The San Francisco call., 1895-11-18
FIFTEEN BODIES FOUND.
Crushed and Mangled Corpses
Dragged From Beneath
the Wreck.
CAUSE OF THE CATASTROPHE.
The Trolley.Car Motorman Claims That
the Conductor Signaled to Go
Forward.

CLEVELAND, OHIO, Nov. 17.-Up to 6
O'Clock this evening the bodies OF fifteen
victims of the trolley-car catastrophe OF
. last night had been recovered. This ac-
counts for all but four OF the passengers
known to have been on the car at the time
it made It's awful plunge from the open
Central viaduct draw into the Cuyahoga
River.
The verified list of the dead is as follows:
James Mclaughlin, pasebali-player, II
Trowbridge avenue; Henry W. Mecklen-
berg, merchant tailor, So Mary street; Ed
ward Hoffman, conductor, III East End
avenue; Mrs. John A. Sauernheimer, 76
Professor street; Miss Bessie Davis, school
teacher in Sackett School, lived at 107
Moves street; Harry w. Foster. clerk for
the Root & Mcbride Company, 81 Mentor
avenue; Mrs. Minnie c. Brown, 10 Thur
man street; Curt Lepehne, or Clemens,
pianist, sc jennings avenue; Mrs. A. w.
Hoffman, 30 years old, Pearl street; Har-
vey Hoffman, years old, 1908 Pearl street ;
: Mrs Martha Palmer, Al Grant street ;
Marie Mettgen, 81 years old, domestic, 10
Joseph street; Augusta Sarinski, 207 Cen
: tral avenue; Gertie Hoffman, years old,
1903 Pearl street; LOUIS f. Huletz, mail
carrier, 80 years old.
The missing are: Lottie Voth, Branch
. avenue; Miss Martha Sauerheimer, 154
Merchant avenue; 3. c. Page, residence
unknown; Matthew Gallagher, Hamilton
street.
at an early hour this morning, Augustus
Rod gers, the mOtorman in charge OF the
car was arrested at his home and brought
to the Central station, where he was ques-
toned by the Coroner and the rolice
officials. He stated that Conductor Hoff-
man gave him the signal to go ahead.
T. When asked as to how the conductor could
:: have given the "all right" signal in the
T.: face of the fact tnat the red light signals
showing that the draw was open, were
hung on the closed bridge gates, Rodgers
replied that Hoffman probably thought
the draw was just closing, instead OF opel
-ing:.:: Rodgers was released after giving
::bohd for $1,000.
:: 3A=crowd OF fully $4,000 spectators gath
cred: at the scene OF the accident this morn
: Ing, when the search for the missing bodies
was resumed. Diver Joseph Eberhart was
employed by the streetcar companies to
assist in the search, and after he had been
at work two hours on the river r-bottom, he
gave the pull-up signal for the graphing
hooks, and the body of Mail Carrier Louis
Huletz was brought to the surface.
Huletz's brother had stood on the dock all
night, peering anxiously through the dark
ness; and inquiring time and again if his
brother had been found. When the mutt
lated body OF Louis was brought up, the
brother became wild with grief and could
hardly be restrained. The top of the head
was almost torn off and the face was bat
tered in a fearful manner. The body was
taken to the morgue.
This was. the last body that has been
found About 10 o'clock Diver Metcalf
came to the surface with a handful of
Z *womans hair. He said that a body was
held down by the trucks, and that in try
:=iTig.to pull it out he pulled the hair out.
Thc: body is thought to be that of Miss
Martha Sauernheimer of 154 Merchant
ayeHue. 1t may take day or two to raise
the trucks, but until they are brought up
nothing can be done.
=. ABOUT 1920 o'clock a river man re-
ported to the police that the body of a
little girl was floating under the Big Four
Bridge at South Water street. An lnvesti-
cation developed the fact that the body
was lodged against the piles, and was
frightfully mangled. The hair was clotted
with blood, and the face was crushed in so
as to make identification almost impos-
sible. 1t was afterward identified as the
body of Gertie Hoffman.
The work of searching for the four un-
discovered bodies will be resumed again
tomorrow.
Patrick Looney, the only passenger of
the ill-fatsd car who was taken from the
water alive, is still at the hospital in a
critical condition. He has not regalned
consciousness since being taken there and
the interview with him sent out over the
wires from here was untrue.
The most plausible theory as to the
cause of the disaster is that it occurred be-
cause of the removal OF the circuit breaker
which was replaced by derailing switch
about two weeks ago. Formerly he cir
cult was broken several hundred ieet from
the swing portion of the viaduct whenever
the swing was open. According to the
new contr1vance, which was constantly set
to derail car, it was necessary for the car
to stop. The conductor would set the de-
railer and signal the motorman to go
ahead. This proceeding was enacted last
night and, as the misty rain had so covered
the glass in the vestibule, the motorman
claims to have been unable to see the
danger lights, depending solely upon the
conductors signals. As the conductor
went down to death with his car it will
never be known what caused him to fail
to see the lights or know that the bridge
was swung.