New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-12-03
TuE CAR WAS OVERTURNED.
,,ssrNGERs ON THEIR HEADS. But UN-
INJURED.
.,ro ,r,15AN LABoRERs WHO wBRE WALKING BY
THE TRACK WERE KILLED-PEcULIAR EX'
PLANTATION OF THE ACCIDENT.

TRACK NEisEs hASLI-D AINSAA@AA'
PLANTATION OF THE ACCIDENT.
n. +b. overturning of car through defective
~ - an the New-York and Harlem Railroad
80 last digit, upward of forty persons were
eS.5, w. within close touch of death in one of its
hi6eous FORMS That the passengers who
n.,lod ms in the rear coach Of the train which left
c-and Central Station for Tuckahoe soon after
.,lock Yesterday afternoon escaped almost
..,s,ess from under heap of smashed wood and
-, Is an instance of phenomenal good luck
p.,a.ring on the miraculous Unhappily. two
80 have been sacrificed as the result of the
mischance.
william Fleming and felow-workman supposed
:. hc George Luhr, both employed in the New-YOrk
r.n,,,l ward at Mott Haven, were truck dead by
=. falling car, and picked up all mangled from
'.hA,e they had been hurled several feet away.
,rOther workman named Thomas McKe1ps escaped
With only a scalp wound.
Ths story of the accident is simple in the
.,t,eme The train is known as the Tuckahoe local.
IA leaves the Grand Central Station at 10.
ro the first part Of its journey it has an unbroken
nr Between Eighty 5-siXth-st. and TucllahOe,
,,rever. il stops at all stations. This train is
.rrsys well filed, and carries TO these suburban
10res all the way from $50 10 200 of business
,..r from New-York. The train yesterday con-
ss,ed of four cars drawn by engine No. 173,
dbven by Edward Davis, one of the oldest en-
,r,ers on the road T. A. VoorhiS, another old
and popular servant OF the company, was the
.onductor Of The train. George Williams had
,barce of the brakes.
The train was due TO reach Mott Haven sta
son at One-hundred-and-th thirty cighth-st., at
s:2l. About fifty yards north of the station is
Mott Haven Bridge, under which all the Harlem
River and New-York Central trains pass through
,bat is known as Frogs Hollow. 1t was between
ss point and the switch tower just beyond One
lundred-and-fftieth-st. that the accident Oc-
,ured The train reached the Mott Haven sta
tca on time and then, after minutes delay, went
on its journey TO Melrose. The tracks of the
Mv.York Central and New-York and Harlem rail
roads run parallel for the whole of the
distance up TO ne-hundred-and-hftieth-
About fifty yards south of that street the down
track of the New-York Central road crosses the
north track Of the New-York and Harlem road.
The engine and first three cars of the train going
At the rate of about twenty miles hour, crossed
The intersection OF the two tracks in safety.
Then there was jar, terrific jerk, which
caused every car in the train to oscillate, and then
crash which told that the coupling of the third
and fourth car had smashed. The engine and first
three cars glided smoothly along the track. The
fourth car. thus detached from its companions,
rocked unsteadily for few yards, and then
jumped or rolled of the track
The right hind wheel of the Car had caught
in the frog of the switch at the intersection of
he tracks and jumped the rails. Then
from the car arose wild screaming as the
passengers inside it realized their peril.
At The moment that the car left the track
Fleming, Who is a painter in the New-York Cen
trai yard at Mott Haven, the man supposed to be
George Luhr, McKenna, and a fourth workman
named Felix McCabe, were walking along the
Gzvel space between the tracks on their way
home from work. They were within less than
twenty feet of the car. McCabe, who led the
way, was the frst to see the huge mass as it left
the rails and came plunging along the path, the
wheels cutting deep furrows in the ground He
shrieked out to his companions and jumped for
ward just in time TO clear the car as it gave
final lurch and crashed over on to the tracks
McKenna was right behind him, the end of the
ar just cutting his scalp. But against Fleming and
the man behind him, the end Of the car struck
With such force that it lifted them bodily from
the ground, and hurled them some distance away.
Jennings head was found to be crushed in, and
hlow-vctim had also been terribly mangled
Had the car fallen on, instead of away from them
every bbne and feature in their bodies would
have been smashed.
The cries of the people boxed up in the car and
thrown headfoemost in confused heap against
ia side sent chill to the hearts of all who heard
them. shower of wood and glass and
snail pieces of iron rained on them, but the
hane Of the car was intact. There was rush
Of workmen to the doors of the car, which were
opened Then, when the passengers began to re-
gain their senses. and their footing
they found that they had space enough
70 walk upright to the door. One
one, some with bleeding heads, hands,
taey we're taken out, and when all were mustered
was found that there was not anything ap-
H9achlng serious hurt in the whole number.
williams the brakeman thrown TO the
SOUND as the car turned over, but even he
aSnend nothing worse than severe scalp wound
SAueng the passengers were two women whose
pA& ppA& were slightly cut by falling glass. DIR.
10. DAILY, who lives close by, was on the ground,
SIs one and all of the passengers declined medi-
SSstance, and getting into the three for
sss sa cars Of the trau finished their journey
80 Gangs Of worl<men were quickly at work
S1sAs away the obstruction, and within two
TN T.s TIE car had been shifted from the track.
H,,lt H,l afic was resumed. Ambulances from
raIfu and Manhattan hospitals dashed up at
g. ssY out only one was needed. In this Mckenna
rss. ~ eSen 10 the Harlem Hospital while Williams
''as % bis home
.SRt why the rear wheel of the car caught in
prhsSSil.ceh-irog is not positively known. IN all
sms so1lny however. the accident was due to
sns.; ueiect In the hange OF the wheel. lhls
lstl 9, however, will not be decisively settled
ue official Investigation has been made.
HARIOT CONFESSES THE MURDER.