The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-11-19
Train Dashes
Into Men.
ELEVEN KILLED.
Horrible Disaster Between
Jersey City and Harrison.

New York, Nov, 1S.-Tn the gloom OF
smoke, steam and fog that darkened
the rails Of the Pennsylvania Railroad
early this morning between Jersey City
and Harrison, belated suburban train
dashed into gang of workmen. killing
eleven and injuring four. Five others
had remarkable escapes All the vic
TINS lived in Jersey City.
They werei Dead--Frank Bodoski,
Giuseppi Colasurdo Thomas Doherty,
Thomas Flanagan. Joseph Fasgea,
Michael Lawless. Nicola Lucci Frank
Ludowski, Angelo Puggos Frank Slum-
isky Giuseppi Stinzano.
njured-Lawrence Hoffman, Michael
Miller. Frank Swazkowsk, John Wang
don.
The accident happened about 2 1-2
miles west of Jersey City. just beyond
the Hackensack river bridge, At that
point there are four tracks, two devo-
ted to passenger and two to freight
traffic. At the north are the shops
and tracks of the Delaware, Lacka.-
wanna and Western Railroad. Foreman
Quirk took out a gang Of 10 men at
a. m. to repair track No. 4, the west
bound freight tracks, at that place
Quirk saw that the fog might mean
danger, so he sent ahead two men,
Lawless and Doherty, to give warning
of approaching trains. Lawless was to
go west and Doherty east and cover
all the tracks. They We're to shout
warnings at the approach of trains.
The passenger tracks were kept busy
with incoming suburban trains, and the
dense smoke and steam from these
trains helped to make the atmosphere
| more dense.
| Suddenly, about $50, there was a
shout from Lawless, who was the adj
vance guard of the gang. Train on No
1 3, he cried. 1t was an east bound
4 freight train that came along slowly
leaving behind it a heavy pail of
smoke
The men who were scattered along
the track juraed out of the way. Al
most all of them jumped over to track
No. 2, the east bound passenger track
| The heavy smoke enveloped them and
the men, many of them new hands
on the road, shlvered with fright, for
they could not see and could scarcely
hear the approaching trains that fol-
| lowed the freight
4 Lawless, too. had jumped across to
track No 2, keeping all the time a
| sharp lookout Suddenly there was a
rumble of wheels and the shrek of a
whistle.
Inc MlllStOne local, delayed by FOG.
was coming along at the rate OF forty
miles an hour. Lawless was struck and
thrown 80 feet away, nlangled and
bleeding. On went the train. Engineer
Van Nostrand had scarcely noticed the
mans body flying through the air when
| the engine struck Doherty; then it
ploughed into the mass OF covering
men, who stood huddled together on the
track
1T was an awful sight," said the~e en-
gineer later. '+.Ealere was a. mass Of legs
and arms and heads flying through the
air. / was drenched with blood. I knew
that something terrible had happened,
and put on the air brakes as hard as
possible.
When the train came to a standstill
the passengers rushed out. The track
was drenched with blood. The meadows
and track looked like a battlefield COW
cred with bodies"
The shrieks of the dying drowned the
cries Of the Mortified passengers. Wo-
men tainted and men turned away in
horror. OF the 10, nine were dead and
six wounded.
Some one telephoned quickly to Jersey
City Many of the bodies still writhing
in mortal agony we're placed on the
train and borne to the city.
Two of the wounded died on the way.
A relief train brought back the others.