The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-04-09
A Crowded Horse Car Run
Down on a Railroad
Crossing.
PASSENGERS SERIOUSLY HURT.
But the Miracle Is That a Dozen Of
Them Were Not Killed.

being one OF the worst catastrophes
which has ever happened in this city, oc-
CURED this morning at the Grove street
crossing of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Shortly before seven o'clock, car No. las,
of the Hoboken horse car line, driven by
John f. Seigen and in charge of Conduc-
tor Henry Wencken, drove up to the cross
ing. 1t was one of the large cars Of the
line, drawn by two horses, and was loaded
with passengers, most of whom were on
their way to business. The seats were all
occupied and number were standing up
inside, while several were on the plat
| forms. With the driver on the front plat
form were Henry Buck, of No. 56 Ferry
street Thomas Fl. Spur, Of No. 152
Washington street, and Charles Erickson,
of No. so Fifth street, Hoboken.
| AS the car approached the crossing, the
driver saw that the gates were down, and
| he waited until train had passed The
gates were then raised, and the gateman
signalled to the driver to come on.
STRUCK BY A DRILL ENGINE.
| Seigen started his horses and drove onto
| the tracks. The horses had just cleared
the west bound track when a drill engine,
which was coming from the depot, struck
the front platform of the car
and threw it violently against one
of the west posts of the
gates. The car struck the post with
crash which sent a shower of glass and
splinters flying in all directions, while the
horses, cut loose by the force of the COLI
sion, started down Grove street on q mad
gallop.
Seigen, Buck, Spur and Erickson were
sent flying on to the tracks, and the other
passengers came rushing from the car
h h IrfNf1f 70
| The noise of the crash brought a large
crowd to the scene. Acting Captain
Smith, of the Second precinct, who
was at Grove street and Newark
avenue, Immediately sent word of
| the accident to Police Headquarters,
and SQUAD of policemen under Command
of Roundsman Coward hurried to the
scene. They drove the crowd back and
soon had the place cleared.
AIDING THE INJURED.
In the meantime Captain Smith, with
such aid as he could command. had
turned his attention to the injured.
1t was found that Buck and Spur were
| badly hurt An ambulance was sum-
moned and the two men were taken to
| the City Hospital. Erickson was found to
be badly cut with glass, but after being
attended by DIR. Gray he was able to re-
| turn to his home in Hoboken
| Several other passengers were cut with
glass and slightly bruised, but they were
| all able to proceed on their way without
medical attendance. The forward part Of
the car was smashed to atoms, and
| for some distance about the scene
of the accident the ground was
and splinters. The car was quickly
removed, and in short timeaf the col
! lision q small heap of broken glass and
| fine splinters at the side of the track was
all that could be seen of the accident. All
4
was a miracle that no one was killed and
that more were not severely injured.
THE GATEMAN ARRESTED.
Chief Murphy was informed of the acci-
| dent shortly after it occurred, and he inn
mediately ordered the gateman, Michael
Doyle, of No. Ill Railroad avenue, taken
| into custody. Policeman Hopkins locked
him up at Headquarters on a charge Of
atrocious assault and battery. Doyle said
that it was all his fault; that he did not
see the second train until it struck the
| car.
| When the injured men reached the hos
pital Spurs was found to have broken
! iured knee, while Buck had two ribs
| broken.
Both men will recover.
STORIES OF THE WOUNDED.
Poor Charles Erickson was in pitiable
| plight when l called on him this morning.
His face was one mass of wounds and he
could hardly move.
II started for work this morning, \ said
he. ION the $3.50 car There were six or
seven passengers on board. When we
reached the crossing the gate was down
and the driver of our car stopped.
The gate was then raised and
! he started to go through. Hardly
| had we reached the track when the loco
motive struck u.s. / remember seeing the
driver try to throw himself over the dash
| board and know that the engine had cars
behind it, After the train struck there is
blank in my memory | did not know
was injured until some time after the
accident No blame can be attached to
the driver of the car If the gate had not
been opened he would not have attempted
to go through. The fault of the accident
rests either with the engineer or with the
Hagman.
sFI am poor man and can hardly afford
the DOCTORS bills. have not as
Jared what action to take against
the cUnpany.n
Mr.. Spur said-"I was.standing on the
front platform when we reached the cross
ing. The gates were down, and train
was passing. When it passed they We're
raised, and again lowered for train.
They were again raised and our driver
was signalled to go on, which he did, and
we were struck. / jumped backward and
fell. What followed | do not know"
Mr.. Buck told the same story.
The Boys Injuries Were Fatal.
Ten-year-old David Mulligan, who was