The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-11-18


twenty passengers inside, approaching and
only about forty feet away. cried out
with all my might, stop, stop, For Gods
sake stop that carr The motorman was en-
deavoring TO stop the car, but ii seemed
that his efforts were of no use. for the car
came steadily on and crashed into the iron
the car had gone over the precipice. Just as
the car struck the gates the frightened
motorman jumped and fell on the bridge
AS soon as the car went over leaned over
the brink and cried to the men on the tug
and vessel passing through under the bridge
TO notify the pol e and the amoulances OF
the awful accide when they went up the
river 1 saw th- motorman about ten min-
utes after the accident. but he disappeared
shortly afterwards. No blame can be at
tached to those in charge of the bridge.
The accident is entirely the fault OF the
crew of the motor car Special Constable
Phil Beck and another man were talking
with me when the accident happened.
On the rear platform of the fatal car last
night, before 1t made the terrible plunge.
seriser sfe Of No sst Woodland Avenue HANK
Peters, of Dover: G.. o. Ross, of No. 3S
Quincy street: Andy Radke, of No. SO Pei
ton street. and Jake Haller. of Swan street.
All jumped and were saved. Heller says
the car was going slow and that he heard
some one cry out: Stop the car, stop the
the platform and that she jumped safely
away, but Immediately cried out that her
daughter was in the car. John Seriger re-
lated his experience as follows:
ION nearing the draw on the viaduct ]
noticed the conductor leave the car and pull
a chain, which supposed operates safety
his hand and the car moved slowly forward.
| first heard a cry Stop, stop.' Then
little man standing nearer the car steps
| than myself yelled. Jump / felt the rear
| part of the car begin to raise UP and blindly
| jumped over the platform railing. not know
| ing how or where l would land. / picked
myself up about six feet from the edge of
| the open draw and picked my hat from
among several others lying about: There
were three other men on the platform be-
| sides myself. One wore glasses and an
other. the one who yelled Jump had on
| macintosh. 1t came through my mind that
the car was going down. as l saw the iron
| gate moving the moment jumped. l was
leaning against the door jam, but turned
my head when some one the viaduct
| and screams as the car was going down.
! struck
| The finding of the body of little Gertie
Hoffman filled the cup of sorrow. for A.
w. Hoffman, a grocery salesman living at
1905 Pearl street. She was the last member
of his family. His wife and Harvey,
the latter aged seven, were taken from the
river last night. The little girls body was
Her fi little s hands ss We're IN led with spinters
! from the wrecked car. When Hoffman
realized what had happened to him he be-
river. he plunged in and tried to drown him
| self, but was rescued by friends who took
The a aia atise tic OF the body
Curt Lephne. by his stepfather Prof.
Charles E. Clements. to-day. disclosed a
girl Several years ago she went to Berlin
TO study music and there met and married
German army officer named i-ephne. Four
! children were born to her and her husband
| died. Last summer she met Prof. Charles
| T.. Clements and the two became engaged.
sehoo in n
Cleveland and Mrs Lephne followed him
children. They were married soon after
ward. Curt, who was fourteen years old.
was her eldest son.
THE MOToRMAN'S STORY.
August Rogers, the motorman. is still de-
tanned at the central station. though he is
now held only as witness before the
coroner. He talked about the accident to-
day. 1T was my second trip he began.
Just after leaving the market house i
looked into the car and from what 1 can
remember there were about twenty or twen-
ty-fve passengers. They were mostly
women and children. think When my
motor reached the switch at the approach
OF the draw In the viaduct I CIR. off my cur
rent and applied the brake. The car came
to a full stop and the conductor ran
me ahead with his arm. put my lever on
the first notch and as passed the con-
ductor who always stands at. the switch
lever until the car has passed, was run
ming at the rate. OF possibly four miles an
hour; looked back. as l always do, and
saw him get Oh the rear platform.
Looking ahead thought saw the gates
at the draw closed over the track, but as
the thought occurred to me that my eyes
must have been at fault. was just In the
act of giving. and possibly gave, the lever
by the gates just in front of me and 1
heard some one yell Jump! 1 don't know
/ realized the danger and ieaped from rom the the
vestibule. As / leaped | thought l would
plunge headlong down and into the river,
and caught the iron frame and saved my
self. The car went down with an awful
thing that resembled a scream"
Here Rogers buried his face in his hands
and and cried if Nm my God it it's a., an ; awful thing
him by saying: Certainly it was no fault
of ..yyO Yours =. ran,,., .,,,,, ,,,n, :, =, .,
F, Rogers then buried his head deeper in his
mar. na1ds and ID began gan to sob moaning: MY
| When he had recovered himself somewhat
Rogers continued: when was freed from
the iron. gate scarcely knew what to do.
| was dazed. finally concluded to run
| back to the market house and tell the po-
| lice. 1 did this. and then ran back to the
scene Of the accident. / hurried down the
the I'd Sere or 1S
an hour-may be an hour and a half Then
l grew SICK anu went nome.
when you first the gates of the
| draw, were your lights burning and did you
| have CURRENT"
| 'I did have current and my lights
were burning That is the reason why
| thought Of no danger. When the draw is
| open the lights usually go out but it was
not the case at the time OF the accident
as can swear. AS / told you, / was sur
prised when | saw the gates and knew that
i had both lights and current, which has
never been the case before when the gates
have been closed as the swinging of the
bridge cuts off the current and, of course
| when this is done the lights go out"
How do you account for the strange
| fact?''
II cannot account for it, but / swear
| that it was so. | have never had an acci-
| dent of any kind until this one and 1 be-
lieve this will kill me-"
Tonight August Rogers, the motorman
| who has been held as a witness was
charged with manslaughter. This action
| was taken by Chief of Police Hoehn. after
| he had investigated the accident After the
charge mad been placed against him. nobody
was permitted to see Rogers
Late tonight the coroner announced that
he would not begin the inquest until the
bodies now supposed to be in the river had
been recovered.