Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1918-01-25
ENGINE EXPLODES
ON NIGHT EXPRESS
CONTINUED from Page -

/ sumably directly in front OF the IRE
door. Pending the railroad cOmpany's
official investigation, II Is presumed
that the accident was due 10 letting
| cold water run into the OVerheated
boiler when II was found that the water
was low 1t Is supposed that this con
tact OF cold water with the steam
warped the crown sheet Of the boiler
and allowed an thrush Of steam and
water upon the fire box, In any event
there was tremendous explosion
which hurled McCauley into the air
Presumably scaldcd to death by the
escaping steam, he fell dead on the
coal at the rear Of the engine tender
Fuller, on his elevated seat, escaped
the rush OF steam, but the explosion
rendered him unconscious, and there
remained for the time-being no one 10
tell a irst-hand story OF how the &C.
cident occurred,
The first view Of it which The Regis,
ter reporter had few hours after
the accident made II plain that the
passengers on the train had had q re-
markable escape The light patch OF
woods o. either eide % the track. was
strewn with broken rlc'c7 Of the big
locomotive, the deer snow for circle
Of fifty yards in all directions was
blackened, and the run way between
the tracks had been washed with the
great quantity Of boiling water that
had escaped from the boiler
The engine itself had been ripped
through and through lcngthwise by
the explosion, and two OF the big drive
wheels had been thrown from the
track The big driving shaft was badly
twisted and many minor parts Of the
engine completely demolished
Even the tranmen themselves could
hardly explain their good fortune in
having escaped a complete wreck OF
all the cars The possibility is that
either by Engineer Fuller'S hand or by
reason Of the accident, the air brakes
were set preventing the momentum of
the train from causing telescoping of
all the cars, AT it was, the stop was
so easy that with the exception of the
passengers who had heard the noise of
the explosion, most OF them were
ignorant that an accident had happen
ed until those who were aware of il
made general stir and finally most
everyone had piled out in the zero
weather and looked upon the scene Of
their narrow escape, There are said
to have been some who slept through
the entire trouble and knew nothing
of it until they awoke in cold cars,
the steam having been lost when the
engine was wrecked
The only real discomforture the pass.
engers suffered was the going without
anything to eat until noon time when
the stalled train was finally pulled
into Middlebury and sandwiches and
coffee were furnished at the expense
of the railroad company.
The body of Fireman McCauley was
placed in the baggage car of the train
and Engineer Fulle7 was taken to
Rutland City Hospital The wrecked
engine was restored to the tracks by
the wrecking derrick and shortly after
ten o'clock it was hauled to Middle
bury on its own wheels by another
engine, together with a carload of its
debris, and the whole was viewed by
a number Of townspeOple who went
to the station.
General superintendent c. /. r.
French of the Rutland Railroad has
started an investigation as to the cause
OF the trouble. Expert engineers and
Others familiar with the construction
OF these engines say that the explosion
could have been caused by nothing but
lack of water i'll the boiler The rea-
son for this is not known 1t is said
that it might have been caused by
frozen pipe leading from the tank to
the boiler, or might have been mat
ter OF the man responsible for keeping
the water in the boiler at the proper
depth having been mistaken by his
gage, Such cages are at times, it is
said, affected by foam in the indica-
tor giving the impression Of water in
the boiler when it is empty
The funeral Of Fireman McCaulev is
being held at his Rutland home this
morning, and this afternoon there will
be other services over his body at the
church in Whiting, where the burial
will be
At the Rutland City Hospital it is
said that Engineer Fuller has no brok-
en- bones as the result of the accident
and will undoubtedly recover
Conductor Wyman of the wrecked
train had to walk from Beldens to
Mddlebury before he could make
known the fact that a wreck had oc-
CURED, as the Beldens station was
closed The Rutland Railroad office.
upon hearing of the accident, tele-
phoned to DR., Stanton S. Eddy who
was taken to the scene on the north
bound sleeper to treat the injured en-
gineer. Fuller was pinned in his scat
in the cab by the bent starting lever
and it was sometime before he could
be released He was finally dragged
out through the hood of the engine cab
and though unconscious for a time he
had suffered no broken bones or LAGER