Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-08-23
RIDING DOWN To DEATH.
The Awful Disaster on the Mount Penn
Gravity Road.

I The Awful Disaster on the Mount Penu
| Gravity Road.
Besides the four people killed in the gravity
car accident at Reading, Pa. yesterday i've Of
the eighteen wounded are expected 10 die.
The accident Was caused by a car having be-
come uncomfortable through failure Of the
brakes to work Superintendent Calvin N.
Dechsrt furnishes q statement that the car on
the previous trip had stuck on the cemetery
curve on account OF the brakes binding il and
the trsinmen loosened the brake rigging and
did not have them properly pulled up again.
They discovered the trouble on the siding az
the south curve before reaching the tower. az
the point where the engine pushes the cars 10
the summit, but after examination reported
all right 10 the engineer, but were unable 70
hold the car when IL reached the summit"
Coroner Hoffman, who has summoned a iury
will inve stigate a report that the car could NOT
be stopped at the point mentioned by Superin-
tendent Dechsrt and that when the engine re-
versed its position to push the car up 20 tho
summit. the car had TO be blocked TO prevent IL
| from running down TO the station. When the
car reached the tower, where a stop OF ave
minutes Is always made, ~ could not be con-
trolled, but started down the mountain with
its twenty-five passengers. Engineer Kendall
seeing the car was q runaway" started after
IL with his locomotive. but being unable TO
overtske IL returned Three gentlemen fore-
seeing the danger, jumped, after the car had
gone about hundred yards from the summit
| lheir names are Harry Brown OF Philadelphia
Morris hrause OF Norristown aud George
Moons OF Reading, civil engineer. who helped
Conductor Rettew and Brakeman Heller ran
| 10 the brakes, but were powerless to hold the
| car. On II rushed with constantly incressino
speed nying around curves, but still keeping
ha 90 ,A,,.s
sengers OF their danger, and said they might
Jump II they so decided. but rs for himself he
would stick TO the car TO the last At Antietam
Lake station Mrs. Nathan Schiller and Mrs
Cooper OF Allentown, the latter with an infant
asleep in her arms, concluded TO Jump and
both were hurled alongside OF the road sus-
| tanning serious injuries. When found the
ladies were unconscious. As the car sped
along, nov at the rate of forty or fifty miles
an hour. employees and repair men who saw IL
| coming endeavored to stop it's mad career bv
throwing stills and rocks upon the track IL
passed on, however. with a deafening noise
| When near the terminus its speed had proba-
bly, increased to sixty miles an hour.
THK FINAL CRASH
| As il reached the last curve on the s,een Hill
side II jumped the track and bounded down
among the trees. uprooting some and breaking
on Others like pipe stems Ten chestnut and
oak trees, some a foot in diameter were either
! torn out by the roots or broken off by the force
| OF the conclusion. The passengers were thrown
| In every direction and some became entangled
| IN the car, which fell bottom upward and was
| shivered into a thousand parts Scarcely a
whole stick of wood could be found. Bleeding
and mangled the bodies of the dead the diving
and the otherwise injured were removed by
! persons who were at the station or in the i'm
mediate neighborhood and taken TO Miller's
summoned and some who could stand
| being moved were conveyed 20
the hospitals. Considerable difficulty
was experienced In getting out the injured.
| Thousands OF people hocked to the scene OF
| the accident and ropes had to be stretched to
keep back the crowd. A few cool-headed men
| rendered valuable assistance. but hundreds of
others impeded the efforts Of the physicians
and nurses. The wreckage searched for
! jewelry and missing pocket books and the
| valuables as found were restored TO their
owners. Edgar NJ. Levan, the lawyer who ad-
vised everybody to refrain from jumping and
lost his life, was formerly engaged in news
! paper work in Philadelphia
The directors of the Mount Penn Gravity
Railroad Company held n meeting and employed
| III. Willis Bland TO defend the company In any
| suits that may be brought on account OF yester-
DAYS accident They also had before them
I Cornelirs n rhsslon, one of the passengers on
- runaway car. Tho il an experienced rail-
man. Ii was agreed that Mr.. Hsnlon
ID examine tho brakes on the company's
Nd give his opinion on them as an expert.
WONDERFUL ESCAPE.
1anlon and his wife and two children are
recovering from their injuries. Thev had q
wonderful escape. He and his wife, each TAX
ing a child in their arms, laid themselves fiat
upon the floor of the car They rolled over
| W n the car and crawled out at the side with a
few cuts and bruises. They were dazed at first,
but speedily recovered. All the passengers
who kept their seats were terribly injured. OF
the wounded all were still living at a late hour
last night. but the following named almost
| certain TO die: Mrs. Schmehl, still unconscious
Mrs. Hiram Schiller. semi-conscious. both OF
| Reading; Miss Lydia Weller of Allentown both
arms and one leg fractured and unconscious
with conclusion of the brain; Miss Sallie BYE
| of Wilmington skull fractured and Miss Mary
Guthrie of Wilmington injury to brain.
| The coroner's jury took a trip over the
| Gravity railroad last evening. and. after view
ing the scene OF the wreck, adjourned uuul
today.
DESCRIPTION OF THE ROAD.
The Mount Penn Gravity road which was the
scene of this frighttul accident, differs from
the older mountain gravity roads in this coun-
try, being fully equipped broad-gauge rail-
way, laid with heavy steel rails stone ballast,
and using Notwithstanding locomotives in
stead of stationary engines for motive power.
In tins respect, as well as in the character Of
| the view disclosed from its highest point IL
! resembles the railway up the Cettleberg on
the outskirts Of Zurich, In Switzerland.
The Mount Penn road is eight miles In length,
starting and terminating in Mineral Springs
! Park. Readings public pleasure grounds Rum
ming up TO the Rose Valley Rayine." dis
tanse of two and one-haIf miles, the summit of
| Mount Penn ls reached, when the cars run
down by gravity, winding around the deep
slopes of the mountain until they again reach
the cit, at its base.
The view from the summit of Mount Penn,
| 100 feet above tide level. rs a magnificent
one, and embraces varied and beautiful land
scape for distance of 30 miles in all directions
including the Schuylkill and Lebanon valleys,
the peaks OF the Lehigh and the bold outlines
OF the Blue and Appalachian ranges On the
summit there Is stone tower 40 feet in height,
with pavilions restaurants and other conyeni-
ences for excursonists. The road was opened
four months ago and has been largely patron
! lied