The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-05-05
PUT BLAME FOR
 JERICHO WRECK
 UPON ENGINEER
Public Utilities Commission Accepts Report of Chief
 Engineer Trumbun

morning, April 9, in Wh1cn 10 Poi@O were injufed says the primary cause of the accident was the action of Con ductor Donaldson in charge Of the eA- tra south bound freight which passeo the switch about hour before tne accident in instructing F1agrnan WIT
 1ersky to open the switch Englneer
 TrumbuII in his report states that the lsemaphore signal, about 1,z0o IeeC
 north of the open switch, was set against Engineer Holmes or the pe'9 senger train and that Holmes eiCn0n l tdisregarded or mistook the caution isignal this despite the testimony or Engineer Holmes and others thaL tno indication at the semaphore was pro ceed,' The engineers report Of the accident, as accepted by the connls--
 sion, reads:
 Inc inc Honorable Public Utilities Commission:
 Gentlemen: On April g. 1916, at about 8:20 a. na., in daylight anu IsnowstorIn, the New York, New ha-
 ven & Hartford Railroad Co.'S passen- ger train No 1235, en route from w 1n- sted to Bridgeport, was derailed at the l n erth switch of Jericho passing slo- linz g. 43 miles south of ThomaSton III
 the town of Thomaston.
 There were about 125 passengers on l the train of whom 16 were more or i less injured. Two employees on duty
 were slightly injured. The train was l in charge of Conductor B. E. Starr
 Engineer c. H. Holmes Fireman w. R. Pattison, FTagman H. w. Baroer. Ba aga gemaster C.! J. Stroker, and
 consisted of locomotive No. sa7 Cten
 wheel type combination baggage Fand mail ear No. 917, coaches Nos. 981, l757 and 1895 and baggage car No. 5lzz' Tn the order named. It left W1nsteo at 7:20 a -In., time, picked up the rear
 baggage car at Torrington and was i7-11r mil al the accident occurred
 The locomotive and three cars were derailed. The engine ran about 294 feet and turned to the right down a six+foot embankment, pushing a sec ton of the side track ahead. Of It. It came to a stop in a. partially upright position about 20 feet from the main track. The first car, combination mail and baggaA car, was thrown on it's left side down the enrbankment to the right of and at right angles to the track. The smoking car stopped with it's forward end partly buried at the bottom of the embankment, the rear end resting on the top, and lay at an angle of about 45 degrees to the track. The smoking car and the following coach were forced from their trucks, the other three cars remaining on the rails.
 Switch Caused Wreck.
 Two freight trains. north bound ek-= tra AT, in charge of Conductor Will liam J. Cullen, Engineer Joseph L. Downs, and south bound extra No E437, in charge of Conductor Benjamin Donaldson, Engineer e. T. Tibbals, FIagman J. Willefsky, were involved to the extent that their movements, between two and three hours before the accident, caused the switch to be in such a condition that it derailed train No. 1235.
 Approaching from the north the single track line of the second sub division of the western division is on a four degree curve to the left about 1,500 fet long, ending just north of the north switch of Jericho siding. The grade descends towards the south at rate of -55 per cent. Jericho sid ing is west of the main line and the northerly connection is a No. 10 frog with 15 foot switch points.
 The switch and it's signal are opera ated by a two lever ground machine, lever No. 1 operatinr the switch and a pot target signal, and lever No. 2 the switch lock and caution sema4 phore signal located about 1,255 feet CTS Cwith the switch set fo- the main Iine) is towards the track, and when they are in this position the target signal shows a green light and green target for night and day proceed in dications respectively; the switch lock operated by lever No. is closed, and the semaphore is at Clear" When setting the switch for the siding it is necessary first to throw lever No. 2, which un1ocks the switch and sets lever No. 1, operating the switch, can be moved.
 The derailrnent was due to the fact that the switch was partly open when train No. 1235 reached it. The re- sponsibility for this condition was a ri adn 6u Donaldson of the south bound freight train extra No. 437 who instructed F'lagnlan Wil1efsky to open it. Both these men described, with coInmenda- ton with the setting of the switch and thereby materially assisted in ex- pediting the investigation and estab- fishing the cause of the accident.
 Conductor Donaldso1's Report
 Conductor Donaldson stated that his train arrived at Jericho siding at 5:15 a.. m. and had an order to meet north bound freight train extra No. 447 there They waited on the main track l Gas specified in the order) and set the southerly switch for train No. AT. Flagman Wil1efsky went back to pro test his train and on his way swept l the north switch and target free from snow and opened it on the north bQ1nd train, which arrived at about ! 7:07 a. m- and headed in on the side track. Train No. 437 departed as oon as train No. 447 was clear of the main line. Instead of continuing through the siding and on to the main track as Donaldson had expected, by the switch which F1agman Wil1efsky had set for them, the crew of the north bound train, fearing that it would be- come stalled in passing through the north switch and ms in line curves stopped the train as soon as it A6ks clear of the south switch, backed out of siding and proceeded north on the main track. Neither Engineer Downs, Conductor Cullen nor Brake man Gingres, who were riding on the engine, observed the position of the