Putnam patriot. [volume] (Putnam, Conn.) 1872-1962, 1918-04-26
Railroad Men Testify AS To What Happened
On Fatal Night
MEN ON ENGINE OF TRAIN AHEAD DID NOT KNOW OF
ACCIDENT UNTIL TOLD
Telegraph of Block System Working Between wliman,ic
and Putnam.

ed back. He didn't go back to the
place of collision The train stopped
twice before getting to North Wind
ham, because the automatic stoker
wouldn't work. The first stop was
twenty minutes The train then pro
ceeded and the fireman tried to stoke
the engine by hand. This was found
impossible and the train stopped
again A bolt was found in the me
ehanism. This stop lasted about ten
minutes and after the train proceed
ed there was no more trouble with the
automatic. He said that it was the
first time he had ever run that type
of engine. His train lost over an
hour.
When asked if it was possible to see
the rear end of a train at the point
where the accident happened from
Pomfret station, he said he did not
know He said it was the duty of
fiagman to put out signals, fuzees If
there is tIain following. and when
going slowly up hill as he was, flu
ices should be put off. If the train
was moving very slowly he said, ii
was the duty of the lagman to get of
and protect his train He said the
aagman's name was O'Flaherty and
that he was killed in the accident
Leo V. Prichard, Boston, conductor
of A. b. 4, said he had been freight
conductor for eight years. lie said
the train left East Hartford for
South Boston. He said at Whitman
tic the train had orders to run special
To South Bay junction. They left
Willimantie at 205 and knew tina.
there was another train ahead. This
train left at | a. m.
He said that brakes were applied
before the collision and the train was
then running from 20 to 25 miles IN
hour. He thought it was about 30
seconds between the time the brakes
were applied and the collision occur
red. The train was drawn by two en-
gines and had 20 loaded cars. He was
in the caboose with the flagman, ia
cob Lavne and after the collision he
went TO the place Of the accident and
found Engineer Cook Later he came
across Engineer Corsaire and later
located Flagman Holton and Fireman
Lloyd He didn't find anyone who
was killed He Identified Brakeman
johnson at Smiths undertaking
rooms There was another body there
but he didn't know who it was.
He said that Engineer Cook was
taking precautions and between Alb
ington and Pomfret made three APP
plications of the brakes. At Pomfret
Cook hollered to the fireman an 8,
trainman on the engine and asked II
they saw anything of the extra and
they said mo" He dropped his
brakes in order 10 get over the hill
and did not see the train ahead until
he was right onto it. Extra 5000 was
making Is miles coming down the
hill and A. b. with three appliances
of the brakes was running even slow
er.
j. G. Wilmot, claim adjuster of the
New Haven road, asked Conductor
Pritchard what kind Of an order he
was running under. The conductor
replied that it was close in order
with a caution card stating that there
was train ahead in the block which,
in this instance was rs miles. He
said that it was customary for en-
gineers, where there are two engines
on train, to fix their signals before
leaving the terminal and that one
whistle was usually sounded by the
engineer ahead when there was NO
time to apply brakes. He said that
the engineer of the first engine con-
trolled the train
After finishing his testimony Con-
ductor Pritchard said that he was
going to enlist in the operating de-
partment of the engineers corps and
expected to go to France.
In the afternoon c. L. Pierce, FIRE
man Of extra 5000, testified that he
did not know that there was a train
following or that his train had been
run into until told.
Jacob Lavine, fagman of A. B. 4,
appeared about $50, and said that
when the train was going down the
grade the brakes were applied three
times. He was riding in the buggy
with the conductor and did not see
any signals or the train ahead The
train slowed down five or ten Ca
lengths before the collision. He heard
no signals He rolled off the seat on
(Confsnued IN Pace Five1