The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-02-23
9 KILLED; 65 HURT
AS 3 NEW HAVEN
TRAINS CRASH
Of the Injured at least Eight Ex-
pecte d to Die
At MILFORD STATION CT
Local Smashes Into Special and Both
Trains Are Then Sideswiped
BY Freight.

New Haven. Conn.,. Feb. 22.-Nine
| persons were killed and at fewesl
sixty-five injured this morning in q
wreck of three New Haven trains at
Indian River, two miles east of Mil.
ford Station, Conn. and eight miles
| west of New Haven A west-bound
local passenger train crashed into the
rear of westjbound express stalled
| ahead of it, and the two trains jump
ing from the rails were sideswiped by
long freight train moving westward
on the adjacent track.
The exploding of the boiler OF the
engine on the local train caused the
death of several. or those injured
eight are expected to die.
All three of the men who would be
able to fully explain the wreck were
killed. They were the fagman of the
stalled express train, who had started
back to stop the oncoming local and
the engineer and fireman of the local
train.
Some hours after the accident the
block signals were found set to stop
any train that might be approaching
behind the express, but If they were
so set, as they should have been
when the local ran toward the ex.
press. the engineer of the local must
have failed to obey them,
The express train wrecked was
known as the Connecticut River
Special, and ran from points on the
Boston & Maine. entering the New
Haven tracks at Springfield, Mass
It left New Haven on schedule time
at 1920, a., m, and had run as far as
Indian River when the airbrake hose
broke between the, locomotive and am
the head car, ~, ~ a.. ra4.o
The train was stopped and brake
men began to repair the hose. When
the, train stopped, G. L. Tourtelotte,
the fagman. started running back up
the track, to signal the. local from
Boston, which left New Haveen ten
minutes behind the express, and was
due in New York at 1.13 p. m. 1t was
crowded with pleasure seekers going
to Bridgeport and New York for
Washington's Birthday
Slightly more than 600 feet behind
the express train was a slight curve
in the track, and as Tourtelotte was
about to enter this curve, running
from the west, the local train shot
around 1t from the east According
to the position in which his body was
found and it's condition, the authori-
ties agreed that he was struck by the
locomotive OF the local train and in
stantly killed. III.
The .fagman dead. the local train
rushed on. driven by w. R. Curtis,
It's engineer, and Edward McGuin-
ness, fireman. BY the time the train
had rounded the curve so that Curtis
could see the express train it was
too late for him to avoid the collision.
The speed Of the local at the same
time has been estimated at forty
miles an hour. Its momentum must
have been great, for when the engine
crashed into a Pullman car of the ey-
press both bodies rose from the
tracks and then bulged outward
against the freight train passing d.
the moment
The freight was wrecked, but he
fore 1t was stopped the cars Of the
passenger trains were dragged, over
turned and telescoped until most of
them were crushed into mighty
mass Of splintered wood and twisted
iron. The force Of the collision
caused the boiler Of the locomotive
on the local train to explode. and
scalding water and steam were scat
tered in every direction. The boiler
was torn from the base of the engine
and hurled fifty feet into the air.
Most of those killed and injured were
in the local train. The passengers
were in their seats when, without
warming, the cars suddenly stopped,
and every one pitched forward
violently. Almost every one taken
to any of the hospitals from this
train was suffering from severe cuts
and bruises about the mouth, and
many of them had lost all Of their
front teeth in striking the seats in
front OF them.