The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-11-18
INIuRED.

I'M OItLlJ.
Frank Swazkowski; will die.
The scene of the accident is about a
stones throw southeast Of the Pennsyl-
vania Company's meadow shops. and I'M
mediately opposite the meadow yards,
some distance beyond the I1ackensack
River. Four main tracks skirt the mea-
dow for clear distance OF a mile or
more. Two Of them are the east and
west bound passenger tracks Of the main
line and the other two are the east and
west bound freight tracks. They are
numbered "One,' two" Three,
-Four in succession. No. "One," or the
east bound passenger, lying nearest the
open meadow. It was on this track the
men We're at work spiking, ballasting and
generally repairing. The thick fog hung
like pail over the meadows. It was
made denser by the smoke from flying To-
comotives going east and west 1t was
at that hour of the morning when east
bound trains follow one another at short
Intervals bearing thousands of commuters
to their places OF business in New York.
The gang at work is what is what is
known as floating" gang. There were
nineteen of them under the formanship
of William Quirk. The regular section
boss was at work on this side of the
Hackensack. The majority Of the men
were not accustomed to railroad work.
Some of them were not even acquainted
with the locality and knew not the risk
they were undergoing.
Three men were stationed in advance
of the gang. 1t was their duty to watch
out for approaching trains and warn the
n.y.. in
spiking while the third kept strict watch.
In this they took turns. The gang had
successfully lodged a number of trains.
An east bound freight on No. Three
track ratified by, leaving a trail of smoke
that thickened the fog over the very
heads of the men with the picks, axes,
crowbars and shovels 1t is said, too,
that west bound passenger train had
just cleared. Herein there is some con-
fusion of statements among men evil
IDENTIFY posted who were interviewed at
the scene of the accident shortly after
the calamity befeIl the gang. The care
full man, whose name could not be as
certained on the scene of the accident,
jumped aside and saved himself. Wheth-
er his two companions, who were sent
with him in advance of the gang, were
among the killed or wounded could not
be definitely ascertained. From what
could be gathered the locomotive of an
east bound train crashed into the main
body of the men, knocking them right
and left, without warning, and leaving
their mangled bodies on either side or
No. "Onen track. Evidently most of the
bodies fell on the meadow side of the
track, where there is cinder path wide
enough for wagon road. and which
slopes down to the marshy bottom of
the meadows. Only half dozen or more
escaped.
When reporter for the News" reach
ed the scene OF the accident the bodies
had been picked up and sent to the Penn
sylvanda depot One man was at work
shovelling up patches of clotted blood,
spattered brains and such of the remains
as could not be shipped along with the
rest Of the dead bodies. and depositing
them in hole which had been dug on.
the margin Of the meadow, and covering
up all traces Of the appalling calamity
1t was almost impossible to imagine that
such d catastrophe could have happened
such a short while before. but there were
still patches OF clotted blood yet uncover
ed They seemed to be on the south or
meadow side Of the track. Yet there
seemed to be considerable amount of
ballasting on No. "onea track done.
whether accomplished BY the gang before
the calamity occurred, or afterWaFd py'