and that Mrs. Fleurie left her husband and other companions who were waiting upon the crossing for the engine to pass, and, attempting to go around it at a point ten or twelve feet above the crossing, was struck by the tender, thrown under the wheels and crushed to death. The accident was clearly due to her own rashness in attempting to go around the moving engine instead of waiting, as did the others, until the passage was clear and safe. By the Board, E. B. S. SANBORN, Clerk. X. PETITION OF J. B. WALKER AND OTHERS STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. IN BOARD OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS, CONCORD, December 3, 1886. Notice having been given by publication in the daily papers of Concord, a hearing was held at the office of the Commission in that city, Monday, November 29, upon the following petition : To the Railroad Commissioners of the State of New Hampshire: The undersigned, citizens of Concord, represent that the very painful whistling of railroad trains entering and leaving said city at frequent times during the day and night, on the north, has long been a very serious annoyance to persons residing in that part of said city, and to the sick a distressing one, causing discomfort, and an injury to their real estate. They therefore respectfully request that you will cause said whistling to be discontinued. J. B. WALKER and thirty-three others. CONCORD, N. H., October 11, 1886. At the hearing, the allegations set forth in this petition were fully established by the testimony of many of the citizens of Concord, and the Commission, after a careful investigation, undertaken with a purpose to afford all possible relief from the evils complained of, without increasing the danger inseparable from the running of trains. over grade-crossings and through yards at stations, has concluded that the following changes and modifications can be safely made, and they are hereby ordered: That the whistle in the Concord yard be reduced from two long and two short blasts to one blast of not more than two seconds. That all whistling upon freight trains and inward-bound passenger trains south of Penacook street be abolished, and be limited to one blast of not more than two seconds, eighty rods north of Penacook street, on the Northern and Concord & Claremont roads, and to two similar blasts east of the tannery on the Boston, Concord & Montreal road. That outward-bound passenger trains be restricted to one short blast at Ferry street and one at Penacook street, and that a flagman be kept at all hours of the day and night for the protection of the Ferry-street crossing, it being understood that nothing in this order prohibits whistling in sudden emergencies, when life or property is in danger. It is also recommended that employes of the roads be held to a strict observance of the rules, both as to the length of the whistle and the prohibition of its unnecessary use in calling companions to duty, saluting passing trains, and otherwise aggravating the torment which the shriek of a locomotive inflicts upon many of those who are compelled to live and try to sleep in close proximity to the track; and, secondly, that an attempt be made to produce a whistle which, while serving all purposes for which it can properly be used, shall be less shrill and shocking than those that now destroy the peace and damage the property of the residents upon North Main street in Concord. By the Board, E. B. S. SANBORN, Clerk. XI. ACCIDENT AT HARRISVILLE. STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. IN BOARD OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS, CONCORD, December 6, 1886. November 23, 1886, at Harrisville station on the Manchester & Keene Railroad, Charles M. French, aged forty-two years, fell under the wheels of a moving passenger car and received injuries which soon resulted in death. Fifteen minutes before the train for Keene was due, French purchased a ticket for that place, and, with other passengers, awaited the arrival of the train at the Harrisville station. It drew up to the station and stopped at 11.03 o'clock A. M., left five or six passengers, took aboard as many, unloaded baggage and express parcels, after which the conductor called out all aboard." Looking around to see if his train was in readiness to start, and finding that it was, the conductor again called out "all aboard,” and gave the motion with his hand to the engineer to start; but the engineer, being busy at that instant outside the cab, oiling the locomotive, did not start until a minute later, and not until he had returned to his place in the cab and the conductor had again called "all aboard" and again motioned him to go ahead. The entire length of the stop at the station was four minutes as kept and recorded by the stationagent, Mr. Keniston, a brother-in-law of the deceased. The conductor stepped upon the forward end of the passenger car while the train was under way, and after it had proceeded forty feet, as estimated, French came running to the same platform, jumped upon the step, and a moment later was beneath the wheels. The conductor, who was about entering the car when the noise of French's fall attracted his attention, immediately pulled the bell-cord, and the train was stopped after moving twenty feet. The weather was cold and a slight rain made the platform and steps slippery. French's venture would have been a hazardous one for an athletic man and with the best footing, but with an infirmity which never left him wholly free of lameness, and wet and slippery platform and steps to stand upon, there was but slight chance for him when he attempted to board the train. It could not be discovered why he waited so long before attempting to get aboard. Even his brother-in-law, at whose house he was visiting, could not enlighten us upon this point. It was surmised that he was busily engaged in conversation, and took his chances to get upon the car at the last moment. There is nothing peculiar about this accident. It is but the counterpart of others which this Board has investigated. It will be repeated again and again until the public thoroughly understand and act upon the knowledge so dearly bought, that it is dangerous to attempt to board or leave a railway train while it is in motion. By the Board, E. B. S. SANBORN, Clerk. XII. ACCIDENT AT NASHUA. STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. IN BOARD OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS, CONCORD, December 6, 1886. On the 8th day of November, as John Hunter, a brakeman, and Samuel Norman, an engineer on the W. N. & P. Division of the Boston & Maine Railroad, were walking between two tracks of that road in the city of Nashua, going to take their engine, which was standing in the yard, they were passed by another engine which was drawing a heavy freight train that had come from the Concord road, and seeing some snow on one of the cars in this train, Hunter gathered a handful and threw it at Norman, who in turn got a handful and was about to throw it at Hunter, when the latter stepped out of the space between the two tracks and upon the one parallel to that on which the train was moving, just in season to be hit, run over and killed by a freight car that had been set out of a train above, and was running down to take its place in a train that was being made up below. The detached car carried a brakeman who was attending to the brake upon the rear end, and who testified that he saw the two men when two or three rods from them and shouted to them, but the noise from the train on the other track, which with their sport engaged their attention, prevented them from hearing him, and the smoke and steam, which was beaten down by a heavy wind, obscured the car so that neither Hunter nor Norman saw it until it had struck the former. It does not appear that any one was at fault except these two men, whose familiarity with railroading made them heedless of the danger that is always present when a person steps upon a track, without being sure that no car or engine is liable to run him down, and permitted them to engage in boyish play at a time when they should have been protecting their lives by vigilance and care. By the Board, E. B. S. SANBORN, Clerk. XIII. WHISTLING AT MANCHESTER. To the Railroad Commissioners of the State of New Hampshire : The undersigned, citizens of Manchester, respectfully represent that the whistling of railroad trains in said city, particularly on the Portsmouth road in the early morning, is a great and, as they believe, unnecessary annoyance, that it damages the real estate in the vicinity of the road, annoys the sick, and robs the well of sleep and comfort. They therefore ask that you cause it to be discontinued or modified. MOODY CURRIER and sixteen others. STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. IN BOARD OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS, CONCORD, January 4, 1887. In the matter of the petition of Moody Currier and others, of Manchester, setting forth that the whistling of locomotives in that city, especially upon the Portsmouth Railroad in the early morning, is a great and unnecessary nuisance, and asking that it be discontinued or modified, a hearing was held December 27 at Manchester. At this hearing it was shown that four trains leave Manchester upon the Portsmouth road daily, between the hours of 4 and 9 A. M.; that they cross, after leaving the yard, and before reaching the Mammoth road, nine highways at grade, so that each locomotive is required to give thirty-six blasts of the whistle, making one hundred and forty-four during the time mentioned; that all these trains except the last are freights and run very slow; that all the crossings but two are unimportant and little used by the public; that several of them are so near together that a whistle at one is really a warning for two or three; and that the whistling is a serious annoyance and injury, not only to a rapidly increasing population near the track, but to citizens who reside a mile away. That there are three crossings at grade upon the Concord road near the locomotive works and in the compact part of the city, of which only the one at Bridge street is much used, the others being merely roadways leading to the mills, which are closed during the night; that four freight trains pass these between |