The evening times., 1898-11-03
THE LANGDON TRAGEDY
The killing of Mrs. George and
Miss Mcitee a Mystery.
No WITNESSES PRESENT
Theories Advanced by the Police
and Railroad 0mcials-Engines
SHOW No signs of Having Struck
the Unfortunate WOmen-A; the
Observation-Disclosures Death.

Two women met death on the railroad
tracks al Lsngdon late last night. They
were Mrs. Florence George, an employe
at the Bureau OF Engraving and Printing
and Miss Catherine McAtee, a dressmak-
er Both lived at the Tavestock Flats.
al Third and G Streets northwest.
Mrs. George who is a widow, went 10
Langdon Yesterday afternoon to attend
a party at the home of Isaac ID. Porter.
her son-in-law. and who is assistant su-
perintendent of the Reform School. Mrs.
George was accompanied by Miss McAtee.
These ladies left the party before any
OF the other guests Mr. Porter thinks
it was about 10 o'c,Ock that he bade them
goodnight The night was bright, and
they started towards the station unst-
tended II is about half a mile from MIR.
Porter's house TO the railroad station.
AT IL O'Clock, a group OF the party guests
from Langdon took their leave. As they
crossed the railroad tracks they discov-
cred the bodies OF Mrs. George and Miss
McAtee The news of the grewsome find
travelled fast and Mounted Policemen
Browne and Knupfer. were soon upon the
scene. The remains were conveyed To
the morgue and the coroner notified.
The manner in which the unfor ,unate
women met their death is not known and
so far as could be learned today there
were no witnesses to the tragedy. The
railroad officials are in the dark, but
their theory is that the victims were
truck by the Royal Blue train which
reached the Baltimore and Ohio station
in this city at 1870 last night and which
passed Langdon six minutes earlier at
the rate OF fifty miles an hour.
Engineer Walter Furley, of this train,
stated that he knew nothing of the acci-
dent The other members of the trains
crew felt no jar. The locomotive bore. no
mark to indicate that it had crushed out
two lives. The wheels and tracks of all
the trains which might have killed the
women were examined here or in Balti-
more, but without result.
Railroad people, though, do not wonder
at this The bodies may have been
struck and hurled away from the track
without leaving a splash of blood on the
train or without the engineer knowing
said, an engineer knows when his ma
chine comes in contact with a human
body. but they say also that this rule is
not without its exceptions.
The theory of the police and railroad
people Is that the victims were Iurrying
along the inbound track toward the sta
tion and were overtaken by the fast-Iun-
v,sr IN vha ar x-bir oh tba frf
road crosses the tracks is about 100 yards
east Of the station platform. As the wo-
men reached the crossing they must have
seen two headlights. One was local train
No. IL. which left Washington st 1o:lS, and
the other the Royal Blue Line express
or train No. SIS. The warning gong at
the crossing is supposed 80 have been
ringing, as the electric apparatus was
found to be in working order early this
morning.
Mrs. George and her companion intend
ed to take the local train No. l69. which
reaches Washington at l0:5S. The head
light which they may have seen coming
down the inbound track they probably
thought indicated the coming of this
train. They hastened their steps, that
they might reach the platform. The
miscalculated the speed of the oncoming
train, and were hurled TO death Miss
McAtee was hideously mangled. Mrs
George had the right side of her skull
crushed in. The bodies were found about
cars length apart, and to the right of
the inbound track.
The station agent and telegraph opera
tor leaves the Langdon station at Z
O'Clock. There is no watchman at the
crossing after that hour
AT the inquest held al police station No.
6 this afternoon a verdict of accidental
death was returned.