New Britain herald., 1916-04-03

Passengers:
 Allen, George C., Groton. Connors, Patrick, address un- known.
 Shahinian, N., New York city. Railroad employees on duty; Curtis, w. R., Clark Hill avenue, Stamford.
 McGuinness, r. H., Stamford.
 Tourtellotte, c. L., South Manches- ter, Conn
 Railroad employees riding on passes:
 Hyland. Susie, New Haven.
 McNamara, Francis, Ansonia.
 Schappa, Frank, New Haven. Pullman car employe: Frye, Joseph P, Springfield, Mass.
 Other person:
 Sweeney Harry, Stamford
 Tn the list of persons injured the names of thirty-four passengers are given: seven of railroad employees travelling on passes; one Pullman care employe; one employe of the Union News Company and one Adams Express employe. Testimony was taken from thirty-five persons.
 The greater part of Chief En- gineer Trumbull's report is given over to a detailed description of the operation of the trains which were in volved in the collision, and the ap- pearance of the rolling stock, road bed and signals after the crash, much of this covering technical matters.
 The Broken Air Hose.
 Tn explaining the condition of the wrecked cars Chief Engineer Trum- bull has this to say about the broken air hose, which caused train 79 (the express) to stop. He said that an unusual condition was found upon examining the hose. It was of heavy four-ply rubber, carrying an air pres sure of 110 pounds. It had received near it's upper end and from the out side, a deep diagonal cut more than half way through it. Whatever made the cut had delivered blow that not only cut the hose cleanly after scrap ing along the upper surface for three inches, but had battered inward the end of the metal nipple over which the hose was filled and to which it was clamped. When the defective air hose was discovered by the engine crew, the steam hose was un- coupled and the heavy iron connec- ton on its lower end would have
 
 strike the ties in the track and possibly thrash up sufficiently to cut the air hose, and thereby stop the train, as the escape of the com pressed air in the train pipe would apply the brakes in emergency.
 All Signals Could Be Seen.
 MT. Trum bull, referring to signals says: "All three men on the engine of train No. 5 having been killed in the collision, it is impossible to ex- plain why Engineer Curtis ran by two signals set against him, disre- garded the f1agman, and failed to see the rear end of train No. 79, until just before his engine struck it. The caution signal (No. 6593) can be seen for a long distance, the home signal (No. 65.23) for at least 1,S00 feet and the rear end of train No. 79 should have been visible for about 900 to 1000 feet. The investigation brought out that he was a man of good habits and apparently in good physical condition on the morning of February 22nd. He was AZ years old, entered the railroad companys ser vice as locomotive fireman, June IS, 1902, was promoted to engineer Janu-
 
 fremens duties April 30, 1908 on ac- count of the business depression. and was again promoted to engineer October 13, 1910. He had never been involved in a serious accident, and his record was perfect since September 28, 1913. His entire record as an engineer was excellent At the time of the accident he had been on duty five hours and nine minutes, follow ing a period of rest of eleven hours and tWenty-siX minutes
 Fireman McGuinness had been in the company's service since Decem- Der 23, 1909, and had a perfect record.
 Searching inquiry failed to reveal the reason for Sweeney's being in the cab but it should not necessarily be assumed that his presence was a con- trlbuting cause of the wreck
 Inf