The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-17
A PLUNGE THROUGH A DRAW.
YHIRTEEN LIVES LOST IN 4 STREET
CAR ACCIDENT.


scene of the HOrrOr-The Conduc-
Tor and MOfOrmen Responsible for
the Accident-The Conductor Goes
Down With the Car, Bat the Mo-
tormnn Leaps on and Escapes.
Cleveland O.. Nov. ia frightful ac-
cmeut. by which thirteen people lost their
uves. occurred in the heart Of the city
this evening Owing to the criminal and
still uuexplainable carelessness of a street
car conductor a car well filled with peo-
ula took an awful plunge of 120 feet from
The draw of the Central viaduct into the
dark waters OF Cuyhago river. The
accident occurred at 1885 o'clock. The Cen
tral viaduct is a long stone and iron struc-
tune which crosse the Valley railroad,
ami the Cuyahoga river, and connects
Jennings avenue on the south side with
Central avenue on the east. The bridge
is l2J feet above the river. The draw was
open for a tug drawing a schooner which
was about to pass beneath the bridge As
usual. the gates were closed on both sides
Of the draw and danger lights were dis
played to guard against accidents. An
electric car was seen coming along from
but Capt. Charles Brennan, who
has charge of the bridge, had
no thought of danger as the usual
precautions had been observed. The car
was one of the Cedar and Jennings avenue
branch of the Big Consolidated line, and
had fifteen passengers. con
ductor and mOtorman aboard. At
what is known as the "derailing switch"
some 200 feet from the draw, the con-
ductor mechanically alighted. as is the
wont Of all conductors at this point, to
see if all was right. The car came to a
standstill and the motorman waited for
orders. The conductor, for some unac-
countable reason, failed to see the red
signal of danger or the closed gates. or
perhaps custom made him careless and
he signalled to the motorman, John Rog-
ers, to come ahead.
The motorman turned on the electric
current. the conductor jumped aboard the
car, and at considerable speed the
vehicle neared the death trap. Why the
motorman did not see the danger lights
or the closed gates sooner than he did
will always remain a mystery, but the
fact remains that he did not. A few
feet from the draw it dawned upon the
motorman that il was open. With a speed
born of desperation he threw the handle
and applied the brakes. The bridge cap
tain, seeing the approaching car, shouted
like a mad man, but it availed nothing
The car was already on the down-grade
TO the draw and the brakes would not
hold the car on the slippery rails The
nOtorman, realizing his danger forsook
the precious car that he was hauling and
with wild cry leaped off the front plat
form, ran down the viaduct in the direc-
tlon or Central avenue and disappeared in
the darkness. At the same instant two
mas passengers Jumped off the rear plat
form and escaped death as by a miracle.
Inc car reached the closed iron gates
and in an instant the crash o. swapping
IRON ana breaking glass was heard. This
alarmed the conductor who had stepped
inside, and he was seen to make a dash
for the rear door, but he was too late A
second later, the car sWayed on the edge
Of the awful space steaded for an in
Stant as though I'm a frantic .endeaVOr to
MAINTAIN ITS equilibrium and topped over;
AleIe was an asoni2lng chorus OF
screams and in an instant all was quiet.
me car struck upon projection of piles
IN the abutment beneath the draw, then
turning and eolapsing il fell into the
dark river below, scattering its passen-
gers in al directions and breaking the
sroans were heard by the men who hap
pened to be on the docks below. Men
from the bridge above and from the
docks, who had witnessed the accident,
Called 10 the men on the tug 10 pick up
the people, but only two passengers, one
man and one woman, were rescued.
The news of the accident spread rapidly
and in a few minutes a fire boat, six am
balances, six dead-wagOns. and a squad
or policemen were on hand. The injured
man and woman were taken to a hospital
ana the work of rescuing the bodies was
taken up. One day they were found and
taken to undertaking establishments in
llfterent parts of the city, as Cleveland
has no morgue The work of identification
was extremely slow. Late at night when
the South Side residents heard of the ca
tastrOphe and when they began to realize
that their loved ones had not yet return
ed home, the undertaking establishments
fni ah cd and tod lfaf Ha.
bodies being Identified before midnight
Among the dead identified up to mid
night are the following:
Miss Martha Saurenhemer and Mrs
JQhn Sauernheimer, her sister-in-law,
OF No. 154 Merchant avenue.
John Hoffman, the conductor and Curt
Lephehene, a 16-year-Old hoy, who had
ticket in his pocket from London, Cana
"a, TO Victoria. B. O.
bessle Davies, a school teacher, of
Noyes street, 10 years old.
Henry ". Necklenburg a tailor, IS
Mary street, 3s years old.
larry W. Horster, clerk at the Root
y Mcbride Company 81 Menter avenue
p years old.
James Mclaughlin, a printer, No 7
bIldSe avenue 80 years old.
- Ferguson.
John Sorrenger and George Ross were
l4e men who jumped off the platform.
at Rooney was taken out OF the river
alive, but badly injured
Mrs. a. w Hoffman and her son, Har-
le} G. Hoffman, 10 years old, Of 1903 Pear
Mrs. staudt q years old, q nurse in the
Northern Ohio Insane Asylum.
MIs. Brown No. 103 Thurman street
aeed S. years.
The woman takcn crrm the river alive
YES Mrs. Sauernheimer, who died in the
ambulance.
The scenes which were enacted in De-
''lt after the Journal accident were re
Iad at the viaduct disaster tonight
ahe undertakers. like ghouls, were strUg-
sung Tor possession of the bodies The
moment the accident became noise1
Hut they hurried TO the docks with
lr dead wagons and engaged in an Un-
-HlnSly wrangle for the corpses In
-e instance the head of a body was on
D.e sjretcher, while employees Of another
ahlishment pulled the feet over on
af own stretcucr. Cries of shame
rom the crowd had no effect and their
work was kept up
ne rnotorman was found after mid
.-ut by two detectives and he insists
.al the reason he ran was because he
a5 panic stricken, and he did not see
-- yates or lights until the crash came.
THREW HIMSELF UNDER A TRAIN.
financial Reverses ana Bad Health