San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-07-31
HORRIBLE SCENES.
EXCURSION TRAIN DASHED INTO
AND WRECKED.
Cars Lay in Masses Of Tangled splinters
Mingled With the Bodies of the
Dead and Injured.

DIR. Charles A. Smith, OF Harris
burg, who was near by which the
awful accident occurred outside
Atlantic City, last night. passed
through Philadelphia on his way
home this morning.
at was an awful sight," said DIR.
Smith. "Only four or five bodies
had been taken from the wreck
when l arrived there. The Read
ing express had struck the excur-
sion train on the Pennsylvania,
cutting it clean in two. The Read
ing engine struck the second pas
senger coach of the excursion train
with terrific force and smashed it
into bits.
"There was nothing left of it ex-
cept a tangle of splinters mixed up
with which were mangled and torn
bodies Of ep,women and children.
Death had come instantaneous as
from a lightning stroke to most Of
them. There was no sem blance OF
q railroad car in the heap of kind
ling wood. The third coach had
not received the full impetus of
the blow but it was ripped up bad
ly and overturned with one side
of. / cav the remains of the
Reading engine in a heap of scrap
iron and rubbish piled up with
the smashed car.
"The Pullman car on the rear of
the Reading express did not leave
the track and the inmates suffered
little harm beyond bruises, cuts
and sprains.
"Those who had been spared on
both trains, stood about dazed and
helpless until the screams Of the
wounded and dying brought them
to their senses.
physicians who had been sum-
moned from Atlantic City, and
brought by special train, came in
thick and fast. 1 assisted them
in temporarily dressing wounds
in the field but it seemed as If al
most every victim pulled from the
wreck had been killed at the in
slant OF the collision. The sights
all about me were heart-breaking
and horrible. Mothers looking
for children, husbands for wives
and the air filled with grosns and
cries."
John Peters. of this city also,
who was on his way, and who
jumped when he saw the collision
was inevitable, arrived here this
morning. He said:
"The trains were crossing the
meadows at terrific rate OF speed
and 1t seemed as il one was racing
to catch the switch before the
other. So far as 1 could see, the
red light in the signal tower was
up, blocking the, ReadingItrain and
giving the right-of-way to the
Pennsylvania. Neither train
stopped and then the Reading train
plowed its way through the center
of the other.
"The escaping steam covered the
wrecked trains for few minutes,
and when 1t lifted l could see
broken cars and the dead and in
jured. / saw rescuers lift out
bodies scalded from the trunk up.
ward, and others with heads crush
cd to a pulp hanging to one side.
Several men in such condition
were taken from the wreck, and
before they could be placed in a
comfortable position, they died."
The horrible experience OF Miss
Linda Pencoast, of Bridgeton, who
was ON the wrecked train almost
resulted in her prostration. She
was in the fifth car, and after the
collision scrambled for the door at
the front. A man staggered against
her from the rear door with a
stream of blood gushing from his
mouth and his head laid open by
deep cut. Miss Pencoast's dress
was covered with blood and as she
stepped back the man fell dead at
her feet.
At l o'clock this morning spe-
cial train from Atlantic City car
rying passengers bound for Bridge
ton and vicinity pulled into the
West Jersey station, Camden. The
sight of the survivors in the
coaches who had been in the
wrecked train was pitiful. Persons
were reclining on seats with BAN
dages about their heads, from
which in some instances, blood was
trickling. Little boys and girls
had deep wounds on their faces,
and the clothing of nearly all OF
them were spattered with blood. On
ono aaat cot & ID. Frazier. his wife