The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-05-19
HORRIBLE DEATH OF
TWO LITTLE BOYS
Killed by an Electric Car While They
Were at Play.
THE BODIES FRIGHTFULLY CRUSHED
Unfortunate Lads Were in n Toy Ex-
press Wagon and Were Racing a
Trolley Car Down the Grade North
Of Gibson street when They Lost
Control of the Wagon and II Ran on
the Track Directly in Front of Car.

the Track Directly in Front of Car.
Two boys, Johnnie Bochanski, aged
years, and Pattie Jamita, aged
years, cousins, were run over by
street car midway on the Washington
avenue hill north of Gibson street at
535 O'Clock last evening and fifteen
minutes afterward the mangled and
lifeless bodies of both were taken from
under the car wheels
The accident Is one of the most horri-
flying ever recorded in this city. The
two little boys We're at play all yester-
day afternoon. They had a toy eX-
press wagon and, seated in the box, the
little fellows coasted down the hill.
Johnnie BOchanski, the Oldest, steering
the wagon by the handle.
The hill is paved with asphalt and
the little wagon travelled down at
pretty fair rate of speed. A few min
utes after $50 o'clock the boys were
making one of their trips down the hill
and behind them came a street car on
the Green Ridge Suburban line of the
Scranton Railway company. The ear
was running slowly, according to road
rules for that point, and the little eX-
press wagon kept just a few feet ahead
of il on the right side of the avenue.
STEERER LOST CONTROL.
Suddenly, when the car and wagon
were just midway on the declivity,
Johnnie Bochanski, the steerer lost
control of the wagon and the front
wheels turned to the left swerving the
wagon upon the track, less than two
feet from the front of the car. Motor
man John O'Donnell just had time
enough to pull back the brake to the
farthest notch as the car fender struck
the little wagon and bounding upward
passed over the two boys who had
tumbled from the wagon and lay upon
the track.
The brake beam squeezed the bodies
to the hard brick pave between the
rails and the front car wheel on the
right side ran across the head of the
Bochanski boy. crushing out every
spark of life. The car was actually
blocked by the human mass under the
wheels. Only a few people witnessed
the accident.
1t was all so sudden and so blood
chilling that those few were incapable
of moving.
When the car was at a standstill Mo-
torman O'Donnell and Conductor Frank
White. the men who We're on the car, A.
b. Schmeck who saw the accident
from the porch of his house. S22 Wash
ington avenue, just opposite, and sew
eral bystanders pulled the mangled re-
mains from their tightly Wedged po-
sition under the car ana the little
bodies were laid side by side on the
grassy plot near the sidewalk. only
the front wheel OF the express wagon
was damaged
LARGE CROWD GATHERED.
A crowd of several hundred persons
gathered within few minutes and
pressed to the place where the dead
bodies lay. a pool of blood with pieces
of skull and flesh, on the street car
rail, was another centre of interest.
shortly after o'clock Coroner S. =.
Longstreet arrived at the scene. He
cmpanneled the following as jurors:
Emerson ID. owen, II. L. Hopawell,
Frank Leonard, l.. j. Evans, p. II.
Weimer and DR.. T.. NJ. Pennypacker.
Coroner Longstreet viewed the remains
OF the two bodies, discovering the fol-
lowing injuries:
Johnnie BCchanski -- Abrasion on
right knee, above and below knee cap;
abrasion on left knee above and below
knee cap. right hand bruised badly;
right arm broken al elbow; right arm
also broken two inches above elbow;
right shoulder dislOCated, broken.
bruised: left shoulder bruised; left
humegal bone broken two inches below
shoulder; left hand skinned; whole
head smashed, brains oozing.
Pattie 'Jamita-Skin abrasion on left
leg and thigh same ON right leg and
thigh; skin abrasiuns on right side:
skull crushed on left side, junction of
temporal and frontal bone; skull
crushed on right side, junction of from
tai and temporal bone.
MEET TOMORROW NIGHT.
After the cOroner's examination the
jury adjourned to meet tomorrow eve
ming at Coroner Longstreet's office,
where testimony will be heard. The
remains of the two boys were then
carried in quilts and blankets from
the spot, Johnnie Bochanski to the
house of his father, Antoni Bochanski
on New street, and 3-year-old Pattie
Jamita to hi, fathers house, George
Jamita, of Wyoming avenue. Both
houses are within 100 yards Of the
place of the accident. The mothers of
the dead boys are sisters.
James A. MacKay, of 739 Adams ave-
nue., Dunmore, was on the front plat
form of the car. In conversation with
Tribune reporter last evening he said:
THE motOrman was not to blame
was on the front platform. and saw
the affair from beginning to end.
helped to take the children out, and if
they were my own | would have to
eXonerate the motorlnan from blame
The car was running slowly, and ]
must say that i'm general cars run sc
| slow on the Suburban now that 1 can
walk home nearly as fast as | can
ride. l have asked conductors If they
could not make quicker time and they
| told me that 1t was against orders.
Going down the hill towards New
| street, the car did not exceed foui
miles an hour at any time, and al
the time Of the accident all the brakes
were set. If the motorman had
ten feet more, he could have
| aVerted the accident. The cal
only ran eight feet after the
children fell out of the wagon. Wher
the wagon upset they fell inside the
rails and they were so small and were
thrown in such a manner that the fend
| er passed over them, as did the pilot
| board. The wheels did not pass ovei
them. l helped to take the children
| out One of them was dead and tho
other died a few minutes after beinl
taken out The motorman saw the