Norwich bulletin., 1916-02-23
Broken Air Hose
 Caused Bad Wreck
ON THE NEW HAVEN ROAD NEAR
 MILFORD YESTERDAY
NINE KILLED, 50 INJURED
It is Claimed That w. R. Curtis, En- gineman of No. 5, Ran Past a cau- tionary Signal 2,ooo Feet in the Rear of the Stalled Express.

Milford. Conn. Feb. 22.-Eieht per- sons lost their lives and fully fiftv were more or less hurt in a rear-end collision of passenger trains on the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad here today. Four of the vic tlms were railroad employees, two were passengers, a man and woman,
 whose lives went out instantly in the terrific crash, and the others, also pas sengers, died in hospitals in Bridgeport and New Haven where they had been taken.
 The Dead
 The dead are:
 w. R. Curtis, engineer.
 George L. Tourtellotte. flagman,
 Patrick Collins, New York city. died in New Haven hospithaI
 Miss Susan B. Hyland New Haven. Charles E. Allen, Groton, Conn, died at New Haven hospital
 Edward McGinnis, fireman.
 Male passenger believed to be named Der Hovh enssian
 One employe let unidentified. May
 be named Werner, who was deadhead- ing.
 Joseph J. Frye. Springfield, Mass, Porter, died in Bridgeport hospital Trains Involved. The trains involved were No. 7a, the Greenfield express, which is scheduled as the Connecticut River special. and No. ,, a local train for way points be- | tween New Haven and New York, as
 the former runs through to the latter city without station stops. Broken Air Hose the Cause.
 A broken air hose on the express between the electric motor which was hauling it and the leading car stalled the train on the westerly end of a curve and rock cut near the Woodmont station, and while there the local which was following rounded the curva | and crashed into it at forty miles an hour
 l Claimed Engineman Ran Past SionaL It is claimed that W. R. Curtis. :!.., eng1neman of No. ,, ran past a eau | tlonary signal 2,000 feet in the rear of | the express, and when he saw the
 home signal 300 feet in the rear of the i express he could not hold his train and ! in an instant had rounded the curve ! and not only were two passenger trains | Tn confusion but freight train which was passing west on the next track just at that moment was buckled up | oy wreckaSe through upon 1t. Flagman Ground to Death. Of many examples of fortitude and commendable deeds done during the
 trying moments which accompanied ! the wreck, it Is said that the death of | George l. TourtelIote.. fagman on | the stalled train, stood out prominent | ly: According to the story told, Tour | tellotte went back with his red flag ! and saw the local approaching. He 1 stood in the track waving the flag un- | til II was too late to escape and he was
 ground to death a moment before the ! awful crash came to the stalled ex- press.
 Other Wreeks of Like Nature.
 The peculiarity of the wreck in that | Tw.w- | without parallel on the system The
 tlrst disaster in the long series which | befen the company was on the Fair | field viaduct a few miles west on June
 s, 1911, when freight ran into another | stalled train, both bound west just
 when two freight trains were passing | the point bound east. The impact | caused the stalled freight train to l buckle, and cars were thrown over 1 involving the other trains Then fol- | lowed few days later the Federal ex- f press wreck, with twelve persons kill | ed, including the engineman, A. M | Curtis, who is not thought to have
 been related to Engineman Curtis who | died at the throttle today. The wrecks | on the road followed with distressing l frequency until the series was ended | on Sept. ?, 1913, at North Haven, when | the Bar Harbor express was run into by the White Mountain express and | twenty persons died. That was the
 day that Howard Elliott became presi- | dent of the system, and no accident ! with loss of life to passengers had | come until this wreck today. Four of | the greater wrecks on the road in | which many lives were snuffed out
 were of the rear-end kind. Trains Were Both Off Schedule.
 The two trains involved in today's wreck were both off schedule upon ar- | rival here from the east. No. 5. the
 local. was eleven minutes late, and ] The express left at 11.09 and the l local at LILO, the latter having station
 stops to make. At Woodmont the ex- press was three minutes in the lead 1 and had crossed over to the outside
 westbound track so a freight could
 1t was this freight which which | was involved in the wreck. The official ! time shows that the express passed Woodmont at 11.19 and the local went by at 11.22. Beyond Woodmont is the l curve on which at the westerly end the express became stalled. | Makeup of the Express.
 The makeup of the express was a
 heavy engine, three steel coaches, three Pullmans, and then another steel coach l added at New Haven. The crew were
 John J. Kennedy, engineer; Charles
 Courts. fireman; George l.. Tourtel-
 lotte, fiagman. and F. T. Bray, con
 ductor. The local had a smaller en-
 zine and five wooden coaches, three
 having been added at New Haven to
 accommodate the large number of per sons bound for way points. The crew
 were w. R. Curtis. engineman; Ed | ward McGinnis. fireman, and W. B.
 Brandt, conductor
 Express Stalled on a Curve
 The express had been stalled on the
 curve out of sight of the straight
 away track from the Woodmont sta tion. Three hundred feet behind it
 was a signal which served as the
 'home" signaEfor No. 5 and 2,000 feet
 further back was another protecting
 signal for No. 79 which was the eau
 tionary signal to No. 5. Trainmen (contInued on Page Three) Typhus fever has crossed into