The Red Cloud chief., 1896-08-07
HORRIBLE COLLISION
FIFTY PERSONS KILLED AT
ATLANTIC CITY.
a Excursion Train Run Into by
the Reading Express at u Crossing
The Express rloughed Clear Through
the Excursion Train.

ATLANTIC CITY, n. j.. Aug IA
railroad accident, horrible in It's de-.
tails and sichening in its results.
occurred last evening just outside of
this city, and as "a result about 100
persons are either KILLED or injured.
The Reading railroad express, VIII ich
left Philadelphia at $50 o'clock for
Atlantic City, crashed into n PcnnSyl-
vania railroad excursion tram at the
second signal tower. about four miles
out from here. The PENNSYLVANIA
train was returning to Bridgcton with
"a party of eXcurSionistS from that
place, Melville and n~cighboriny
towns. 1t was loaded with passcn.
gers, and u rough estimate of the
killed aud injured at q late hour places
the number at 100. II is hoped hat
this is an exaggeration. but the num-
Der is undoubtedly more than fifty.
At the second signal tower the
track of the two roads d~iagonally
cross. The Reading train was given
the signal, but IT either failed to
work or the speed of the express was
too great TO be checked in time. 1t
caught the excursion train broadside
and ploughcd through, literally
clcaving it in twain. The engine OF
the Reading train was shattered to
pieces. Every car was iammcd to its
fullest capacity.
As soon as the news reached Atlantic
City, the utmost CONSERVATION pre-
vailed, but the authorize, were equal
to the emergency. Relief trains were
dispatched to the scene, loaded with
cots and bearing stats of surgeons.
As quickly as the bodies were re.
rnyaraI fllnv Nxnra gurpinl into ,l,a
local hospitals and undertakers' shops.
A general fire alarm was sounded and
the department promptly responded
and aided in thc hear rendiug work
OF digging for the victims. Fear grew
INTO despair and horror as the V gor-
Gus work of the relief gangs revealed
the awful extent of the disaster.
The first Reading relief train bore
into this city twenty-sevcn manglcd
cor pscs, men, women and children.
The mex train, not an hour later,
carried 6fteen of the maimrd and
wounded, and two OF these died soon
after rerching the city. As train
after train plyed to the scene of the
wreck and came back with its CHASTITY
load, the sanitarium which docs duty
as the city hospital quickly found
It's capacity ovcrtaxed. Meanwhile.
Others of the dead and injured were
being carried to the private hospital
ut Ocean and Pacific
The excursion train was made up of
fifteen cars, the foremost of which
was a baggage car. This ana the
next two coaches caught the full
force of the crash, and were utterly
demolished. What remained of the
th;rl car w2s tumbled into a ditch at
the roadside. '.
Superintendent l. n. Sweigard of
the Philadelphia IL Reading Company
places the number dead at thirty
seven and the injured at about the
same number. He sent a telegram to
Philadelphia which said: There
were thirty-saven persons killed, as
follows: Twelve IN twenty-onc
men, two boys and two girls. About
the anne number injured
Mrs. Edward Farr, wife OF the
Reading engineer who was killed,
when informed of her husbands
tragic end, threw up her hands with
n frantic shrek and fell dead a, the
feet of her informant.
William Yhurlow, telegraph oper-
ator in the tower house, was arrested
and held, pending an inquiry.
II is said that the Reading signal
was displayed, and that the whistle
of the train was sounded. The Read
ing has the right of way at the cross
ing.
The excursion train bore five tribes
the Order of Red Men. the Rridcton,
the Niagara, the Ahwantonah and
the Cohansicls, with their wives and
children.