The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-05
TROLLEY CARS COLLIDE
FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT ON THE DE-
TROIT AND OAKLAND ROAD.
Three Men Instantly Killed and a
Score Injured, Ten SeriousIy-Re-
suit of Somebody's Blunder.

DETROIT, Dec. 1.-Two suburban cars
carrying some twenty passengers and both
running at a speed of twenty-five miles an
hour collided on the Detroit and Oakland
Electric Railroad at / o'clock this after
noon. The result was that three men were
instantly killed and score of persons in
jured, ten of them seriously.
The Dead
JOHN SAVAGE, superintendent of the
CHARLES M. WHITEHEAD, motorman.
JOHN KELLY, of Detroit, book agent
The Injured
FRANK MHUGI, motorman, leg brok-
en- and internally injured.
LOUIS HARNECK, seriously bruised
and internally injured.
MRS. JOHN DOTY, of Pontiac, two ribs
broken and otherwise injured.
AGED MOTHER of Mrs. John Doty, of
P929ntiaS, &c, b Radly a cE1shed "a ana leg broken
arms badly bruised.
PETER HEMPEL, of Detroit hole cut in
MRS. e. H. SMITH, of Detroit, legs and
face badly bruised.
WARNER GOODALE, of Lapeer, severe
MRS. WARNER GOODALE, face cut and
body bruised.
A. E. ROBERTSON, of Walnut, Oakland
county, leg badly cut, hand crushed and
shoulder bruised.
JOHN RIEGEL, Pontiac. compound frac-
ture OF leg.
A half dozen others were more or less
cut by broken glass and bruised
The exact cause of the accident is as yet
in doubt. President Hendrie, of the Detroit
q Oakland Railroad, said this evening that
the responsibility for the disaster had not
yet been fixed. According he schedule
car leaves each end, Detr, d Pontiac.
every hour, and there are thr dings along
the road. To-day the cars we're behind
time. The one bound southwark for Detroit
had passed an outbound car at the switch,
two miles from Pontiac, the crew apparent
ly being ignorant of the fact that another
outbound car was approaching them less
than two miles distant, although It is
claimed that they should have known it
from orders sent from Birmingham. The
weather was foggy and the rails slippery
from the sleet which had been falling.
The collision came near a gravel pit about
midway between Pontiac and Birmingham,
at the foot Of two steep grades, down which
the fated cars ran at full speed. The i'm
pact was terrific. The cars were driven
half through each other and crushed to
pieces. Superintendent Savage was in the
motorman's vestibule operating the out
bound car. Both his legs were cut off and
his body was frightfully mangled. Motor
man McHugh, who stood behind Savage,
narrowly escaped a similar fate. John
Kelly was evidently the only passenger who
saw the north-bound car approaching. He
rushed for the vestible door and he and
Motorman Whitehead were struggling to-
gether to get out of the door when the
crash came. Both were killed. Kelly's
head and shoulders were jammed out of the
vestibule windows and his neck was broken.
Whiteheads head was cut open and his
chest crushed.
Had it not been for the stout construction
of the cars, both of which were new, 1t is
doubtful whether any of the occupants
would have escaped alive. AS it was, nearly
all of the fourteen passengers in the south
bound car suffered some injury. Some Of
the injured were taken to farm houses,
others brought to city hospitals. The COM
pany officials investigating as to the re-
sponsibility for the disaster and a coroner's
jury has already been impaneled. The De-
troit, Birmingham & Pontiac road is a
separate suburban enterprise. It's cars en-
ter the city over the Woodward-avenue
street-car line.