Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1899-08-12
THIRTY-SIX KILLED IN
STREET RAILWAY WRECK
loaded Trolley Car Tumbles From a
High TrestIe Near Bridge
port, Conn.
HARDLY A PASSENGER ESCAPES
Almost Every Person Aboard the
Car Either Killed or Injured
"A List of the Killed
and Wounded.

utHJ Oh the OtTdtlOfu eAtSusion VI IN
Shelton Street Railway company at 4
o'clock yesterday afternoon when a
loaded trolley car went off the trestle
over Peck's mill pond at Oronoque,
about six miles north OF Bridgeport,
and sank In the flats forty feet below.
Thus far t~hirty-six people are known
to be dead and several more injured.
The identified dead are.
JOSEPH HOTCHKISS, Bridgeport,
engineer first division.
HENRY C.. COGSWELL, Bridgeport,
aged 90, employee of the New York,
New Haven and Hartford railroad,
member of board of education.
ORLANDO b. WELLS, aged 62, shoe
maker.
sELECTMAN ELIAS L. BRADLEY
and wife, Milford.
WILLIAM OSBORNE, Stratford.
DANIEL CALVIN, Asonia.
CONDUCTOR JOHN CARROLL,
Bridgeport, Me.
s. BANKS, Shelton.
MRS. MDONALD, Bridgeport.
WINTHON LITHEARX, motorman,
Bridgeport Traction company.
BESSIE TOOMEY, aged %, Bridge
port.
WILLIAM II. HARVEY, aged 81,
Bridgeport.
MRS. j. II. RUGG, Stafford.
MRS. FRANK BLEW and two chill
dren, boy aged 3 and girl aged 5, STRAIT
ford.
| WILLIAM M'CULLOCH, Stratford.
MRS. ARTHUR HOLMES, Bridge
port.
THOMAS MNALLY, aged 80,
Bridgeport; Identification not posi-
tive.
PETER RING, aged 90, Bridgeport.
PATRICK MDERMOTT, aged so,
Bridgeport.
MRS. PATRICK BRENNAN, aged
80, Bridgeport.
ALFRED PITT, aged %, Bridge
port.
WILLIAM COTTER, aged %, Bridge
port; Identification not positive.
IRVING DOURUSE, aged %, Bridge
port.
MRS. WILLIAM II. HARVEY,
Bridgeport.
Among the seriously injured at the
Bridgeport hospital are:
Margaret Brennan, scalp wound.
Mrs. Sidney A. Hit, Bridgeport,
right leg fractured twice.
Margaret Farrell, right leg ampu-
tated above knee; will probably die.
George Hamilton, scalp wound, in
jury to leg.
Frank Kraft, Bridgeport, injury
about head and back.
Arthur Holmes, Bridgeport, con-
tusions about the body, left leg
crushed.
Fred Hillerus, scalp wound, bruised
about the body.
Matthew Olvin, scalp wound, cut
and bruised generally.
Margaret Farrell, New York.
William Kelly, Bridgeport, sprained
arm.
Mabel Rugg, aged 5, arm broken.
Charles Delaney, New York, stock
broker, injured internally.
Only two persons are known to have
escaped unframed. 1t is believed that
there were fifty-three passengers on
the car. but the conductor was re-
moved by the conductor of another car
and spirited away, so that at present
it is impossible to state accurately the
number aboard.
The scene of the accident is midway
between Shelton and Bridgeport. The
car was northbound, running toward
| Shelton. It was In charge of Conductor
John Carroll, Of Bridgeport, who was
among the injured, and Motorman
Hamilton, Of Bridgeport, who escaped
by jumping.
The trestle is 440 feet long, made Of
iron, with stone foundations and was
not protected by guard rails. South
OF the trestle is an incline down which
the car ran at a high rate Of speed.
| After il ran onto the trestle for about
ten feet the trucks left the rails and
then the car continued on the ties tor
about seventy-f1ve feet, when it wen:
off the trestle and dropped into the
pond below, overturnlng completely
and Impending. Three physicians who
were passengers on n car a short dis
lance behind arrived Immediately OH
the scene and rendered I'll possible as
| s~istance tothe injured. Word was sent
to Bridgeport and three ambulances
and a police wagon were hurried to the
scene and the injured were taken to
the Bridgeport general hospital. A
morgue was improvised in the main
room of the town hall at Stratford, and
in q very short time twcnty-three bod
les were laid out awaiting identified.
| ton. The accident was witnessed by
| Miss Frances Peck, who resides about
| 400 feet from the bridge. She was up
stairs at her home as the car was pass.
ug and she says that 1t was running
at an unusually fast rate. Frank era,
mer, who was bathing near the bridge,
| states that the passengers were all
| singing and in the most ioyial mood as
they passed him.
The road, which is practically con.
trolled by the Bridgeport Traction
company, was opened for traffic last
Thursday.
All the persons killed sustained frac.
tured skulls. William Kelly, of Bridge.
port, who was in company with Miss
Farrell, escaped death by jumping
from the car as he felt it swaying to
the flats below. He sustained a severe
| shock, but otherwise was uninjured
He stated last night that the cars were
not running unusually fast, but that
the car was swaying considerably
when il left the ~trestle, and he realized
the danger and knew his only safety
was in jumping.
George Willis, of Shelton, was on
EnI IcION IN TIE cuANNEI