Facts citing this source
| Ref | Date | Subject | Statement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1912-08-01 | 1912-08-01 | Grand Trunk Railway | A new mail pouch collecting and delivering device, hoped to prove vastly superior to the present system, has been tested by prominent officials of the Railway Commission and of the Grand Trunk Railway at Ottawa. The device, invented by Dr. W.H. Corthill of Washington, D.C. and approved by the United States Government, consists of a swinging gate on the door of a railway mail car and a crane at the side of the track, designed to strike a suspended pouch at an angle to reduce the shock of contact and throw the mail sack safely into the car, doing away with the need for a clerk standing at the open door. The officials were highly pleased with eight trials, some at speeds of 50 miles an hour, and felt the system was the right one provided several minor matters could be adjusted to local requirements; up to then mailbags could only be caught up weighing 10 lb and under, but the new device had no such limitation. Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway Items from Area Papers – 1912', Ottawa Railway History Circle, https://churcher.crcml.org/circle/Papers%20by%20Year/1912.pdf (file revised February-26-24), tagged 'Alexandria'. Original issue not seen. |
| 1914-11-13 | 1914-11-06 | Alexandria | Another attempt was made to wreck the G.T.R. train at Alexandria by a man named Diotte, who is supposed to be mentally deranged. The young man, about twenty years of age and a life-long resident of Alexandria who had worked that day as a teamster, is supposed to have quit work about five o'clock, put his horses in the stable, and gone and done the work a short distance west of the station. Three ties were placed across the track, two in a V shape and another under the connecting end of the V, a clever arrangement for derailing trains. Had it not been for the discovery of the arrangement by a young Alexandrian returning to town, the fast train from Montreal to Ottawa due in Alexandria at 5:30, a few minutes after the discovery, would probably have hurled many lives into eternity. The young man stood preliminary trial the following Saturday night, pleading guilty, and was taken to Cornwall on Sunday for a medical examination. Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway Items from Area Papers – 1914', Ottawa Railway History Circle, https://churcher.crcml.org/circle/Papers%20by%20Year/1914.pdf (file revised February-18-24), tagged 'Alexandria', at 'Alexandria'. Original issue not seen. |
| 1914-12-18 | 1914-12-09 | Vankleek Hill | The worst railway accident recorded in the vicinity of Vankleek Hill occurred on Wednesday night shortly after six o'clock, when Moses Cameron, his wife, and Mrs. Joseph Dupuis were struck and killed by a G.T.R. train at a private crossing at Steele's Brickyard, about two miles from town, leaving six children under 13 years old without father or mother. The regular evening train from Vankleek Hill to Hawkesbury, running about thirty to thirty-five miles an hour on a downgrade, struck the horse and buggy as they crossed; no one saw the accident and none of the three survived to tell the story. The engineer did not see them until he saw the horse go into the air and felt the jar on his engine. The bodies were found several yards from the crossing; death came almost instantly. The train hurried to Hawkesbury and returned with two doctors, but nothing could be done. The horse was killed and the buggy broken into matchwood. Driver Whitmore and Conductor McDonald, in charge of the train, had seen many years of service and were badly shaken by the accident, their first. Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher, same collection, tagged 'Vankleek'. Original issue not seen. |
| 1915-08-27 | 1915-08-27 | Alexandria | W. McFarland, a brakeman of Montreal on the Grand Trunk special bringing the annual load of excursionists from Montreal to Ottawa, fell off his train one mile west of Alexandria and was killed. When the train reached Greenfield, the first station west of Alexandria, he was missed and a wire was sent to Ottawa, which was transmitted back to a second train asking that a lookout be kept for him. His body was found lying beside the track. There were no marks indicating whether he had killed himself in the fall or not. Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway Items from Area Papers – 1915', Ottawa Railway History Circle, https://churcher.crcml.org/circle/Papers%20by%20Year/1915.pdf (file revised February-18-24), tagged 'Alexandria', headed 'Brakeman Killed on Ottawa train'. Original issue not seen. |
| 1918-04-19 | 1918-04-19 | Vars | Actions against the Grand Trunk Railway Company for the killing of Rev. J.E. Mavety and four other persons at Vars on September 10, 1917, were settled between the parties, damages being adjudged in Cornwall. Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway Items from Area Papers – 1918', Ottawa Railway History Circle, https://churcher.crcml.org/circle/Papers%20by%20Year/1918.pdf (file revised February-20-22), tagged 'Alexandria', at 'Vars', headed 'Damage actions adjudged in Cornwall last week'. Concerns the 1917-09-10 Vars crossing tragedy already recorded as a fact. Original issue not seen. |
| 1927-02-11 | 1927-02-07≥ | Carp | By 7 February 1927 (the issue date), the paper reported: Mrs. Margaret Hanlon Morrison, aged 67, wife of the Carp station agent, "was instantly killed on Saturday afternoon" when a C.N.R. train struck her as she walked on the track near the station, unable to get clear because of high snow. The Journal gives the time as two o'clock and the train as a through extra from Ottawa, not required to stop at Carp; the Citizen gives about 3.10 p.m. and "a light engine and van travelling from Ottawa to Madawaska", and says the electric bell at the highway crossing was ringing. Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway Items from Area Papers – 1927', Ottawa Railway History Circle, https://churcher.crcml.org/circle/Papers%20by%20Year/1927.pdf (file revised April-18-23). Original issue not seen. Churcher's tag is 'Renfrew'. |