New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-06-13

seems mystery AFTER an tAdiill'l"'''i
Of the battered shell surrounding the
engine, but the survivors tell stories OF
being thrown bodily 10 the front emu
of the car, from which they picked
themselves up seconds later TO find the
destroying engine stalled halt"aJ
through their car.
Edward J. Kelly the husband OF the
woman who was killed. escaped pracu-
cally uninjured himself
Il was in seat IL he said. MY wife
was in 10. We had been out West and
more recently in Hartford at which
point We boarded the train at ) o'clock.
Just before the crash | had pointed
ont n Young fellow TO my wife, and we
watched him flirting with a girl in
blue dress. My wife and ] were facing
each other when the crash came ana
NV first impression was of something
striking me terrible blow in the back.
I found it was the back Of the
chair. and even in the grinding uproar
that was upon MS then. the back OF
that chair hitting me in the back dis
tracted my attention for second
Wncn | turned my head again my Wlle
was not i'm sight | was flung head
long to the front end of the car, and
just at one side ! saw what seemed
20 bc q sort of black heap. grabbed
nj it. thinking it might by my "iies
dress but it was not.
when ] tried TO move around then
20 see where my wife was 1t seemed
as if every one had been suddenly
thrown out Of the car. saw no one
there. and a second later hand
reached up through the split egg box
they call parlor car and began 10
pull me through
mo Excuse for Wreck
Kelly said that he cried out to those
would-bc rcscuers to leave him alone
that his wife was in the car and he
wanted to find her. but he was pulled
ont.
As soon as he got on his feet at the
side Of the wrecked train he saw MS
vife's body sticking half way out oil
a broken window about the middle OK
the car Her body had been jammei
up toward the roof and then through
the smashed window, where IT was
resting shakily on the jagged glass. \
moment later it slipped down and was
carried into a nearby house.
Kelly is a land agent for the Cana
dian Pacific Railroad. and familiar
with railroad construction and equip
ment. He said he could see nothing
in the surroundings Of the wreck which
offered the slightest excuse for it.
Il cannot understand how all these
New England roads can operate in de-
fance of legislation and railroad reGu-
lations." he added. a steel coach, in
stead Of that split eggsheI would have
prevented this disaster
George o. Walton, a travelling pas
senger agent for the Canadian Pacific
and five other Western railroads, with
offices at No. AS Broadway, New York,
was a passenger in the day coach just
ahead of the demolished parlor car.
He said that the surprisingly long
stop for the change Of engines had
aroused his curiosity so that he stepped
out on the platform TO look around.
The change had just been made, and
was climbing back on the train he
said. when the crash came. II didn't
move the car was on nor the four dag
coaches or two baggage cars ahead Of
the parlor car and the day coach 1 was
on The impact Jared them little.
and / noticed a little girl thrown out OF
her seat, but l did not see any ono
injured or knocked over by the crash.
The parlor car was simply swept
clean by the engine ploughing through
IT. and the debris was damned up in
the forward end
Walton offered the only explanation
that has been advanced by any one
here To account for the accident. He
said that as he climbed back aboard
his car he noticed continuous fash
ing and sizzling Of the high power cleo
trio wires overhead, the fires in the
wires caught his eye for a moment.
He had been told he said. that the
engineer Of the second section had told
some one Immediately after the crash
and before he left the vicinity that his
attention had been distracted by the
flashing. burning wire directly above
the standing train. Division Superin-
tendent Droege said he knew nothing
of any such wire burning. DroeGe also
insists that the block signal, which
should have kept Dougherty with the
second section a quarter Of a mile be-
hind the first section. was working
properly.
Pull Wrecksge Away.
The company rushed two Wrecking
trains here. one from the Mott Haven
wards in New York. and the other
from New Haven. The wrecked parlor
car. with the engine which demolished
il. still locked in the shell Of the car,
was drawn off about a quarter Of a
mile from the scene of the wreck. AS
the engine wheels held 10 the track
throughout the smash-up and the
wheel trucks Of the parlor car did the
same the wrecking trains had little
difficulty in pulling the first hand evil
dence away from the scene.
Coroner j. J. Phelan, OF Fairfield
IL. IL 49,, LA,