Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1917-01-05
INVESTIGATE WRECK
Continued from Ist Pagel

Questioned by the commissioners
Mr.. Wentworth said he would not
say this was the first time he had
ever sent orders ahead by the brake
man but it was not his custom to do
so. He said that although he had
received no formal order from the
Grand Trunk he had not run a train
since the accident and did not expect
to go back to work. This was the
first accident he had had in II years
as conductor.
Chester l.. Lurvey IF Island Pond.
the head brakeman by whom Con-
ductor Wentworth sent forward
Engineer Chase's copies of the or
ders said there was an order to meet
7O8 at West Bethel but he did not
see any order to meet it at Gilead.
He and the engineer read the orders
over together. He said that when
he did not see any such order he
thought Mr.. Wentworth must have
been mistaken when he said they
were to meet at Gilead, and for that
reason did not go back to straighten
it out. Questioned by Commissioner
Shelton he said however that the or
ders were all checked off by Mr..
Chase and if No. 81, the order to
meet at Gilead, was checked it must
have been in the orders. He said
that Mr.. Chase didn't say anything
when told they were to meet 708 at
Gilead except to say they were to
meet at West Bethel, to which Mr..
Lurvey replied that was the way
the orders read. There was no ex-
PLANTATION as to what could have be-
come of the missing order if it was
not in the bunch he took to Mr..
Chase. He did not remember ever
having carried the orders for Mr..
Wentworth before.
He was riding on the engine and
did not jump when he saw the head
light of the approaching train. He
was crowded against the boiler in
the collision but got out somehow, he
hardly knew how. When he met
Conductor Wentworth the latter
asked why they had run by Gilead
and he replied that they were rum
ming according to orders as they I'M
derstood them. He stayed with
Engineer Chase in the caboose until
relief came and went back with him
to the hospital but had no talk with
him.
Brakeman Bailey gave Mr.. Went
worth endorsement as being an I'M
usually cautious conductor, who in
sisted on seeing trains and their
numbers for himself. He said it was
an unusual thing for Mr.. Wentworth
to send the orders ahead by a brake
man and he had not known of it's
happening before. He said he had
read the conductors orders on the
file and did not notice two copies of
any order there.
Herman l.. Watson of Gilead, sec.
ton foreman, testified that at the
point where the wreck occurred
there was single track and a sharp
curve around a hill, with a cut on
one side and bank on the other.
The death of Engineer Chase
makes the fatalities total five in this
wreck on Christmas eve. His funer-
al was held at his late home, g Island
ST., Portland Wednesday at 10 am,
and burial at Poland, Me. Brakeman
Pixies body was taken to Woodsville,
N. H., where his parents reside, and
where Ills wife wentMonday to spend
the Christmas holiday, learning of
his death on her arrival. The body
of Fireman Terrison was recovered
and sent to his home. The body of
Fireman Wilder arrived here Thurs
day and the funeral was held Satur-
day morning at the Roman Catholic
church of st. James the Greater.
The body of Engineer Corliss has not
been recovered and was in all proba-
bility cremated in the burning
wreckage. Funeral services were
held at his late home Tuesday by
Rev. Robert Lawton. Engineer
Corliss' grief stricken wife and child
rem, with the families of the others
who met their death in this collision,
have the heartfelt sympathy of all.