The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-08-07
SCORES OF PEOPLE MEET
WITH FR|CHTFUL DEATHS
Nearly Forty Were Killed In a Trolley Car Tha'
Plunged Into Mill Pond.
Hundreds of Excursi0nstS Hurled Into the Water at Bar
Harb0r, Me.-Twenty Bodies Taken Out.

Bridgeport. Conn.,, Aug. 6-Nearly forty
persons were killed by an accident or. the
Stratford extension OF the Shelton Street
nOcn when d loaded trolley car went off
the treStle over PeckS mill pond at
OronoQue. about six miles north of
Bridgeport. and sank in the flats forty
feet below. Thus far thirty-SiX persons
are known to be dead and several more
injured.
The Identified Dead.
Joseph Hotchkiss. Bridgeport. engineer
fire department.
Henry c. Cogswell. Bridgeport. aged 80
employee of the New York. New Haven *
Hartford railroad and member of the
Orlando B. Wells. aged So. shoemaker.
Selectman Elias +. Bradley and wife.
Milford.
William Osborne. Stratford.
Arthur Holmes. Stratford.
Daniel Calvin. Ansonia.
Conductor John Carroll. Bridgeport.
s. Banks. Shelton.
Mrs Mcdonald. Bridgeport.
Wilton Lanthar.. motorman. bridgeport
Traction company.
Bessie Toomey. aged. %. Bridgeport
William II. Harvey. aged q. Bridgeport
Mrs. j. II, Rugg, Stratford-
Mrs Frank Blew and two children, boy
aged 3 and girl aged ). stratford.
William MCCULLOUGH. stratford
Thomas Mentally. aged 30. Bridgeport
Gdentifcati ton not positive)-
Peter Ring aged ~. Bridgeport.
Patrick McDermott. aged 90, Bridge
Mrs. Patrick Brennan. aged 30. Bridge
Alfred Pitt. aged %. Bridgeport.
William COtter. aged %. bridgeport
identification not positivel-
Irving Doruz. aged %. Bridgeport.
Mrs William II. Harvey. bridgeport
John Calvin. aged -. Ansonia-
The Injured.
Margaret Brennan. scalp wound.
Mrs Sydney a. Hit. Bridgeport, right
leg fractured twice.
Margaret Farrell. right leg 9mputated
above the knee; will probably die.
George Hamilton. scalp wound and in
'u Frank Kraft. Bridgeport. injuries about
head and back
about the breast and left leg crushed
Fred Hillercus. scalp wound ana pruiseu
about the body.
Matthew Olvin. scalp wound ana cut
and bruised generally.
William Kelley, Bridgeport, spralned
arm.
! Charles De.aney.-.N New y orks~ SOCK
broker injured internally
Margaret Farrell, New York.
Two Escape Unframed.
Only two persons are known to have
escaped unframed. IL is believed that
there were forty-three passengers on the
car but the indicator was removed by
conductor of another car and splriiSu
away. so that at present il is impossible
to state accurately the number aboard
The scene of the. accident is midway be
tween Shelton and Brldgeport: 6he "a
was northbound. running toward shelton
II was in charge of Conductor john Car
roll of Bridgeport. who was among the
killed. and Motorman Hamilton OF Bridge
port who escaped by jumping
The trestle is 40 feet long. made OF IRON.
with stone foundation and was not pro-
tected by guard rails. South OF the treste
is an incline: down when tne car ran ~, az ~
treStle for about ten feet the trucks iSIt
the rails then the car continued on lne
ties about seventy-fve feet. when II WIZ
off the trestle and dropped into the pond
below. overturning completely and up
When the car struck the four-ton motor
and the heavy trucks crushed INTO ~, ~
stantly killing many of the passengers r.,
Three physicians who were passengers III
a car a short distance behind arrived
quickly on the scene ana rendered di poS-
sible assistance to the injured
Taking Out the Bodies.
Word was sent to Bridgeport and three
ambulances and police wagon were nuI-
ried ia the scene and the injured We're
t IL ~ 10 the bridgeport general hospital.
4 rnortr,;e was improviSed in the main
room of the town han AT stratIoI4 k,. an
in a very short time twenty-tnret po'iies
were laid out awaiting identlnca lloI,,
The accident was witnessed py ni -
Francis S. Peek, who resides apout -
AT her home as the car was passing. SIe
saws that it was running at an unusually
fast rate Frank -Cramer. who was baIn-
ing near the bridge. states that the pas
sengers were all singing and in the most
joyful mood as they passed hlm-
The road which Is practically control ,lsel
by the Bridgeport Irac .rSln e3n,pahS' was
Nearly the entire medical iorce pl
bridgeport responded to telephone cans.
but when the doctors arrived they Were
unable TO do much for the few passeng-
ers who escaped instant death. me car.
after Impending. soon settled over on ~
side and there was little difficulty IN re-
moving the bodies OF the dead as wen Dc
assisting the wounded -, 60.
Motorman Hamilton is suffering from
such a severe shock that IL Is lhiposslpt.e
to learn anything from ron, nun m r r9iimt
company stated that 1t was Impossible for
him to account for the accident
Nothing Wrong With Track.
Inmediately after his arrival at the
scene he made a thorough inspection of
the tracks and treste ana coulu see
nothing wrong and cars were running
He denied that the cars were run at
high rate of speed and claimed that every
possible precaution had been taken 10
prevent accidents -,
One theory advanced is that faulty con-
nection was responsible for the accident
AT the point where the cars leave the
road for the trestle, ii is alleged that rails
had sunk little. and though the 1or-
ward trucks took the rails all right, the
rear trucks did not connect ana jumped
the track which caused the forward
tricks to also leave the iron- III is De
lieved that if the proper guard rails nad
been placed on the trestle the car would
have been prevented from topping over
All Dead Had Skulls Fractured.
All of the persons killed sustained frac-
tured skulls William Kelly of Bridge
MORT who was in company with Miss FAR
reIl escaped death by jumping from the
car as he felt it swaying to the mats De-
low. Soon afterward the car topped over
He sustained a severe shock put was
otherwise uninjured. He stated tonight
that the cars were not running unusually
fast but that the car was sWaying con-
siderably when il struck the treStle ana
he realized the danger and knew MS only
safety was in jumping
George Willis of shelton was on tne
highway not more than 100 leet from the
scene and witnessed the car topping over.
He said that there was one unearthly
Shrek as it went down and after that
silence.
Miss Frances Peck who was dressing in
her room saw the accident from her
window. and IL is her impression that the