The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1898-09-07
EIGHTEEN DEAD.
Picnickers are Slaughtered at a
Grade Crossing.
A Delaware d Hudson Train Crashes Into
and DemOlishes a Trolley Car at CO.
hoes, N. Y.-A Frightful Scene of
HorrOr-Ten Fatally Injured.

Cohoes, N. Y, Sept. 6.-An appalling
disaster occurred in this city last
night. Shortly before o'clock troll
ley Of the Troy City Railroad Co. was
struck by an express train on the
Delaware d Hudson railroad at
crossing at the west end of the Hud-
son river bridge which connects this
city with Lansingburg, and its load of
human freight was hurled into the air.
Eighteen of the 35 passengers are dead
and 10 of the remainder will die. The
cars entering the city from Lansing
burg were crowded with passengers
returning from a Labor day picnic at
Rensselaer, park, a pleasure resort
near Troy. Car No. 1872 of the Troy
City railroad was the victim of the
disaster 1t came over the bridge with
merry party of people fresh from the
enjoyment of the day.
Four tracks of the Delaware & Hud-
son road, which runs north and south
at this point, cross the two tracks of
the trolley road.
1t was the hour when the night
boat special, train which runs south
and connects with the New York City
boat at Albany, was due to pass that
point.
The tracks of the street line run
at grade from the bridge to the point
where the disaster took place.
The motor car was struck in the
center by the engine of the train,
which was going at high rate of
speed. The accident came without the
slightest warning. The car was upon
the tracks before the train loomed
in sight and no power on earth could
have saved it. The motorman evident
ly saw the train approaching as he
reached the track, and opened his con-
troller, but in vain. With crash that
was heard for blocks the engine struck
into the lighter vehicle. The effect was
horrible. The motor car parted in two,
both sections being hurled into the air
in splinters. The mass of humanity
on the car was torn and mangled.
Those in the front of the car met with
the worst fate. Every man in that
section of the car was killed.
The scene was horrible. Bodies were
hurled into the air and their headless
and limbless trunks were found in
some cases so feet from the crossing.
The pilot of the engine was smashed
and amid its wreckage were the MAIN
ed corpses of two women. The passen-
gers on the train suffered no injury in
addition to violent shock.
The injured were taken to the City
hospital and to the Continental knit
ting mill, the former not having suffi-
cient ambulance service to care for all.
The corpses were placed in boxes
and taken to neighboring mill shed
Many of them were unrecognizable.
The crash was frightful in its results
Headless women with gay summer
dresses bathed in their own and the
blood of others; limbs without trunks
or any means of identifying to whom
they belonged; women's and mems
heads with crushed and distorted fea-
lures; bodies crushed and flattened-
these sights constituted a spectacle
most horrible to behold.
The train on the Delaware G. Hud-
son road Immediately after the acci.
dent went to Troy. The engineer
stated that he did not see the car until
he was upon it. He tried to prevent
his train from striking the car, but
his efforts were fruitless.