Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-08-07

Desert Ierry IN AAdine-
Bridgeport, Conn, Aug. IA
trolley car smashed almost into kind
ling wood lying in the middle of Peck 8
mill pond at Oronoque, is the only
visible indication of the frightful ac-
cident of yesterday afternoon, when
80 lives were lost and dozen people
seriously injured from the car tum b.
ling off the trestle which crosses the
pond at height of 80 feet. The be-
lief is expressed that the motorman
became ratified when the car gained
the momentum in going down the
incline and turned the current on at
full head instead of decreasing it.
Bridgeport, Conn, Aug. Thirty
one persons were killed by an acci-
dent on the Stratford extension of the
Shelton Street Railway company at
2. m. yesterday when a loaded trolley
car went off the trestle over Peek's
mill pond at Oronoque, about six miles
north of Bridgeport, and sank in the
flats forty feet below. Thus far thirty
one people are known to be dead and
eight slightly injured.
The identified dead are: Joseph
Hotchkiss, Bridgeport, engineer fire de-
partment; Henry c. Cogswell, Bridge
port, aged 60, member of the board of
education; Orlando B. Wells, aged 63,
shoemaker; Selectman Elias E. Brad
ley and wife, Milford; William Osborne
and Arthur Holmes, Stratford; Daniel
Calvin, Ansonia; Conductor John Car
roll, Bridgeport: S. Banks, Shelton;
Mrs. Mcdonald, Bridgeport; Winton
Lanthear, motorman; Bessie Toomey
and William II. Harvey, Bridgeport;
Mrs. J. H. Rugg, Stratford; Mrs. Frank
Blew and two children, boy aged 3, and
girl aged 8, Stratford; William Nc
Cullough, Stratford; Mrs. Arthur
Holmes, Bridgeport.
Those Seriously Injured.
Among the seriously injured are:
Sidney A. Hit, Bridgeport, right leg
fractured twice; Margaret Farrell,
right leg amputated above knee-will
probably die; George Hamilton, scalp
wound, injury to leg; Frank Kraft,
Bridgeport, injuries about head and
back; Arthur Holmes, Bridgeport, con-
tusions about the body, left leg crushed;
Fred Hillercus, scalp wound, bruised
about the body; Matthew Olvin, scalp
wound, cut and bruised generally;
William Kelly, Bridgeport, sprained
arm; Mabel Rugg, aged 5, arm broken;
Charles Delaney. New York, stock
broker, injured internally.
Jumped on the TrestIe.
The scene of the awful accident is
midway between Shelton and Bridge |
port. The car was north-bound, run
ming toward Shelton. 1t was in charge
of Conductor John Carroll, of Bridge |
port, who was among the killed, and |
Motorman Hamilton, of Bridgeport, |
who escaped by jumping. The trestle |
is 440 feet long, made of iron with |
stone foundations, and was not pro- |
tected by guard rails. South of the |
trestle was an incline down which the |
car ran at a high rate of speed. After /
it had run on the trestle for about ten |
feet the trucks left the rails and then |
the car continued on the ties for about |
seventy-five feet, when it went of the 1
trestle and dropped into the pond be-
low. overtUrning completely and up
ending.
Went Singing to Their Doom.
When the car struck the four-ton
motor and the heavy trucks crushed
into 1t, instantly killing many of the
A morgue was improvised
in the main room of the town hall at
Stratford and in a very short time
bodies were laid out
awaiting Identification. The accident
was witnessed by Miss Frances Peck,
who resides about 400 feet from the
bridge. She was upstairs at her home
as the car was passing. and she says
that it was running at an unusually
fast rate. Frank Cramer, who was
bathing near the bridge. states that.the
passengers were all singing and in the
nOSf i0vfr11 rnnOd fhay nacSad hin, |