Great Falls weekly tribune., 1896-07-31
A FEARFUL PATIO
Two Railroad Trains Collide on the
Reading Road Near A.
lantic City.
MANY ARE KILLED OR INJURED
, Large Excursion Party Whose
Pleasure Was Changed Into
Mourning.

"A railroad accident, nOTrlDle III uclh'e
and eickening in results, occurred this
evening Just outside this city, and as a
result about one hundred persons are
e;ther killed or injured. The Reading
railroad express, which left Philadelphia
at $50 o'clock this evening for Atlantic
"A CITY. crashed into Pennsylvania rail
road excursion train at the second signal
tower, about four miles out from here, as
the Pennsylvania train was return
ing to Brdgeton with party
of excursionists from that place,
Millyile and noighboring towns. A
rough estimate of the killed AMI injured
at late hour places the number at 100.
It ia hoped this is an exaggeration, but
the number is undoubtedly more than
fifty.
At the second signal tower, where the
tracks of the two roads di8gonally cross
each other, the Roading train WAS given
the signal, but it either failed to work or
the speed of the express Was too great 20
be checked in time 1t caught the ex-
cursion train broadside and ploughed
through, literally cleaying it in twain
i The engine of the Reading train was
4 shattered to pieces. Every car was JAM
med to its fullest capacity AS soon ae
I the news reached Atlantic City the ut
n most CONSERVATION prevailed, but the
authorities were equal to the emergency.
a Relief traine were dispatched to thescen
loaded with cots and bearing stalls Of
n surgeons.
II The first Reading relief train bore into
the cty27 manged corpses men, women,
1& and children. The next train, not an
hour later, carried 10 of the manned and
wounded, and two of these died soon
# after reaching the city. AS train after
y train piled to the scene Of the wreck and
Il came back with its ghastly load, the city
hospital quickly found it's capacity over
taxed Meanwhile others of the dead
and wounded we're being carried to q
private hospital ut Ocean and Pacific av-
enues. Edward Farr, engineer on the
Reading train, WAS killed outright,
as was another road man who
was on the engine with him. This man.,
whose name has not yet been learned,
saw the collision coming and ioaped
from the cab an instant before the crash.
Almost at the same instant the engine
cut its way through and caught him di-
rectly in its path His body and that Of
farr were found under u heap Of debris,
but the engineer lay in what remained of
the cab, and his hand still clasped the
throttle, The fireman on the tram had
leaped Il few seconds before and escaped
with tuiIing injuries. Samuel Thorno,
baggagomaster on the Reading train is
anon. the dead. James M. Bateman, a
BridgetUn uudertaher, is known to be
killed.
Richard Trenchard, a Bridgeton ma
Il chinist, and his wife are both dcad; Con
ductor Kelley, of tho Pennsylvania train,
mad both legs and an arm broken and
was internally injured,
The excursion train was made up of ID
cars. the foremost o! which was a bag
gage car, This and the next two coaches
caught the full force of the crash and
were utterly demolished. What remained
of the third car was tumbled into ditch
at the roadside. The responsibility for
the accident cannot now be fixed
A late report says II of the injured
have since died at the sanitarium.
Superintendent |. M. Swcigard, of the
Philadelphia & Heading company, places
the number Of dead at 81 and injured at
about the same number lie sent tel
egram to Philadelphia this evening
which said: "There were 81 persons
killed, as follows: Twelve women, twen-
ty-one men, two boys and two girls;
about the same number injured"
Just where Sweigard obtained his in
formation cannot be learned, as 1T will
be impossible TO give a correct number
Of the dead until the debris is removed.
This will consume several hours. The
work is still progressing and the rescuers
will remain at work until the last body
is taken from the wreckage.
The known dead are L. ,. Murphy,
Aillville; j. ID. johnson, G. ID. Bouno-
ghas, =. II. Goldsmith, John Griener,
c. McGear, Mrs. Joshua Earnest, f. Bell
and wife, Richard Trenchard and wife,
Bridgeton; G. B. Taylor, no address; s.
Thorn, baggage master Of the Reading
train, Atlantic City; ID. Il. Wood. ship
ping clerk, Philadelphia; G. Eackler
Salem; +. Dubois, Woodruff; middle
aged woman, with ring, engraved with
initials sc. to w small boy, about A
years of age; e. Farr, engineer of the
Reading train.
Mrs. Edward Farr, the wife of the
Reading engineer who was killed, when