The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-09-26
Man Who PiIOted The Wreck Engine Died
 In WIfe'S Arms
HEART GAVE WAY UNDER SHOCK
Visions Of Wreck Constantly Fitting Through Memory
 Shattered His Health

Charles J. Doherty, engineer of the second section of the Springfield ex- -press which figured in the Stamford wreck, June 12, died at his home in New Haven before daybreak this morning, a victim of, heart trouble. directly due, his family believes, to the terrible shock of the Stamford tragedy.
 Doherty died in the arms of his wife. whom he awakened just before o'clock complaining of a terrible pain about the heart. He said he could not stay in bed. Mrs. Doherty hastened out to arouse neighbors, and as she returned, Doherty, his arms stretched towards her, staggered for ward She cIasped him in her arms. to support him towards his bed, and he died in her embrace.
 Doherty's death served to empha- size the sorrowfuI part that he played in the Stamford catastrophe, and to arouse a world of sympathy for his widow and two little sons. Doherty' s Q pitiful one He was completely un- nerved by the wreck. forsOOk his em- RpIoyment on the railroad, and work ed at odd times a. stationary en- gineer. But repeatedly he was obliged sto give sxrF5 work zsueu his mind re= H Stamford
 Doherty was. a, New Haven boy. Like myriads of youngsters he was ambitious ever to be a railroad en- gfneer. and though he worked at oth- CT employment as a youth, he eYentu- ally went to work in the railroad yards when he was about 21 years of age
 He served his time,s faithfully and we'll. in the minor capacities that go to form the groundwork of the rail road engineers training. He was an engine wiper, a yard. man, a fire man in the freight yards, finally a fireman on freight trains, and a little over a year ago he became a freight engineer.
 Doherty's boyhood dreams were re- aIfzed when, early in June, he got his first run as engineer of a fast ex- press He piloted the Springfield ex- press on three days, before the fate full run of June i12.
 On that day as he pulled a giant locomotive, No. 1,3Ss, out of the New Haven round house, the foreman warn ed him to be careful. Only two days before Doherty had pi1oted the same engine over the same run, and on house, reported that the brakes were mo good.'' The run, which ended in the wreck, was the third day that Do herty had been entrusted with a pass enger train
 Doherty's simple, straightforward re- cita1 of the crash at Stamford thrill ed the auditors both at the inquest of Coroner Phelan and the joint in 1uiry of the Interstate Commerce, and Connecticut Public Utilities Commis- sion
 He said as he approached the scene of the wreck, he saw the signal set against him. that he applied the brakes, that they didn't take hold, and that he made a further application ot the air. Again the brakes failed him and finally he threw in the emer- Rency brakes, but he then realized that the crash was inevitable. He snatched the whistle, and waving his arms frantical1y warned two mer standing beside the stationary first section to get clear Then came the crash. and the engine, 1, ,33S, ploughed its way through the Pullman Sky lark snuffing out six lives and pain fully, inJuring many more. Dohe1ty remained in his engine. He was prac- tically uninjured-
 Doherty had never been rugged. He estimated his weight at 155 at the Interstate Commerce Conmission's hearing, but the officials were skepti- ecaI and asked him if he was sure that he, fraiI as he appeared really asthma, and on the day of the wreck he was suffering from a wrenched back, a handicap that made it i'm possible for him to reverse his en- zine. But Coroner Phe1an establish ed, by inquiry of experts, the fact that even though he had been able to re- verse the engine when he said he tried 1t would have been futile, for the wheels would have slipped over the rails.
 Since the wreck Doherty has been g changed man. Early in June when he had his first run on 8 passenger train, having served his year as 2 freight engineer, he was delighted witt his prospects. His wife and two boys. four and five, entered into the spirit of rejoicing
 Immediately after the wreck he was arrested, but his brother-in-law, John HI Dillon, a wholesale produce mer- chant of New Haven immediately post ed bail for his release.
 The friendship between Dillon and Doherty was one of the most no .ticeable features of the entire wreck Inquiry Rarely did the merchant leave the engineers side save when the latter was called to the witness stand
 Observing the shattered condition of the engineers nerves, Coroner Phelan