The sun., 1897-11-01
A Wreck ON The PENNSY..
Collision Between Two Portions
Of a Broken Freight,
PERHAPS TRAMpS CAUSED 1t.
Train Parted and in Backing to i'tck
I'm the Lost Half Collision
Ensucs---NO Lives Lost.
Special to TIE SUN.

Special to TIE Sun. Y
CHESTER, Oct. 3l.-A freight wreck, in
which one car was demolished, another
badly damaged, and an engine dcrailed
and damaged to such an extent that it
had to be sent to the repair shops,
occurred on the Pennsylvania railroad,
above Eddystone, between2 and 81 lock
yesterday morning. The wrecked train
was extra freight No. lib, and number
of the cars were heavily loaded with
granite, consigned to Philadelphia.
When the train reached point just
above Eddystone station the rear
car broke loose, and as the engineer did
not know Of tho mishap, he proceeded on
up the road until he neared MooIc sta
tion, when another section OF the cars
parted from the rest Of the train. Here
there - u eep grade, and when the train
parted the last cars Which became de-
tached started down the track, gaining
momentum with every rod Of the ny.
BY the time the detached cars reached
the first one which lad been cut loose
they were moving at al unusually high
rate of speed, amt crashing into the sim
gle cT wlrich was standing On the track
wrecked it comp, tc!y. .:..
\. The engineer sde-tfa.ked the re-
naming cars ei his train, and started
back after the ones which had left him
down the road. The engine was backed
in the direction of Eddystone, and not
being aware that his train had parted
more than once did not have the upper
sections properly located. AS u consc-
quence the engine was backed into the
! first car he came up with, and one end OF
the car was driven into the water tank
OF the tender.
B A Brakennn's Lucky Move.
y While the engine was being backed
/ down the grade brakeman sat on the
] end OF the tender, wholly unconscious
i Of his impending danger. The night
] being cold, the trainman grew chilly,
anl decided to go down into the en-
gine cab and get warm. He lad
scarcely reached the caboose when the
crash came, knocking the engineer fire.
oman and brakeman up against the side
4 o; the cab, but they were not injured.
When the brakeman sprang from the
engine and viewed the wreck it made his
Y blood run cold to think that had he re-
tained his former position the fraction of
70 minute longer he would have been
s!crushed to death in the wreck
\, The wrccking train was sent for and
by 6 o'clock the south bound track was
cleared Then all trains were run on
\ the south bound track until between s
and . o'clock, when the road was cleared
and traffic resumed
Tramps Cause the Wreck.
Z 1t is impossible to explain how the
wreck occurred, unless it was the work
of tramps Freight trains going through
@this city at night usually contain num-
Der of the hobo fraternity. The Chester
police will not allow them to stop over
! here if they can avoid it, as their presence
\ is considered u nuisance. 1t is believed
that some OF them who were on No. 1l3
and knowing of the vigilance exercised
by the Chester officers determined to get
off anyway and cut the cars loose. This
is frequently done, and if the guilty ones
are detected they are severely death with,
as many lives are placed in jeopardy by