The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-06-17
Benjamin Will Fireman,
Fatally In in Barre
BRAKEMAN SMITH INJURED
Freight Engine, Running Light and With
Tender Ahead, Jumped Track Near
Wiley ST. and Plunged Off 15-Foot
Drybridge Saturday Afternoon.

iiiihAi ~ 'ho Atdtlls otilOhHiN NOuBuSu
another and slightly injured third near
Wiley street in the north end of the
lefty Saturday afternoon.
The Dead:
| BENJAMIN WILLIAMS, 81, fireman.
The Seriously Injured:
JAMES SMITH. 2s, a brakeman.
The Slightly Wounded:
JOSEPH +. DERRY, 40, an engineer.
| OF the injured Smith is in the City
Hospital. suffering from an injury to his
back. while Derry was able to leave the
hospital after two stitches had been
taken in cash on his head Williams
died at the hospital at 4:45 the same
lafternoon from burns received whee he
became enyeloped in steam as he lay
ipinned down in the overturned cab.
Williams was pulled out of the cab
| by three men, one of whom was Deputy
Sheriff George i. Morris, who was wit
ness of the accident and who, in fact,
narrowly escaped figuring in it. Deputy
Morris was driving on Wiley street ex-
tension and was approaching the dry
bridge just as the engine, running back
wards, approached from the south. As
| his horse was somewhat frightened by
the engine and as double team of S. 3,
Sibley was descending the hill on the
other side of the drybridge, Mr.. Morris
stopped at the foot of the incline. some
fifty feet from the track to wait for the
train to pass over the bridge and also to
avoid meeting the double team under
the track.
As Deputy Morris waited, there was
unfolded before his eyes the strange spec
tacle Of train plunging from the bank,
whirling half around in the air and
landing at his feet, as it were. Fortu-
nately, his presence and that of the driv-
er of the team on the upper side of the
Idrybridge, together with three others, A.,
villa of Berlin street, Charles Smith and
Water Supt. H. f. Reynolds, who were
near by, served to shorten the period
of suffering of the injured men, before
medical aid could be given, as word was
promptly sent uptown and ambuances
and doctors were soon on the spot.
Saw the Whole Wreck.
In describing the scene, Deputy Morris
said it all happened so quickly, like =
moving picture performance, that it was
impossible to grasp all the details; but
he saw the engine with tender ahead
come laundering along the main line Of
the Barre branch, then saw the tender
begin to bob and jump. saw the huge
vehicle begin to sway as it, in turn,
jumped the iron, saw the wooden bridge
smashed as the crashing locomotive
struck it and then saw the engine and
tender topple over the edge of the bridge,
turn over and bury its top in the ground,
the whole mass to be enveloped imme-
diately in steam and dirt, the latter Of
which was thrown up by the force of the
escaping steam
For a time it was impossible to ap-
proach the locomotive because of the
steam; but Deputy Morris climbed the
bank and there saw Engineer Derry with
head streaked with blood clambering up
from the engine, having either jumped
or been thrown from the cab Just as
the engine went over and landing clear
as he was on the upper side of the
engine. They then went to the lower
side. and, the volume of steam being
much less, they crawled into the over
turned cab and there saw Williams lying
and held by a bar across
ais legs and beam on top of the bar.
After a short time they were able to
lrap the unconscious form out and place
{ on the grass. Presently Williams re-
lived and began to implore them to re-
ieve his suffering, the pain from the
,urns being intense. He was burned
erribly about the mouth and throat;
lso his face, hands, shoulders and hips.
.ater the searchers found Smith, the
brakeman. lying in the grass near the
nd of the tender, where he had been
brown. He couldn't rise, and he COM
ained of his back,
Meanwhile word had been sent uptown
or doctors and ambulances; but as Will
ANS suffering was so intense they
hought it best to carry him at once
D the hospital, so they lifted him into
,eputy Morris wagon and proceeded 20
he hospital. Hooker & Co.'s ambulance
rrived shortly afterwards and took the
ther two men, Derry's injuries were
)nfined to the wound on the head, and
e was able soon 20 leave and go to his
ONE in Montpelier. Williams fingered
long for three hours. when death came
, relieve him. Smiths injury to his
lck was apparently so serious, perhaps
,tal, that his parents at Kent, Ohio.
ere notified Saturday evening.
The Probable Cause of Accident.
The cause of the accident is not con-
usively determined. However at the
,int where the wheels left the rails
le gauge seemed to be accurate, accord
% to the test made for the benefit Of
ublic Service Commissioner S. Hollister
,ekson. who was there shortly after
ards. II is known that the tender was
yhtly loaded, having little coal and only
small amount of water; and it is pos.
bic that the tender in that condition
ay have started TO jump under the
essure of the locomotive running Is
lies an hour and for that reason mount
the rails Deputy Morris declares
a the tender began bobbing about 10
50 feet from the bridge; and the APP
arance of the ties seems to bear out
e statement. Apparently. the engins
self was not dragged off the iron until
few feet short of the bridge, as the