Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-12-05
THREE MEN KILLED.
A SCORE OF PEOPLE INJURED, TEN
OF THEM SERIOUSLY.
TERRIBLE COLLISION OF STRgEr.CIRS,
The Vehicles Drives Half rArsusn
Each Other and Crushed to Pieces.
II Is Remarkable That Any oas Of
the Passengers Escaped Alive.

DETROIT. MICH, December 4-Tvu
suburban cars. carrying about twenty
passengers and both running at q speed
OF twenty-five miles an hour. colIsded ON
the Detroit and Oakland electric railroad
this afternoon Three men were instant
iy killed. and score OF persons injured.
ten Of them seriously
The dead are:
JOHN SAVAGE. superintendent A. ths
road.
CHARLES NJ WHITEHEAD. meier.
man.
JOHN KELLY. OF Detroit, book-assnt
The injured are:
Frank McHugh, motorman: leg hrnksu
and internally injured.
Louis Harneck; severely bruises aaI
internally injured.
Mrs. John Doty, Of Pontias; two r1ba
broken, and otherwise injured.
Aged mother of Mrs. John Doty. or
Pontiac; badly crushed. and leg broken.
John b. Madden. Leonard; legs broken
and arms badly bruised
Peter Hempt, Detroit; cut IN leg.
Mrs. T.. II. Smith, Detroit: legs ana
face badly bruised.
Warner Goodale. IaPeer severely
bruised Mrs. Warner Goodale; face cut:
body badly bruised
A. T.. Robertson, Walnut. Oakland
county; leg badly cut, hand crushed. and
| shoulder bruised.
John Riegel. Pontiac; compound frac-
| ture Of leg.
Half dozen others were more or less
4 ri hxy hrnlrnp oil
CAUSE IN DOUBT.
The exact cause OF the accident Is vet
| in doubt. According to the schedule q
car leaves the Detroit and Pontiac ter
| mini every hour. and there are three
| sidlngs along the road. To-day the cars
were behind time One bound southwark
| to Detroit had passed an outward car
| ar the switch two miles out, the crew
being apparently ignorant OF the fact
| that another outward-bound car was
| approaching them less than two miles
| distant, although II is claimed that they
should have known Il from orders sent
| from Birmingham. The weather was
| foggy and the rails were slippery from
| sleet which had been falling. The COL
| ltsion occurred near a gravel-pit about
midway between Pontiac and Birming-
| ham, at the foot of two steep grades.
down which the cars ran at full speed.
| The collision was terrible. The cars
were driven half through each other, ana
crushed to pieces. Superintendent Savage
was In the motorman vestibule, operating
the outward-bound car. Both his legs
were cut off, and his body was fright
| fully mangled. Motorman MaHugh, 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 vestibule door, and he and Motorman
| Whitehead We're struggling together to
| get out of the door when the crash
came. Both were killed. Kelly's head
and shoulders were jammed out OF the
vestibule window. and his neck was
broken. Whitehead's head was cut open
and his chest crushed.
Had it not been for the stout construc-
ton OF the cars. both OF which were
| new, il Is doubtful whether any Of their
| occupants would have escaped alive. As
| it was, nearly all OF the fourteen pas
sengers In the south-bound car suffered
some injury. Some OF the injured were
| taken TO farm-houses. Others were
brought TO city hospitals
The company officials are investigating
as to the responsibility for the disaster,
| and coroners jury has already been
| impannelled.
| The Detroit, Birmingham and Pontiac
road Is a suburban enterprise. Its cars
enter the city over the Woodward-ave-
nue. car-llne.