of 40 before the engineer of tho doomed locomotive caught the flash of a red lantern and the rear lights of the caboose of 40. There is a curve in the track just a few yards above the scene of the accident. This shut off any chance of seeing the train ahead.
 Brakeman Brooks Jumped to Death.
 Engineer Walter Forbes of Boston slammed the emergency, but it was too hate to step the crash Forbes realized this at once and. yelling to Fireman Hurley of Boston to do likewise. he leaped from the cab, as did his mate, both by good fortune escaping with out any injury of seriousness.
 No such good fortune was in store for Harry Brooks. 23, of East Hartford, head brakeman of 412, who was riding in the cab with Forbes and Hurley His jump cost him his life, his body, with skull fractured being stumbled over by Herbert Smith of this city, who was at the wreck within a very few minutes after it occurred. The body was taken in charge by 8 local under tal5er It was Brooks second trip on the run, he having only recently come onto the line after two years of ser vice in the East Hartford yard.
 Was Making Fifty Miles an Hour. :
 The crash of the collision was ter rife, awakening some people in the city Train 412 may have been mak- ing so miles an hour at the time, g feat easily possible, for at the point where the wreck occurred east bound trains do little less than roll down hill The big moguL No. 412, which gave the number to the extra freight, ploughed through the caboose of 40, as if were no more than paper, split ting it absolutely to pieces, and then plunged on, piling up great coal cars and bOXcars in indescribable confusion. Twenty cars of the two trains wee heap into tangled and twisted mass and several of them, with the tender, went-over and part way down the forty foot embanl1ment on the east side. The main part ,of the locomotive bat tered out of nearly all semblance to the powerful machine it was 8 min ute before, beaten down and crurnpled 0eid inert, finally tOppled over on one E1ae across the west bound track.
 FIaenan Gallagher Vanishes.
 Silence followed the inferno of noise and 'terror, but in the darkness and under cover of the night, F1agman Gallagher, a railroad man of long ex- perience, stole quickly away, and no trace of him had been found up to Sunday night.
 The alarm for the wreck quickly brought a number of trainmen and Putnam citizens to the scene of the ruin, but they could de nothing te clear up the trouble. Messages were sent out for the Readville and East Hart ford wrecxing crews, which reached here after o'clock, work of clearing the line commencing about an hour later.
 John Shaws Remarkable Escape.
 Those who arrived early found John Shaw of PinehuFst, N. c, cool and col lected, sitting beside the mass of ruin, warming himself beside little fire he had built and nursing as best he could a broken leg, a deep cut near the chin and other injuries.
 The man was in charge of some horses that were ia a car set well to- ward the head of extra 416, At Willi- mantle he suffered so from the cold that he went from the horse car back to the caboose to epjey the warmth thereof. Seated comfortably within, he was all unconscious of the onrush- Ing 412, which when it hit the buggy fin which he was a passenger tore 1t apart like a cigar box. Shaw must have been thrown a great distance, and 1t is past the comprehension of any who saw the wreck to figure how he got clear.
 Inquiry for his horses was one of the first things those who found him heard from his lips and, when told that they were out of the danger zone and uninjured he seemed very happy. His own troubles seemed of little con- sequence to him. He was taken to the hclilal
 Engine Slips on Oiled Track.
 lt was no easy job that the wreck rolling stock has been seen hereabouts h years. The crews worked ike Tro=