The Penn's Grove record., 1897-06-04
DEATH SMITES TALLY-HO
A Train Crashes into a Coach Filled
with Pleasure Seekers.
MANY HURLED TO DESTRUCTION.

. Six-Horse Tally No Loaded Inside ano
on Top, Was Crossing $40 Long Island
Railroad Tracks Near Valley Stream,
L. I.-Coach Cut In P~leces-Bell Sigma,
BROOKLYN, N. Y. (S~peciaI).-A tragedy to
chill the blood occurred Monday afternoon,
when a tally-ho coach filled with merry
makers was struck by Long Island Rail-
road train at a grade crossing near Valley
Stream. Four people were killed outright
and another died soon after. Seventeen
others were injured. Only two persons es-
,aped injury in a party of twenty-three.
From evidence of witnesses and the state
e OF the Coroner, the responsibility for
its horror apparently rests upon the Long
Island Railroad Company In its strange
neglect in allowing the gong at the crossing
to get out OF order. The failure of this sys-
tenn OF warning at the crossing was com.
plete, according to the testimony Of many
witnesses.
The dead, the dying and the injured
we're co-workers in the Greene Avenue
Baptist Church, in Brooklyn, and all lived
in the city. The dead are: Dora Burtseh,
lNtuby ytuIS OiuJ hlitu iuSthutly, Ii
neck being broken and a large splinter of
shattered woodwork having penetrated
the skull; William Gilchrist Jr.,
t~wenty-one years old, killed outright;
Winslow W. Lewis, nineteen years old,
killed instantly, his skull being crushed;
George F. P,shley, twenty years old, killed
instantly, his skull having been crushed;
Lester w. Roberts, twentycthree years old.
killed instantly, his body being dismem-
bered. Those fatally injured are: Lawrence
A. Barnes, Jr., skull fractured; Clara Stew
art, skull fractured, left arm broken n
head badly cut; Walter W.. Wellbrock,
twenty-five years old on the day he was
hurt, both legs broken and m arm broken.
The accident happened at Valley Stream,
just about fifteen miles from Brooklyn. The
Monteuk Division of the Long Island Rail-
road runs through Valley Stream, and the
Mineola and Valley Stream branch leaves
that line there and shoots off to the north
toward Hampstead. For about three miles
after 1t leaves the Valley Stream station
it runs through q wood. A quar-
ter of a mile from the station OF the Merrlck
road, which is the chief bicycle road On
Long Island, crosses the single track at
grade. On three corners OF this crossing
the wood Is thick, and 1t Is not possible for
persons travelling along the road, either In
vehicles or on foot, to see a train coming;
nor is it possible for the engineer or persons
on q train to see anything of the road
until the train is right upon 1t. Though
thousands OF persons cross the track at that
point every day, the railroad company
maintains no flagman there, and the only
thing to warn the people is a bell on an old
fashioned eLook out for the locomotive"
Sign post, which sometimes rings and which
sometimes does not, and which, 1t is assert
ed positively, did not ring on the day of the
accident.
When the edge Of a grove to the east
was nearly reached little Harry Lewis, q
small boy to the left OF the driver, looked
ahead and saw O man frantically waving
his hands from the top of a furniture van
that had crossed the railroad amoment be-
fore. The shout could have hardly reached
Q before h small boy from his vantage
seat caught sight Of the oncoming train
from the north and cried to the driver:
Look out for that traini Turn quicki''
But the driver had NO time to turn. II
he had turned the coach would have reeled
across the track. Instead, he threw a lash
on the horses n they leaped In the air
witk--the great numbering coach behind.
It was the work OF a second and scarcely
had the horses crossed the furthest rail-
when the train, with its terrible speed,
struck the coach.
There was a scene of awful carnage.
The coach and the holiday seekers were
lifted into the air by the engine as o great
bull would toss q child on its horns. The
people were scattered with the fragments
of the great vehicle. ground under the
ridges of the cowcatcher, or dropped
against the sharp sides Of the engine and
train moving at high speed.
The green trees vines were stained
with blood. The train flew like q ghost
past the scene, scattering the evidence of
destruction for fully two hundred yards
down the track to the east.
Two bodies lay at the right OF the track,
mt and ar11Ghah alDnnaf haunnl raonR-
milton. At the left was another body be-
headed.
And scattered between and heaped up In
places were the ones who had escaped
death only to suffer the torrents Of pain.
One woman, stripped OF her clothing, lay
with broken limbs near o little pile Of the
wreckage Of the coach. Others, gashed
and scared with wounds, were unconscious
on the grass. The few who had escaped
more serious injury were dazed and help
less.
The ones who had been saved were in
pitiful distress. For when the first relief
arrived one young man was walking about
in a frenzy OF insanity. He did not appre-
eiate the fearful situation. His brain had
been Jared out of consciousness by the
shock, and he was crying out meaningless
words In a pitiful, choked voice.
The sufferings Of the wounded were ter
rible to witness. One poor fellow asked to
be put out of his misery at once. At least
200 people were gathered at the scene in
less h ten minutes. The sight of the
dead and the loans OF The wounded would
have been enough to soften the heart OF q
stone, but yet heartless rufians were there
who robbed the dead before the very eyes
of a big crowd OF witnesses.
A deputy sheriff from Inwood was there,
but he did nothing to protect the lead and
the injured from these s~coundrels. For
nearly two hours the victims lay there in
the full glare Of tho sum-.