The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-08-05
A HORRIBLE ACCIDENT.
ONE HUNDRED PEOPLE KILLED AND
WOUNDED.

Terrible Railroad A Accldent-Two Excursion
Trains Collide-An Awful and Sickening
Sight at the Scene ofthe Wreck-A Pas
sengor's Experience.
ATLANTIC CITY. N. j.. July 3O.-A
railroad accident, horrible in its de-
tails and sickening in its results, oc'
Cured this evening just outside OF this
city, and as result about one nun
dred pers )ns are either killed or In
iured. The Reading Railroad express,
which left Philadelphia at s 40 o'clock
| for Atlantic City, crashed into Penn.
sylvania Railroad excursion train at
tie second signal tower about four
miles out from here. The Pennsylvania
train was returning 10 Bridgeton with
party of excursionists from that
place, Millville and neighborlng
towps. 1t was loaded with passeng,,
ers. and rough estimate OF the killed
and Injured ut a late hour places the
number at one hundred.
It's hoped that this is an exaggera
ton, but the number is undoubtedly
more than fifty. At the second signal
| 10 1er the tracks of the two roads dia-
eonally cross. The Reading train
was gived the signal, but it either failed
to work or the speed of the express
was too great to stop. 1t caught the
excursion train broadside and
ploughed through. MISUNDERSTANDING it
in twain. The engine OF the Reading
train was shattered to pieces. Every
car was jammed to its fullest capacity.
AS soon as the news reached Allan
tic City the utmost CONSERVATION pre-,
vailed, but the authorities were equal
to the emergency. Relief trains were
dispatched to the scene loaded with
cots and several surgeons. AS quick
as the bodies were recovered they were
carried into the local hospitals and un
dertaker shops. A general fire alarm
was sounded, and the department
promptly responded and aided in the
heartrending work Of digging for
the victims. Fear grew into despair
and horror as the vigorous work OF
the relief gangs revealed the awful ex'
tent of the disaster.
The 6rst Reading relief train bore
into this city twenty seven mangled
corpses. men, women and children.
The next train not All hour later car
ried fifty manned and wounded, and
two of these died soon after reaching
the city. Train after train piled to the
scene of the wreck and toiled back
with its ghastly load. The Sanitarlum
which does duty as the city hospital
quickly found its capacity overlaxed.
Meanwhile others of the dead and in.
iured were being carried to the private
hospital at Ocean and Pacific avenues.
Edward Farr, engineer on the Read
ing, was killed outright as was another
road man who rode on the engine with
him. This man, whose name has not
vet been learned, saw the collision
coming and leaped from the cab an
instant before the crash. Almost at
the same instant the engine cut its way
through and caught him directly in
its path. His body and that OF Farr
were found under a. heap OF debris;
but the engineer lay in what remained
of the cab and his right hand still
clasped the throttle. He had been
faithful unto death and met it at his
post The fireman on the train had
ieaped a few seconds before and es.
capped with triaing injuries: Samuel
Thorn, baggagemaster on the Reading
train, is among the dead. James NJ &.
Bateman, Bridgeton undertaken, is
known to be killed. He was in the
third car and his hat was found lying
among the mass of broken timber.
Richard Trenchard, Bridgeton ma
chlnists, and his wife, are both dead.
As time progressed il seams almost a
certainty that fully fifty persons were
killed. Conductor Kelly, of the Penn.
sylyania train had both legs and
arms broken and was internally in
iured. Albert J. Mosebach of Phila-
delphia was on the Reading train and
escaped unhurt.
The excursion train was made up OF
fifteen cars, the foremost of which was
baggage car. This and the next
two Coaches caught the full force of
the crash and were easily demolished.
What remained of the third car was
tumbled into ditch at the roadside.
The responsibility for the accident
cannot now be fixed. Charles q.
Rynick of Bridgeton, who was in the
excursion party, was In one OF the
rear cars. He escaped with severe
bruises, and so far as his agitation
would permit told the story of his ex
perience. when we saw that col
iision was unavoidable,,' he said, the
scene in our car was terrific. Women
tainted and men rushed in mad panic
for the door. But it came almost be-
fore we knew it. The third car was
cut right in two and the lower portion
of it lifted bodily from the track and
tumbled over. Every car was crowd
ed and it is horrible to think Of the
numbers who must be lying under
those ruins. The roof OF one of the
cars fell in as mass and everybody
in that car was buried under 1t. 1t
simply dropped in on the people. |
knew of many of those aboard, but l
will hope for the best. l know posi-
tiyelv of two in our car who were kill
ed. They were Mr.. and Mrs; Frank
Bell of Bridgeton. Their daughter
was in another car further back and
was not hurt. Idon't know who is to
blame. When we were about two
miles out from Atlantic City we came
to stop out in the meadows and
staved there for several minutes but
I do not know why. think there must
have been fully eighty or a hundred
killed. The only person with me was
nv six-year old son and he was not
| L,.t ,h,ol, Iod "