Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1916-07-27
TWO ARE HURT, ONE FATALLY
William Siegriest Dies, Fred
Rushford Rallies after Accident.
Cambridge Junction Train, Due Here
mt 1880 a. m. Yesterday, Crashes
into Automobile of Essex
steam Laundry.

William siegriest or Siesrist. the IA
ycar-od son of George J. Siegriest OF
Essex Junction, was fatally hurt at
about 1880 yesterday morning Train
No. &c of the Central Vermont railway
crashed into the Vim delivery automobile
OF the Essex Steam Laundry. Essex i
Junction, in which he was riding, at West
street. Essex Junction. Fred Rushford
of pa North BEND street had his left
collar-bone and left leg broken. besides
being bruised. and now lies at the Fanny
Allen hospital in a serious condition. The
automobile truck was reduced to SCRAP
iron, the road-bed Of the railroad was
scraped and torn for a distance OF about
500 feet and Is baskets Of laundry were
strewn along the tracks Huge slivers
and whole ends Of railway ties were
gouged out Of place and the left cow
catcher step was broken off by the I'm
pact of the engine with the car and the
tracks
Ernest Farizo, son of Thomas Parizo
NJ Al East Allen street. Wnooski, who
was returning from Wiliston in Buick
six took the bodies of the man and boy
to the Fanny Allen hospital, where young
Siesriest breathed his last at 30 in the
afternoon. The lad was a pitiahe sight as
he was picked m. One arm was almost
wrenched off and he would have bled to
death but for the aid Of two men who
camhered aboard Parizo's car and bound
It up. A dozen other fractures, COM
hined with internal injuries and shock
made his survival for the two hours or
more remarkable. The loss of blood and
internal injuries were the chief causes
Of death.
The funeral services will he held Fri
day at his parents home on Pearl street
in Essex Junction near the laundry. The
boy belonged to the Methodist Church
Of the village, and its pastor will prob
ably officate.
Rushford talked wildly to young
Parizo and was SO dazed he could not
give a coherent story of what happened.
whether It was a trolley car or n train
that struck the car. So far as could be
| ascertained last night, however, his skull
was not fra ctured, there were no internal
injuries and rest and quiet Are likely to
restore him to himself He will probably
recover.
The cut and crossing where the acct
dent took place form a dangerous spot
for vehicles. There Is an embankment
varying from seven to 10 feet high and
the road crosses the railroad at right
angles. A horse was killed at this point
about a year ago. The road. which s
also called West street is so close up
against the northern embankment that
| a train is for half a dozen yards COM
! pletely shut out of sight The road
is a foot deep in sand besides, and the
Vim was running on low gear at prob
ably not more than eight miles an
hour.
The engineer, J. s. Hutchinson of
Burlington. insists that he rang his
bell and blew his whistle as usual.
On this point there is good deal of
conflicting talk. little of it Of much
value. His fireman, Frank Root. cor
roborates the declaration Of Hutchin-
son and also says that Rushford when
he was picked UP moaned that the
wind must have been blowing in the
wrong direction. A woman who lives
just at the crossing said that she had
not heard any whistle, but nearly al
ways did and might have failed to
notice it because her mind was busy
with something else. Miss Bertha
Scott who was picking berries not far
off, said neither she nor her compan-
ion, Mrs. T.. d. Baker n neighbor.
heard n whistle. But neither of the
three women could vouch whether the
whistle had been blown or not. Mrs.
G. A. Haslerg. wife of the proprietor
of the laundry, said positively the
whistle was not blown. 81 blew the
whistle all right" said Hutchinson re-
peatedly. The engineer seems to have
a record for carefulness. He has never
Il
dent resulting fatally. He said after
some hesitation that he stopped his
train within its own length. but this
is not confirmed by measurements
afterward made. The last Of the Ii
!. baskets of laundry lay 7s4 feet from,
the crossing and the automobile 73i
: feet, according to Parizo, and the en-
gine stopped 200 or 800 feet further
, along.
The train got into Essex Junction a,
, about the usual time, 1882, and there
was no need to put on extra steam tc
bring it into the Union station at / o 80
the arriving time. At the time of the
accid snt it was going a about 30 miles
: an hour. Hutchinson knew nothing OF
! the impending tragedy until his fire
man suddenly seized him by the arm
/ llt'tH lttl dntdu OF tHtH just IT
sight was the automobile, The next
> instant the big iron monster had hurl,
, el Itself upon the car 1t caught II
D on the cowcatcher, not squarely, but
0 just between the left end of the bun.
Z ter beam and the cowcatcher step be
$ low. Fifteen seconds later and the cal
. would have been too late to run int
D the path of the train.
The engine dashed on, while laundry
$ streamed along the track. Sieeries
y and Rushford were tangled up in thu
o car and could not have torn themselve.
r free if they had been in a state to Il,
$ so. scream was the only sound tina
[ reached the ears of the berry pickers
S The body of the car was not broker
v up. however, to any extent. but Jam
n med and bent out of shape. The fran,
t top of the box alone was torn off ant
n tossed like sheet of bamboo A few
y yards beyond the machine itself
n The train was stopped and Conducto
a trainman, Arthur Tabor. got off an,
d ran back to where Siegriest and Rush
o ford We're lying about two hundre,
i feet nearer the crossing. and aroun
curve. The crossing itself runs int
'. Pearl street, the chief road throug
t. Essex Junction, and a couple of trolle
IS cars as well as some tomobiles whc
o came up at about the same time wer
e attracted to whore the bodies Law. .