The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1884-06-26
WRECKED ON THE RAIL
An Excursicn Train Filled with Chill
dren Collides with an 40
commodation.
Eight Railroad Men Killed-NearIy =
Score OF the Passengers
Injured.
Philadelphia telegram

There was a crash on the Cam den and At
antic Railroad this morning. Two trains
came together with terrible force. Eight
people were killed, and of the dozen or
more wounded several will probably die.
At $3.50 a train Of three cars left Camden,
N. j., for Lakeside with children from the
Second Presbyterian Church on an excur-
sion. At Z o'clock an accommodation train
of seven cars left Atlantic City for Camden
and Philadelphia The trains should have
passed at Ashland Station. Superintendent
Barnard sent telegram to the operator at
Ashland to hold the accommodation on q
side track there until the excursion had
passed. Somehow the accommodation got
by Ashland, and about a mile this side
rushed headlong into the excursion train.
Il was sitting in the smoker of the ac-
commodation, said James Anderson, of
Atco, N. j., when 1 heard the shrill whistle
of locomotive, which was followed by
similar signals from another locomotive
close by. L thought that something was
wrong, and / Immediately jumped to my
feet At that instant the air. brake was APP
piled. and the movement of the train was
brought to a stop so suddenly and with such
force as to throw me down on the floor of
the car. quickly regained my feet, and on
glancingaround l found that all the other
passengers, of whom there were about
twenty in the car, had also been thrown out
of their seats. This was all the work Of
few seconds, and was followed by terri
BILE crash as the two trains came together.
The snolling- car was the third from tho
locomotive, and was pretty well used up.
After the collision occurred we all scram-
bled ont of the car, some escaping by the
windows. Both locomotives were COM
pletely demolished by the collision, and the
escaping steam made it impossible for somo
time for any one to approach within fifty
feet of the wreck.
Great excitement existed among the
people in the two trains, especially among
the women and children composing the ex-
cursion train. The sight presented after
the accident occurred was a terrible one.
The train hands and the male passengers
were running to and fro, so much excited
that they were unable to render any assist
aance to the injured and dying"
AS soon as partial quiet had been restored
the uniniured went to the assistance of the
wounded.
Fireman Nicholas Barber was taken out
dead With his entrails protruding
Mail Agent Winfield Hiles was, with
great difficulty, gotten out. He was lying
deep under the debris, and it was some time
before he was discovered. He was heard to
call Here / am" and was thus found.
When gotten out he could not give much
account of himself. as he was terribly in
jured internally, and died in short time.
Frank Fenton, the surveyor of the road,
who was on the train, was taken out after
about two hours work, mangled in a terri
BILE manner.
Both engineers were killed.
Conductor Albert Smith and the brake
man, Gustavus Edwards, of the Lakeside
train were taken out dead. Smith was
counting his tickets in the front car. 1t was
nearly an hour and half after the accident
before medical attendance was gotten on
the ground. The most affecting thing OF
the affair was the fact that the daughter of
Civil Engineer Fenton was on the excur-
sion train. She looked for her father and
was told that he was safe and had gone
ahead to flag the trains. She then waited
and walked to Haddonfeld In a few
minutes after she had gone her father was
taken out of the ruins. his head almost flat
tened where it had been crushed.
The point where the collision occurred is
considered the worst on the line. 1t is
about two miles from Haddonfeld, and one
mile from Ashland, with a heavy down
grade and curve in both directions. In the
middle of the curve is wooden bridge over
Cooper's Greek. There is only single
track on the curve, with light embank-
ment on either side. The accommodation
was running at the rate of twenty-five miles
an hour when it entered the curve.