Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1900-09-07
REAR.END COLLISION
Excursion Train Crashes In.
to a Milk Train.
THIRTEEN KILLED MANY HURT

THIRTEEN KILLED MANY HURT
Locomotive Plunges Through Passenger
Coaches and Crushed Them az
if They Were Egg Shells.
Philadelphia, Sept. 4.-Thirteen
persons killed and over 80 others in
jured is the appalling record of rear
| end collision between an excursion
train and milk train on the Bethle-
hem branch of. the Philadelphia &
Reading railroad this morning at Hat
field, Pa, ~ miles north of this city.
The wrecked train consisted of 10
day coaches and was the first section of
large excursion made up of people
from Bethlehem, Allentown and sur.
rounding towns, to Atlantic City.
This section carried only those persons
who lived in Bethlehem and Allen
town. 1t left the union station in
Bethlehem at 6:O5 A. NJ, exactly So
minutes behind the milk train. The
4obGCG b2d1A COuSx6 bOo VI GWO "11h C1I 3
and two passenger coaches, and had
stopped at every station on the road
from Bethlehem en- route to Philadel-
phia. At 6:54 the milk train drew up
at the milk platform at Hatfield, and
in less than two minutes the special
excursion train, running at the rate of
35 miles an hour, crashed into the
rear of the milk train. The locomo-
tive pluwed through the two passenger
coaches and crushed them as if they
were eggshells. The milk Car immed-
Four persons on the passenger car of
the milk train were almost instantly
killed. Fortunately, there were very
few persons on this train.
The excursion train was a picture of
indescribable horror. The locomotive.
mass of bent and broken iron. firmly
held the bodies of its engineer and fire.
man beneath its great weight. Behind
the engine six.of the 10 cars were also
mass of w1eckage. The first car was
broken in twain and the other five cars
were thrown on their sides, completely
demolished. Nine persons we're killed
in the first two cars, and the others in
those coaches were badly MANNED.
As soon as the crash came, a terrible
cry rose from the smashed cars, and
those who had not been injured crawled
or jumped from the cars and went to
the assistance of the injured. Many
were pinned down by wreckage and
and had to be freed by the liberal use of
axes. With three or four exceptions,
the dead were killed instantly, the
others dying on their way to the hos
pital. All the injured were first taken
to shed at the Hatfield station and the
dead were removed to barn. Mes
sengers were sent to the nearby villages
for physicians, and relief train was
ordered from Bethlehem. With Is
doctors and half dozen nurses, spe
cial train was sent from Bethlehem,
but before IL reached the scene of the
wreck It was signaled to return to
Bethlehem, as special carrying nearly
all the injured had started for that
place. On the run from Hatfield to
the hospital three of the injured died.
Much trouble was experienced in keep
ing the relatives away from the injured
on the train, so that the doctors gath
cred from near Hatfield could attend
to the wounded.
The special train arrived at Bethle-
hem at 1880 and was met by fully
5000 persons all clamoring for news
from the wreck or trying to learn
whether relatives were among the VIC
Tins. The news of the wreck reached
Bethlehem at o'clock and spread like
wild fire. All the policemen in town
were gathered at the station, and was
with great difficulty that the injured
were removed to the waiting ambu.
lances and other vehicles which con-
veyed them to the hospitals. ALI dur
ing the day people from Allentown.
Catasauqua and other places came pour
ing into Bethlehem, and confusion
reigned throughout the city.
The second section of the excursion,
made up of persons from towns other
than Bethlehem and Allentown. left
soon after the first section. but was
tagged before it reached Hatfield. As
1t could not get through on account of
the blocked tracks, it was returned to
Bethlehem, and there was great re-
joicing at the narrow escape of its oc-
cupants from the catastrophe.
The coroner of Montgomery county
visited the wreck early and spent the
entire day at the scene. He at once
directed the removal of the dead to
Lansdale, short distance south of
Hatfield. He promises a rigorous in
vestigation into the horror.
Wrecked In Behring Sea.
Seattle, Sept. Aug Wallowa,
from Nome, brings news of the wreck
of the dismantled bark Mercury in
Behring sea. The bark was being
towed to this city by the tug and
sprang a leak in heavy gale. She
was stripped of some machinery and
abandoned in Cook strait, whore she
sank. She was owned by Captain E.
E. Caine, of this city, and was sent to