Evening journal., 1897-06-02
TO PLACE THE BLAME
a Thorough Investigation to Be
Made of the Coaching Disaster
TWO MORE DEATHS ARE PROBABLE.
The President of the Road Makes
Statement In Which He Tries to De-
fend His Corporation says the
Signals Were In Order.

DIOOhlyn, June Z.-COfOner COOHlDS
and District Attorney Young of Queens
bounty state that a thorough and
searching inquiry will be made into the
cause of the Valley Stream disaster al
ready reported in these dispatches and
an effort made to fix the responsibility
for the sad accident where it belongs.
There win probably be only one serv-
ice for the funerals of the five victims
1T will be held in the Greene Avenue
Baptist church, Brooklyn, to which the
deceased belonged.
Miss Clara Stewart, whose skull was |
SO frightfully fractured, was operated |
hpon and seemed to improve somewhat, |
although the doctors have little hope |
Iof saving her life.
Miss Emily Burtsch. who sustained |
rupture of the liver and kidneys, is also |
fn a very precarious condition.
None Of the others injured is likely to |
Idle.
Story of a Survivor.
! The most graphic and connected ac-
.count of the disaster yet heard was told
4by Harry s. Lewis, who is only young
Pad and who escaped injury. He said;
Il sat on the middle seat, and on one
lside of me sat Mrs. Andrus and on the
lother side Walter Welbrock and Cousin
lJohn. / was standing up when we near
ted the railroad, and as we'll as l can
remember Walter was fooling with
John, and both were laughing. 1 turned
Ito look up the track and saw over the
;tops of the bushes the engine of the
train. 1 just had strength enough to
ishout to the driver: The cars Turn
Unto the ditch. Never mind about up
isetting'
But the driver did not hear me on
account of the noise of the blowing
horns and the laughter.
HE couldn't see the train, for no one
toould see it unless he stood up. yelled
iagain for the crowd to jump before it
was too late. Then 1 grabbed Miss
Stewart and made jump.
Il could not take her with me. was
mot strong enough. Her weight simply
threw me on my side in the ditch. 1t
Twas only a few seconds before 1 was
Iup.
pieces of the coach and bodies were
flying in every direction. 1 could hear
. ia sickening, crushing sound. 1 saw the
. ibody of Walter Welbrock thrown into
1.-THE air, turning and twisting. Then
. lfound Thomas Wyatt, who wasn't much
fhurt. We got a drink Of whisky from
i 1.-TWO wheelmen who were close by. Then
4 1--we ran back on the tracks. Walter
4 lWelbrock was lying on his side. He
.
4 1--WE started to lift him, but he yelled
iwith pain. SO we had to leave him
# iwhere he was. Then we found Miss
Stewart. Not a stitch of her clothing
twas left on her She was screaming
{, with. pain. covered her. with some
f tthing and hurried on.
i ''The next one we saw was Lawrence
X. Barnes. Jr., whose fail was broken
4 by the puddle he landed in. He was
unconscious and we lifted him from the
pool to some sand. Another man help
ed us to carry him. Gilchrist was
thrown about so feet upon a bank. He
was dead when we found him. Others
were hurled tremendous distances
mo one waved to us or shouted
warning. The horses were all right.
They hardly ran 50 feet after the coll
sion and stood waiting for some one to
get them"
The Drivers Story.
Henry Mccormick, the driver Of the
tallyho coach. was seen in the hospital
and said:
Il had six horses and sat on the right
hand side of the box. We were just
jogging along comfortably when the
railroad track was reached. l am fa-
mllar with the road and familiar with
the handling of six horses. l have
driven such teams for many years.
-Four horses were across the track
when / saw the train coming. The en-
gine was about 200 feet away and at
the time did not appear to be going
very fast l 'hollered' as loud as I could
for the engineer to STOP but there was
so much noise with the blowing OF
horns and the yelling and bowling be-
hind me that I am not sure whether
heard the whistle given or not, but
think 1 did. 1 believe the train had
time to slow up and stop. At the mo-
ment I saw there was no stopping the
train I tried TO get across the track
faster. The locomotive crashed into
the coach about half way back, and
was thrown on my head and do not re-
member much else. My shoulder was
injured, but I did not know how badly
until later"
President Baldwin's Statement.
c. c. Baldwin, president Of the Ions
Island Railroad company said:
when 1 heard of the accident. 1 was
at Glen Cove. about 20 miles away.
took the first train and got a specia
and went to the ssene Of the dlsaste
at once 1 got there before the bodies
had been removed and was in plent,
of time 10 see everything that had hap
pened.
''rhere are but three points to b.
brought out. The first is that the acci
dent was one Of those horrible affair
that seem to come like a thundercla'
from a clear sky. 1t was a horrbl
thing. and we greatly deplore 1t.
"The second point to be made is tina
there were all the ordinary signs an
signals given that any railroad has an
that the railroad cannot in any way b
blamed for the accident.
"The third point to be made is that a
soon as the accident occurred the rail
road did everything in its power for tn
victims that II was possible to do.
"The stories that the signal bells weT
out of order is not true. We have me
whose duty II is to watch these sigma
bells constantly, and they attend
their duty. The bell rang for the tral
n which was in the accident and for III
train upon which / travelled"