The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1900-09-06
Appalling Rear End Collision on
a Branch OF the Philadelphia
and Reading Road.
fOuRIE[N PERSONS WERE INJURED.
Inc wrecked Train Was an Excursion.
Made up of Ten Day Coaches
and all Engine.
WAS RnnnIng Mt the Rote n,
Ihirty-Fiyc Miles m Hour nnd
tr"sbrd Into the Rear End
OF n MIX Train.


OF MIX Train.
/ Philadelphia, Sept. 3.-Iiftcen per
=, sons killed and II others injured /,
the appalling record of rear en-,
o. coiIiSion between an excursion train
C ana milk train on the Bethlehem
branch of the JhiladeIphia d, Read.
ing railway Sunday morning at Hat
heId, Pa, p miles north OF this city.
vi the killed IL were passengers on
the excursion train and four were on
the milk train, which as stated was
standing at a water station when
wrecked by the excursion train.
The wrecked train consisted Of ten
"aY coaches. and was the first section
OF large excursion made up Of peo-
PIE from bethlehem. Allentown and
surrounding towns to Atlantic CITY.
Inns section carried only those per
| sons who lived in Bethlehem and Al
IentoWn. and left the union depot in
Eethlehcm at Cos a. m, exactly 3j
minutes behind the milk train. The
latter train consisted of two mill,
cars and two passenger coaches and
mad stopped at every station on the |
road from Bethlehem on route TO |
Philadelphia. At G:54 the milk train
drew up at the milk platform at Hat
held, and in less than two minutes
the special excursion train. runninc
at the rate of 35 miles an hour crash
ed into the milk train. The locomo-
tive plOughcd through the two pas
Senger coaches and crushed them as
II they were egg shells. The milk cal.
Immediately in front was also badly
wrecked
Inc excursion train was n picture
OF lndcscribable horror. The loco
motive was mass Of bent and broken
IRON and firmly held the bodies of its
engineer and fireman beneath its
great weight. Echind the engine six
ol the ten ears are also mass of !
Nrcckagc The first car was broken
II twain and the other five cars yver, ;
hroWn on their sides, completely dc. =.
nollshcd. Nine persons were killed Il
II the first two ears and the Others
n those coaches were badly manned. "
As soon as the crash came n terri.
ne cry rose from the smashed cars -
nd those who had not been injured
uckly crawled or jumped from the 4"
lrs ana went TO the assistance o.
ne injured. Many were pinned down -
V wreckage and had to be freed bv
le liberal use of axes. With three vi
four exceptions the dead were
He'd instantly. the others dying on &c
leIr way TO the hospitals. All the
JureI were first taken to shed at
e Hatfield station and the dead were - y.
moved 10 barn. Messengers were ~,
nj To the nearby villages for phvsi. =,
ms and relief train was telc- - -:
aPhed for from Bethlehem. With '"'
doctors and half dozen nurses n v"
rcial train YVES sent from Bethlc-
IN but before it reached the scene 80, 80,
the wreck. it was signalled TO re-
IN TO Bethlehem as a special. carry
nearly all the injured. had start ,oo
for that place. On the run from ,,o.
tfield TO the hospital three of the r.
ured died. 10,
he special train arrived at Beth A.
EN- at ll:30 and was met bv fully 8
70 persons, all clamoring to get ,,..'
OF news of the wreck or trying TO -
II whether loved ones were among H..
victims. The news of the wreck
reached bethlehem at o'clock N,,
spread like wildfre All the DO nat
men Of the town were gathered at pou
:. "'''' - """ WI" great ull- tion
lty that the injured were moved bie
"'."S "''o"'""'eS ana o'her tiOn
clcs which conveyed them to the Tns
)italS.
lere are conflicting stories as t. I
onsibility for the accident. One
ion is that the engineer of the ine
rsion train had been warned at '"'
lerton, the station above Hat
that milk train was n few
ties ahead of him. Another story DO
at the train dispatchers Office in y
ldelphia was at fault. The train actin
refused 10 talk of the accident. IONS
teen hundred tickets Lad been appo
fer the excursion to +bo eoo.l,o Hills
Il was TO have been the last OF I. L
esson. n.y.
-- whicl
Prohibition In Hawaii. pose