St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-02-21
TOASTED IN A Tunnel
Horrible Wreekage Of a New
York Shop Train Under
ground.
The Debris Takes Fire and
Blazes Like a Seething
Furnace.
Six People Were Burned and
Crushed to Death and
Many Injured.
The Horror Caused by Care
lessness in Showing Sig
nal Lights.


the middle railway tunnel through
Fourth avenue, near Eighty-fifth street,
between two trains of the New York,
New Haven q Hartford company. One
was the New Haven local leaving the
Grand Central station at 1902, and 1t
ran into train of empty cars, no one
being in them but employees OH their
way to the yard at Mott Haven. The
wreck soon took fire and burned
fiercely, owing to the great draught in
the tunnel. Moreover there was sec
ond collision by Light engine" going
north from the yard running into the
wreck. Six lives were lost through the
first collision and several persons were
injured. all probably employees.
The Crash Under Ground.
In the Grand Central yard, which ex
tend from the station at Forty-SecOnd
street to Mott Haven, all trains pass to
the left, and IN whichever direction
they may be going take the track on the
left side of the tunnel. This arrange
ment places all signals on the left or
fireman's side of the locomotive, the
engineer sitting on the right. The Bos-
ton express, with score or more OF car
cleaners on board, was on the west
track of the middle tunnel going toward
the shops at Mott Haven, where it was
to be laid up'' and cleaned. 1t left the
Grand Centralat 6:49, and had speed
of six miles an hour. The heavy atmoS-
phere prevented the tunnel from clear
ing itself of steam and smoke, aud 1T
was difficult TO see thewhite, green and
red signal lamps Oh the walls. A
New Haven accommodation train left
the station at 1902 on the track occupied
by the other, having on board about l25
passengers. and when it reached FIFTY
ninth street was running thirty miles
an hour. The fireman was Charles
Wellington, the engineer, Louis Fowler,
said to him as
They Entered the Tunnel:
"Keep a close lookout for the signals,
Charley" Wellington asserts that he
leaned out of the window and saw the
lights. one after the other as the engine
approached them. At the Fifty-ninth
street signal station, both the distant"
and the '.home" lights were white,
which signified that the block ahead
was clear, so on sped the train. The
next signal station is at Seventy
second street. The distant signal
is square lamp. showing white
on one side and green on
the other, and is 1000 feet in front of
the s'home'' signal, which is immed
atelv in front of the ''home" signal,
which rs Immediately opposite the sta
stion and has a white aud red side.
These signals are interlocking. One
cannot turn without the other. Both
must show white lights at the same
time, or when one shows green the
other must show red. When the green
is flashed upon an approaching train it
must slow up, and when 1T comes to the
red it must stop. "HOw are the lights,
Charley?" SAID Engineer Fowler when
the train was nearing Seventy-second
ed back, and the train dashed on. The
mist was thick without, and the fog of
steam and smoke within the tunnel was
almost impenetrable. At a point about
half way between Eighty-fourth and
Eighty-tifth, the engine hurled itself
against the rear of the Boston express
sleeper, wrecking the smoking car and
driving it partly through the palace car
to which it was coupled. Both trains
came to a standstill within quarter of
a minute. The engineer of the express
did not know when
His Grain Was Struck.
He felt the cars pulling very hard while
his engine began to stop. The ignal
man at Eighty-slXth street put his head
out of the window of his box and shout
ed: 'All right; go ahead" He thought
the engineer was stopping because mn
able to see the signals, but the latter
shouted back as he pulled open the
throttle: Il can't. My air is on"
The sudden destruction of the rear two
coaches had put on the automatic
brakes. Fowler and Wellington jumped
from their engine as it crashed into the
smoker, and the former was slightly IN
iured. He was able, however, to take
care of his engine when he learned that
only its front end was broken. The
tunnel was filled with wreckage by the
collision, and moment after it Oc-
CURED a light switch engine on the
down track ran into it, jumped the rails,
and turned partly across the tunnel.
Six men were on it, but none were hurt
The Wreck In Flames.
The telescoped cars, mass of broken
timbers and splinters, were piled up
under one of the roo, openings of the
tunnel, and, taking fire Immediately,
the smoke attracted the attention of
people in the neighborhood. Those
that were near heard shrieks and calls
for help. Civilians and policemen
climbed over the railing Of the small
park that surrounds the opening and
looked down upon the wreck. A crowd
quickly collected, and all possible as
sistance was given. Two fire alarms
brought six engines. which soon began
playing on the flames. Ladders were
brought and let down through the
opening, and, descending these, the res
cuers began to search for the dead and
diving. Surgeons and priests Joined the
firemen down in the dark, smoke-stifled
tunnels where the latter, begrimed
with dirt and painting for breath, strug-
pled bravely against all odds. Lanterns
flashed and bobbed about in the murky
gloom and it was seen that one car had
been showed completely through the
one ahead of 1t to within six feet of the
forward platform, and this car had
iammed into the one in front Of it again
and
Smashed the Platforms
of both, in fact, wrecking the third car
so that it is beyond repair, while the
locomotive that had wrOugt the damage
was jammed into the two telescoped
cars, and all were in blaze. The
smoke, heat and escaping steam in the
dark tunnel were confusing and appal-
ling. But it was known that there
were dead OR dying men in those teles-
coped cars amid the fame, and the hle-
men worked with vigor. AS the Water
from the hose branches put out the ire,