The New York herald., 1879-03-26

Forty second street via the west track left
intact. instead OF being broken. to allow
Of the FREQ passage Of down troins on tho main
saw several people cut and bruised. but none of
them seriously.'
Mrs. Peck. wife of Professor William Henry Peck.
of Atlanta, Ga. was among the injured passengers.
She was nnd s the house Of friend Mrs Dectsr
verc had been dressed. and she attended by Mrs
Decker and few other lady friends who adlearned
of her accident and called to ascertain her condition.
Mrs. Peck seated on sofa in the parlor with
her right arm in q baudsge. The shock to her ner-
vous system was still apparent in her flushed face
few weeks ago from my home in Atlanta, da on
private business. wrote to my husband yesterday
advising him to make this city our permanent resi-
dence, the elevated rairoad1Mas such a con-
venience that we could. live ina house which
ness down town. Now, hswepsr. Lhave changed my
mind will never trust my life again in one Of those
Will write to my hnsband at once and request
him to remain where he is, and I will join
him there ~ soon a. possible. went down
town in the forenoon to do some shopping:
proceeded to the Grand street station to take
mn uptown train. was accompanied by ON errand
boy who carried my packages: As we reached ,s the
stepping inside when the boy, who was behind me.
dropped one Of the packages. In the delay to pick
next train. There were bnt five or six passengers
in the car with was seated about the centre
q the cor on s crash
was violently hurled from my seat and thrown to
theopposite side struck againstt the sests and was
my feet my shoulder and side panied me
torrhly. l thought for tho moment that
the to ss had sr. sos s m the
was injured. poor little boy was thrown down and
received an ugly cut in the forehead A policeman
who had been standing tho front plstform
eut about the fsce, and blood was streaming from
his hands. hoard that he had been dashed through
the glass In the door. Mr. j. q. Arnold. painter OF
No. "a Third svenue. vas injured about the hands
and received slight coutusions. He il IN old frcnd
snd had .srown to m.nlood sincs Il ! saw a,...r him
and thence to the street. when we took . car and
rodehcrc. Ny shoulder is still very painful aud
cannot move my arm My side seems ss If it were
numb suppose it will be several days before can
1T is . miracle" continued Mrs. Peck. show We
ever escaped with our lives. certainly Concluded
that several people must have been killed. saw a
man who looked like brakeman covered with
blood and apparently insensble. was told that no
was dead. Twas frightened almost TO death myself
THO noise deafening when the cars collided and
she force Of the shock was so sudden that i seemed
trust my life those terrible again; there is
security to be found them. If the company is not
people there is poor law in the land" Mrs. Peck
expressed her discrimination to put her case in tho
hands of lawyer and the company for damages.
ALMOST RUN OVER.
Flagman Sutherland was standing at the west side
station. At the momcnt OF the collision he was on
he jumped to the track ut the of the last in
tending to cross between the tracks. to render as
was SO sudden that he was struck by buffer and
knocked down almost under the wheels He was
injured about the head and loft for home.
WHAT STATION MASTER SAID.
Station Master John Creighton hes charge iof the
west sido station. Ie said:-"I selling tickets
in the ONCE. heard terrible crash and felt the
place shake under my feet. thought that the whole
structure had fallen into thestrec immediately ran
to tho front Of tho platform and saw tho two engines
wedged together, partially raised At the point Of
contact There great excitement among the pas
sengers. saw one injured; but concluded from
number Of people must have boon killed. The pas
scngcrs got out and their money was returned at
once teiegraphod the accident to superintendent
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE SUPERINTENDENT
reporter called on superintendent Onder-
donk to obtain his vcws in regard to the
causcs of tho collision. He said that he
feared tho real causes of tho collision
in 0e o Il would vo sa
grouudlcss alarm. He then pcncilled diagram q
sheet of paper aud pointed out the different stations
NOW YOU observe. ho said, THAT tho train
coming down town from Harlem standing Mt
Off pssscngers The engineer saw or should have
seen-and hero comes the question of responsi-
bility-that the switch was not set for his
him. and thsrsforo should not have attempted TO
move on to the curve to the uptown trnck. When ho
discovered his mistake his train could not have been
moving ut great rate of speed for he only start
ing on. The uptown train was on the regular track
aud slowing mp for the station when its loconio
Rrronrsn~But what about the switchman who
left the switch set for the wrong train while tho
down train was close upon him?
SurEnrSrExDExT-He is. Of course. seriously to
blame. and there is NO pallistng circumstance that
we see.
Rrronrrn-It was stated by some Of the excited
passengers that Grand Central train was the cause
Of the trouble?
supxnrNrxSDErr-Tnere was nothing Of the kind.
No train was going to tho in either direction
on the Grand Central branch.
.REFpRrEn-Thcn tho switchmsn could have no
excuse TO Offer for leaving the switch open to the
curvu2
supEarSrrxpxSr-Non Whatever. apparently. But
the maAr win receive thorough Investigation
took charge OF the stations on both sides of tho
road. and while experimenting the clearing of tho
tracks, held tho red signal dag himself till the road
was reopcned TO tranic. The two damaged iocomo-
tives were taken to the shops In Greenwich street
Morris street. and msciinsts wcro set to work
A TALK wrrp PRESIDENT FIELD.
Mr.. Cyrus w. Field president OF the road. was in
tcrvicwed his residence In the afternoon and spoke
freely Of the accident and tho precautions necessary
for the protection OF passengers in the future Ho
had heard Of the collision shortly after IL occurred
at his ofioc, and the hsd caused considerable
excitement there among the officers OF the company.
ITO what cause do you attribute tho accident at
Forty second strectT' the reporter asked.
''solely to the negligence Of tho switchman.' was
Mr. Fields reply.
ReronrEr-Aid what action will the company take
Mr. FrrrD-so far rs furnishing the guilty party IL
concerned action has hrcady been taken. ordered
hts immediate Dismissal
Rrruarrn-wili any particular effort be made TO
prevent a similar accident In tho future?
Mr.. FirLp-The only thing necessary is 20 do away
with the switches now In usc Thcro should be no
crossing whatever on tho road. So long as one re-
mains the travelling public will have 70 depend upon
the reliability of swiichman and as no man
il infaible thcre will always bc moro or
less danger OF collisions. Every passenger
should be abio TO tako train with absolute