Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-09-09
TERRIBLE TRAGEDY.
TWO WOMEN KILLED ON THE rORk-
RIVER ROAD vesTERoLH
Run Over bv n Freight Train While
Asleep on the Trsct-Ihe
Inquest.

A terrible tragedy which resulted in tho
death Of two white women occurred on
the York-River railroad o few yards east
of the Lower gas-works yesterday morn
ing at 4:10 o'clock.
At that time freight train with two
engines and twenty-one cars was going
towards West Point. and as the cars
neared Kings sumac-mills MIR. 4. Antoni'
the engineer, noticed human figure on
the track. He instantly. reversed ana
strenuous efforts TO stop the train, out IL
was then too late. and in sn instant he
realized that human life had been iost:
As soon as the cars were stopped ne got
down an found the body of q woman un-
der the pilot. II had been dragged TWO
hundred yards before the train coulu DC
brought to halt.
ANOTHER BODY FOUND.
Mr.. Antoui, directly after he announced
that the woman had been killed. was IN
formed that another woman had been
knocked off the track several hundred
yards further back.
Investigation showed that both the ur-
fortunates must have perished instantly,
as they were horribly mutilated. Ihey
had evidently been lying asleep upon the
rails with their heads and shoulders upon
the track. and must have been very close
to each other, as the engineer when he
first them mistook them for one person.,
The woman, who had been dragged by
the engine, and was found under the pilot;
strange Ia say, was not so badly mangied
as her companion, though the WOUNDS Oh
both of them were terrible. The latter
had her head cut nearly in two. Her left
arm was mashed, lacerated and broken.
aruv coonSrp errNvoSrD
Coroner Taylor was Immediately sum-
moned and at o'clock viewed the bodies
of the two women. whose names, 1t was
learned, were Bette Dawson and Mary
Hahn respectively. The last-named was
the one whose remains were found III such
n mutllated condition. A number OF ne
proes had assembled around the corpseS
when the Coroner arrived, and these, to-
tally disregarding the solemnity OF the oc-
casion, were joking and using profane )ests
in most disgusting manner.
After a thorough investigation OF the ac-
cident it was decided TO carry the bodies
| to the almshouse, where an inquest was
| held at O'Clock in the afternoon.
THE ESGNEER's STATEMENT.
| Mr.. Antonl IN making his statement to
| the iury said that when he first saw the
women they were lying on the track so
| close together that he took them TO be
one person-a man. He used every effort
! in his power TO stop the train, but it was
too late. When he got down from the
engine after the cars stopped he did not
know that but one person was killed and
was subsequently informed that another
was also q victim of the calamity. He
straightway made efforts to learn who the
unfortunates were.
Another witness stated that he knew
| both of the dead women, He said he saw
them Monday night at 1880 O'Clock, and al
that time they were slightly under the III
fiuence of liquor.
Nothing in the investigation indicated
that the railroad employees were culpable
and the Jury rendered verdict eIone
rating them from blame.
Betty Dawson was married and her hus
band now resides in Washington. Hel
only relative in this vicinity. so far as car
be ascertaiued. is her mother. with whom
she lived in Newtown. The latter saw the
body of her child soon after the killins
occurred.
The parents of Mary Hahn are dead and
il is ,said that she had no relatives. She
seems TO have been thrown entirely upor
the world and lived with Betty Dawson
Among her acquaintances she was knowr
rs Sissy"
Both of the deceased appear to have
been in reduced circumstances, and it Il
SAID that they were frequently intoxicated