The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1899-05-18
EXETER HORROR
|rwenty.nine Killed in an Awful
Railroad Crash.
REAR END COLLISION.
Excursion Train From Harrisburg Crash.
ed into Express.
CAB COMPLETELY TELEsooPED.

VI the Victims OF the Disaster Six
teen Were Residents OF Norristown,
While Three More Residents OF That
City Are Lying at the Point OF Death.
Accident tho Result or Somebody's
Blunder. and the Coroner VIII Con-
duct Rigid Investigation In an En-
denvor to Place the Responsibility.
Reading, Pa, May 15.-Shortly before
10 o'clock last Friday night a collision
of passenger trains occurred on the
Philadelphia and Reading railway at
Exeter Station, six miles below Read
ing. The express train which should
have left here at $3.50 p. m. for Phila-
delphia was behind schedule time in
leaving. and stopped at Exeter for Or
ders. A special train from Harris
burg. bearing excursionists who had
attended the Hartranft monument un-
Yelling at the capital, left here ~
minutes later than the express train,
and at Exeter, while proceeding at a
| Idplu cpCCu, iuohOu INV thC CAPi Cos.
The engineer Of the express train
was Dan Wfldermuth, OF Conshohock
en-, and Fireman John Kemmerer. In
the cab of the excursion trains loco
motive were Engineer Harry Orrell,
OF Philadelphia, and Fireman Everett
Both escaped death by jumping, and
Everett declares that Orrell jumped
but an instant before the crash.
The work Of rescue was proceeded
with promptly by the train crews, po-
lcemen and soldiers who were re-
turning from the Harrisburg parade.
but the work was very slow.
For, opposed toand resisting the fren-
zied efforts of the rescuers, ton after
ton Of weight was piled one on the
other and welded one with the other
by being hurled through space at the
rate of so miles an hour. The mon
ster Wootten locomotive had plowed
through the two day coaches in the
rear Of the express. completely tele-
scoping them, and had then leaped
with terrific energy, on top Of the
Pullman parlor car. the Orpheus, com.
pletely shattering the latter, and send
ing rain of splinters over all.
Under this great mass were pinioned
many Of the passengers, and under the
debris of the first three coaches of the
special were other passengers, for
special were other passengers, for,
their momentum. suddenly stopped by
the resistance offered the locomotive,
these coaches were literally shivered
into chunks and splinters.
The other coaches Of this train es-
capped, as did also that portion of the
express ahead of the Pullman. This
car evidently had acted as a sort Of
buffer for the coaches ahead, and so
the occupants escaped with only a Sc
we're shaking up.
Thus, ever toiling to remove this
weight and get at the men underneath,
the rescuers wore away the night. The
engine, dismantled Of all appurte-
nances, was lifted from the Pullman at
midnight. and then the cars were jack
ed up and the victims were got at more
rapidly. As fast as the bleeding, life
less and all but lifeless bodies were re-
leased from the tons Of weight upon
them they were carried by tender
hands to the Exeter Station hotel, and
placed on the porch and inside.
One of the most pathetic incidents
at the wreck occurred when w. e.
Holmes, of Norristown, was taken
from the debris. AS soon as he could
gain power Of speech he gasped: my
boy, where is he? Where is my boy?"
No one had the heart to tell the father
that George had been removed fromnear
his side corpse, horribly mutilated.
And so through the hours there arose
the unanswered moan: my boy, my
little George, where is he?"
The total number of dead as a
result Of the collision reached 20
yesterday, William D. Jenkins, of Nor
ristown, dying at the Charity hospital
at Norristown.
Norristown suffered the most Sc
verely by the disaster. 16 Of the dead
having lived in that city. They are:
William Stahler, druggist; William
Camm, retired; Colonel George Schall,
retired; John Slinghuff. chief of fire
department; William H. Lewis, pro-
duce dealer; F. D. Sewers, proprietor
Of book store; Harry c. Wentz, real
estate dealer; Charles H. White, real
estate dealer; John Kuntz. milk deal
er; Henry J. Coulson, iron worker;
Joseph Taylor. colored porter; Harry
Thompson, watchman; Samuel Nc
Carthy, contractor; Isaac M. Fillman,
fireman; Norman Holmes, aged 8;
William d. Jenkins. laborer.
The other 13 victims were: Lucien j.
Custer, aged 20, and Daniel H. Yoder,
40. both Of Pottstown; Jacob w. Mark
ley. Philadelphia; John johnson, Mt.
Carmel, Pa; H. c. Hartford, Philadel.
phia; Captain Charles Leaf, Fort
Washington, Pa; H. L. Hunsberger,
Conshohocken, Pa; c. L. Laverty,
Harrisburg; e. e. Shelley, Hatboro,
Pa: c. H. Powell. Phoenixville. Pa;
Michael Lawn. 81, Germantown; Cap
tain C. w. Eicholtz, Downingtown, Pa;
Samuel w. Beatty, Conshohocken.
At least 10000 persons visited the
scene of the wreck yesterday. They
came from places 20 and 80 miles dis
tant. Railroad trains brought crowds,
others came by carriages a7d bicycles,
and hundreds came on Jjot. Relic
hunters kept the police busy. Almost
everybody was bent on carrying away