New Britain herald., 1916-02-23
PLA|MILLE PARTY
 IN MILFORD CRASH
Rev. J. ". Denton Gives Graphic
 Account Of Train Disaster
WERE ABOARD THE LOCAL

WERE ABOARD THE LOCAL Train Left New Haven Minute After
 Express and Was Going 10 Miles an
 Hour-Says Brakes Were Applied
 MT. Denton Bruised.
 Rev. J. William Denton, pastor of the Plainville Advent Christian church, who With three other Plain- vile people, was a passenger on the New Haven local which crashed with such disastrous results into the New 1 York bound Springfield express at Mill i ford yesterday, tells a graphic story of the wreck. Mr. Denton was slight Iy injured when the crash came, re- l ceiving a heavy blow on the nose and a bruised shin. His companions were ! Mrs. S. A. Wheeler of 38 Broad street l Plainville, Mrs. Edward L. Swift of 20 Church street, Plainville and Cur don Hartsen of New Britain the mail carrier in Plainville.
 The four were delegates to a Sun day school convention in Bridgeport and boarded the Springfield express at Meriden. The train was then twenty minutes late. At New Haven the party changed to the local which left i that city about a minute after the express, but on another track At ] Woodmont the express crossed over i to the local track and then came to | a stop because of a broken air brake. i Hurled Into Seats.
 In telling of the accident today Rev. MT. Denton cleared up several l erroneous statem ents which have ap- 1 peared in the ~Rars concerning the wreck. His party was in the third i car of the local and he declares that i a, second before the crash came the air brakes were applied, but the col 1 lislon followed so closely that it was almost simultaneOusf They, with the i other passengers were hurled into the seats ahead, but none was worse in jured than MT. Denton. A moment later they had left the car and were walking forward to the scene of dis aster.
 Aid In Rescue Work. Running parallel and in the same 1 direction as the passenger trains al the time was a freight train. This
 
 the rear Pullman of the express was thrown into it when the crash came. i The Pullman just ahead of the rear | car was thrown to the right against | a telegraph pole which prevented it i from tOppling down the bank" Mr. Denton and MT. Hartsen immediately l took hand in the rescue work which | began as soon as the uninjured pas ] sengers were able to gather their wits. l They found the engineer and fire l man of the local to the right of the l wrecked locOm Otive. Both were dead, the engineer having the top of his 1 head cut clean off. They aided in 1 carrying them across the tracks where the bodies were laid. Here the men I were found by a party of newspaper men and this gave rise to the story that the engineer and fireman had been threWn with the boiler of the engine through the freight train. A half dozen freight cars, several of them of steel, were heaped in the middle of the wreck and under one of them they saw a man and woman dead. They they were unable to reach Nearby lay the bodies of a ne- gro porter and an unidentified man. These with several others who had been killed were laid in a row to the south of the freight track. From the broken windows of the rear Pull man injured passengers crawled and most of these were helped aboard the forward section of the express, which left for Bridgeport about ten minutes after the wreck In the meantime a Boston train had reached the scene from Bridgeport and this train was stalled opposite the scene of disaster. Many of the injured were taken aboard this train and after an hour had elapsed it. was backed to Bridge port.
 Saw Dead Flagman.
 One of the first sights which greet ed the Plainville party when it left their car was the body of G. l.. Tour telotte, the heroic flagman, who was horribly mangled by the Onrushing local The local was travelling fully 40 miles an hour, said MT. Denton, when the wreck occurred and the inn pact was terrific. While he would not deny that the boiler of the local had exploded as stated in many of the dispatches. MT. Denton said his par ty heard no explosion. The rear Pullman they found across the track of the freight train. The PlainviIle party left the scene of the accident about ? o'clock and reached Bridge port half an hour later.
 BROTHER KILLED IN WRECK.