The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-08-01

an official investigation places the res
possibility.
The people seemed to realize the
rescuers needed room. and once a man,
woman or child was seen being car
ried to the ambulance an instant right
of way was given. There were quite a
number who fingered by the wreckage
all night rendering their services and
anxious to be of help. The only re-
gretable thing about it all was the
fact that the officers had to keep close
watch for thieves who were attempt
ing to rob the dead.
A horrible sight was presented when
the body of an unknown man was
brought to the light. The face was a
mass of red flesh, the skin having been
completely torn off. There were
worse cases than this, beggarng pen
description.
a heart-rending scene occurred at
the sanitarium this morning. A fine
looking business man, .>t ll-dressed,
came in and asked if his little girl was
there. He gave his name as Martin b.
Looper, of Yorktown N j. The child
was Beya, aged II years. Together
with an attendant he went from cot
to cot, despair deepening on his face.
Finally he caught sight of a tiny shoe.
That's my girls shoe" he cried, in
a broken voice. Here's a stocking,"
said an attendant. Grasping the lit
tie piece of cloth he almost frantical-
ly cried, Eyes, that's hers, but it can't
be, it can't be; my poor child must
be alive" 1t was then that the atten-
dant produced tiny yellow garter.
There was dazed look in the fathers
eya, as he saw it, then suddenly clasp
ing his hands to his face he sobbed,
MY God it is my Reva," and sank
with a gasp in a chair, completely
overcome by grief.
The scene at the sanitarium where
most of the injured are being cared
for is pitiful in the extreme. At the
bedside of nearly every victim sits sob
bing friends hoping for the best, but
in many cases waiting for death. VIM
Spaulding, of Philadelphia, who is in
a critical condition, sent to a woman
relative at the st. Charles hotel this
message: "Come and see me die" She
sits at his bedside
At noon Coroner Mclaughlin en-
pannelled a jury TO inquire into the
disaster. 1t consisted of six of At
lantic City's wealthest and most
Evans, hotel keeper and president of
the Atlantic City National Bank; Lew
is Evans, John Champion, Levi Alber-
son, L. j. Dickinson, merchant and
Charles c. Adams.
When the jury reached the impro-
Vised mOrgue at the old excursion
house it was completely surrounded
by an immense crowd of the morbidlv
sbD
valuable entrance and window. and
peered at the AZ boxes of all shapes.
styles and sizes in which the maneled
bodies lay encased in ice. Ropes had
been stretched around the entrance
and only those whose relatives were
dead and officials and newspaper men
were admitted. In the presence of the
dead all hats were doffed and the Jury
slowly, and silently began its gruesome
duty. As the cover from each box
was lifted the coroner's clerk in
mournful tones announced the name
of its occupant, and the single word
unknown when such box was
reached. 1t required fully one hour for
the jury to complete its task and i'm
mediately afterwards an adjournment
was made until o'clock when a spe-
cial train took the jury to the scene of
the tragedy.
The scene was very different from
last night. The relief gangs had done
effective work. Both tracks are now
clear, the articles of clothing which
belonged to victims had been taken to
police headquarters and much of the
wreckage had been removed Beside
the ditch, mass of broken timber end
a portion of the third coach which
felt the heaviest stroke and was cut
in two, little beyond lay what re-
manned of the Reading engine The
wheels were in the air. The force of
the collision was so great that the
engine was not only upside down, but
turned completely around. There is a
very general impression that under
the mass of debris at least six more
bodies lie.
The jury made an exhaustive exam
ination of the ground and devoted
considerable time to the inspection OF
the signals, which still remain as they
were at the moment of the accident.
That facing the Reading, being the red
or danger signal, and that towards the
West Jersey meaning "come ahead"
As soon as the train strikes a point in
the tracks few feet beyond the sig
nal tower, stationed at the junction
of the two roads, an automatic ar
rangement rings a bell in the tower
house and the train which first rings
this bell is given the right of way Last
night this privilege belonged to the
West Jersey train. But in spite of
this and the fact that the danger sig
nal was against the Reading, that train
came on at full speed and a collision
necessarily followed. George +. Haus-
er, who has charge of the tower and
who is under arrest, has made several
statements to the police. He told
them he saw both trains coming when
both were sufficiently far away to ad-
nit of the full display of signals, but
as the West Jersey was the nearer. he
gave the Reading the red light and
signalled to the Jersey train to come
ahead. The Reading however, never
Stacked speed but came on. The man
in the cab either thought he could
easily clear the point in time or the