The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-04-05


left-hand corner of the fire. box is stove
In. Both rear driving wheels are miss
ing and the eight-inch axle lies half
buried in the culm, totally bereft of its
wheels and bearings. The workings
beneath the boiler are an entangled
mass, fit now only for the scrap heap.
CRUSHED THROUGH THE COACH.
The rear corner of the cab on the en-
gineer's side sticks into the culm fully
two feet The diagonally opposite cor
ner of the pilot Is raised in the air and
before the wreckage was removed was
protruding through a Jagged hole high
up In the side of the first car of the
passenger train. The tender on the op-
poslte side of the Delaware and Hud-
son tracks was also veritable scrap
heap. The trucks were sunk In the
culm, while the platform and tank slid
on down the embankment until its end
rested on the ground.
The front end of the Delaware and
Hudson engine, No. 81. was stove in
and dismantled. The pilot was crush I'd
to pieces and scattered along the
ground over which the engine Travelled
after the crash. Its tender was badly
crushed and the forward right hand
corner of the tank tilted upward after
1t was torn from the trucks. The cars
OF the passenger train and the freight
car that figured in the collision es-
capped with comparatively little dam
age.
After viewing the awful wreck ii Is
impossible for any one to even imag-
inc how the men on the Delaware,
Dackawanna and Western engine es-
capped death. They themselves don't
know. All they can reColleCt is that
there was a terrible din and confusion,
that they were tossed and thrown in
every direction, and that they finally
found themselves, much to their sur
prise, alive.
Engineer Dougherty was lying
alongside his half-buried cab when
succor came. He was conscious
and talked with those about him.
readily recognizing his accuant-
ances. Conductor Dooley was pinned
beneath the first car of the pas
senger train and had to be helped out
Fireman Eshleman and Brakeman
Price were landed in the culm at the
east side Of the emhankment.
CAUSE OF ACCIDENT.
is not yet known. The right of way at
the crossing is regulated by BAH sig
| nal. When white ball is displayed
the Delaware and Hudson train has the
right of way. A red ball gives the
| right of way to the Lackawanna train
Engineer Copeland says the white
ball was displayed when he whistled
| for the crossing and that it doubtlessly
| was afterwards changed. Engineer
| Dougherty says that when he APP
| preached the crossing the red ball was
displayed.
Martin Reddington, the aged man
| who tends to the signals, and who is
| employed by the Delaware and Hud-
son company, stated positively that
the red ball, giving the Delaware
Lackawanna and Western train the
| right of way, was displayed when the
| Delaware and Hudson train was nO
| yet within sight, and it continued tC
| be displayed without being changed.
| The red ball was displayed during
the afternoon and the signalman de.
clares that as soon as the wreck oc.
CURED he locked up his watch-towei
so that no one could get in and change
the signal. He also made the state
ment that engineers frequently dis.
regard the signals altogether.
p. o. Knight, of this city, one of the
| passengers on the Delaware and Hud
son train, stated to a Tribune reporter
that the white ball was displayed jus
after the wreck occurred. Engineer
Copeland, he says, drew his attention
to it. Later the red ball was dis
played
COPELAND'S STATEMENT
When Engineer Copeland was askeC
| concerning this he said he preferred
not to discuss the matter, but he woulC
say that when he called for the sigma
it was given him and he paid no mOr
attention to it. A train of freight car
on the packing house switch shut on
his view of everything to the west un
til he was almost upon the crossing
The freight train came out directl.
in front of him, he says. He saw i
just Il moment before reaching tn
crossing bun expected, of course, tha
it would stop. The train left Greel
Ridge on time.
Engineer Dougherty, being on tn
far side of his engine, did not see tn
on-coming passenger train. THE sig
nal was given for me to come owe
when we We're at the bridg
and l supposed everything was al
right. The passenger train was on m
before l saw it,"
Eshleman, Dooley and Price max
similar statements. None of them say
the passenger train until it was on to
of them
The ends of two culm dumps over
look the wreck and all afternoon thes
We're crowded with sightseers from a
parts of the city.
CLEARING UP WRECK.
The wrecking crews of both road
We're put at once at work clearing tn
road and righting the engines.
The south bOunu Delaware and HlId
son track was opened up about
o'clock. The Delaware and HudsC
engine still blocked the north boun
track at that hour. 1t was on tn
track at midnight and they eXpecte
TO move it within an hour or so. Th
Delaware, Lackawanna and WeSter
engine was not yet gotten up the EN-
bankment at midnight.
Before the track was opened 10 Del
aware and Hudson trains We're ru
between Green Ridge and Scranton q
!