The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-01-10
FoIGHTFUL
COLLISION.
Two Trains Crash Head On al
West Dunnellen, N. J. /
THIRTEEN PERSONS KILLED.
And Over Twenty-Five Were Sc.
riously Injured.
PENNSYLVANIA ExcURs1oNIsTs.

PENNSYLVANIA EXOURsIONIsTs.
The Train on Which the Fatalities Occur.
red Was Crowded With Residents Of tn.
Schuylkill Valley Who Were En- Route
to New York on,a Three Days Pleasure
Tour-The Accident Was Caused by
Mistake in Orders, For Which the Train
Crews Were Not Responsible.
Bound Brook, N. j., Jan. 1O.-By
head on collision between two passen-
gers trains Of the Lehigh Valley rail.
road at West Dunnellen yesterday 13
persons were killed and over rs were
injured.
West Dunnellen is three miles from
Bound Brook and about 80 miles from
New York city. At the spot where the
disaster occurred there is sharp
curve in the Lehigh Valley tracks and
a steep cutting, but the accident was
due in the first place to some terrible
mistake in train orders, anS in the Sec
Ond place to another accident that oc-
Cured at Bound Brook earlier in the
day. The scenes which accompanied
the collision, the suffering Of the in.
jured and the panic that reigned among
the 400 passengers were well nigh in.
describable The blood stained wreck
of tangled and twisted iron and wood
bore witness to the truth of the gem
eIal verdict of railroad men that this
was one of the worst collisions in re.
cent years.
Freight Wreck Led to Greater Wreck
A head on collision on a double
track road was made possible only bya
freight wreck which occurred at Bound
Brook at o'clock in the morning,
when the axle of freight car broke
and nine cars were piled on top of each
other. This completely blocked the
east bound track, and all Lehigh VAL
ley trains bound for New York switch
ed from their own track to the west
bound track, going over these rails
from Bound Brook to Newmarket, a
distance of six miles, and changing at
the latter place back to their right side
of the road. TO permit this mode OF
traffic all west bound trains were held
at South Plainfield until their own
line was clear Of trains going in the cp-
D0site direction.
T,,ni, Nh MI o1, 1nft !, n por,li II,
Pa, at Z a. m., was SO heavy with hut
man freight that it had to be broken
into three sections The first sections
arrived at Bound Brook, switched over
to the other track, switched back at
Newmarket and reached New York in
safety. The third section of this train
was almost an hour late. Its seven
: cars were crowed with 400 excursion
lists most of them from Mount Carmel
and Shamokin, Mahanoy City, Halle
ton, Ashland and Pottsville. Pa. The
party was travelling under the auspices
of the Business Mems excursion, an
annual event which many patronize
for three days visit to New York.
Not few of the excursionists were 60
ing to witness the -Sharkey
fight. Their train switched over at
Bound Brook and proceeded, like the
preceding sections, on the west bound
track.
! Meanwhile there had been waiting at
Newmarket a local train mo. 71) that
plies regularly between New York and
Bound Brook. Owing to the traffic all
going on one track it was almost an
hour late. At last the train dispatcher
al South Planteld gave 1t permission
to 60. Just before reaching West Dun.
nellen Engineer Rick slowed his train
down, because he stops for passengers.
II there are any, Martin Brennan, the
signal man, threw up his arms and
waved them, as If to say there were no
passengers, so the local put on steam
and headed round the curve, going al
about rs miles an hour. There were
only four passengers on the local.
!, Plunging Forward to Death.
In the cab of the excursion train was
James Prendergast, the engineer, with
his fireman, George Cheshire. They
saw the local as it started on the curve
With shrieking whistle and brakes
grinding sparks from the wheels the
excursion train bore down to what
seemed certain destruction. The pas.
sengers, alarmed at the continued
whistle, opened the windows, mothers
snatched their children in their arms
men started frcm their seats, but be.
fore they had time to find out what was
the matter they were hurled headlong.
knocked senseless and many killed out.
right. The two engines. now pilotless,
for tSh crews had jumped, came to-
gether with an awful crash. The ex-
curslon train was probably going at
about Is miles an hour. The local
engine, as If tripped in its faster flight,
turned a complete somersault and came
crashing down beside its now demol-
ished obstruction. But its career was
not ended before it had jammed the
tender of the excursion train almost
from one end to the other of the first
car from Shamokin. The tender STOP
ped few seats from the rear door.
The car. or what was left of it, rolled
aver, carrying with it the imbedded
fender, the fragments of dozen bodies
and the imprisoned wounded.
1t was in the first car Of the excur-
nion train that all the deaths and most
~ tho oocuoItioe ooourrad Tho othor