The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-08-18
MET SUDDEN DEATH
TROLLEY CAR ARE IN
STANTLY KILLED
MANY MORE ARE INJURED
MOtOrman, Who Himself Died Later,
Ran His Car Into n Rapidly
Moving Railroad
Train.

CHICAGO, Aug. 1Z-By the collision of
trolley car on the Forty-seventh street
line with a rapidly moving passenger
train on the Pennsylvania road tonight
four people were killed outright and
eleven injured. The dead:
FREDERICK o. EDWARDS, thirty
seven years old.
old.
IDA B. OSTER, twenty-nIne years old.
of 2l43 Vine street, Cincinnati.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN, TWENTY-FIVE
years old.
Injured
Luther Jackson, internal injuries and
ribs broken.
Mary O'Malley. left arm broI,o,, !,
head cut 0AeH anu
III kate anbs, Greenfield, both legs broken and
On Martin Branerd, cut ON head and shold-
James James Gillette, cut about face and head
Wills Bowman, motorman Of car. three
n r1oS o1 broken internal injuries, died later
cut u car sHghtiy
Margaret Dwyer, internal injuries
mrs. Lizzie Coale. three ribs broken.
~ IF. la, oaarlssa Bigelow, left thigh broken
J, Brozdwitz. left leg broken.
ne dccldent occurred at Forty-seyenth
street and Steward avenue. where .
larse number of railroad tracks. running.
nortn ana south at the street level. and
right angles Nii' @1
1t Is the custom of the conductors n
run ahead Of their cars and standing nm
on the tracks to signal the motorrnen n
advance or remain stationary. according
10 the absence or presence Of approachine,
trains The car, which was filled with
passengers, came up to the tracks tonight
lIoln the west. The gates across the
street car line were down, as a passenger
train was moving rapidly south.
CAUSE IS unknown.
Whether the motorman. Willis Bowman.
was unable to control his car. or wheth-
er ne became confused and turned on the
current, is a matter of doubt. The car
paused moment as it approached the
tracks, but before Conductor " FuI-
ton could alfght to run ahead of the car.
according to the usual custom. there
came violent lurch, the car shot for
ward, passed rapidly across two inter-
Venlng tracks, and crashed heavily Ito
the passenger train
Had the car struck a passenger coach
In the side the loss of life would not
have been so great, but it struck be-
tween the rear end of the second coach
and the front end of the third 1t was
caught up, whirled around, turned bottom
side up and carried fifty feet south OF
the crossing in few seconds
At the time of the collision nearly all
the passengers were inside the car, not
more than two or three being on the
platforms. Not one of them had the
slightest warning Of the accident and
no chance whatever to make an escape.
The crash of the wooden gates as the
car broke through them was the first
intimation of danger, but before thew
could leave their seats the collision had
occurred.
The noise Of the collision and the
screams of the passengers pinned down
in the wreckage quickly brought large
crowd to the scene, and amlbulances and
patrol wagons were quickly at the place
The car was so badly smashed that it
took but short time to remove the dead
and dying.
MOTORMAN FATALLY INJURED.
Motorman Bowman upon whom the re-
sPonsibility of the collision rests, was un-
&C nscious when taken out. He rallied
slightly several times, but could not give
any account of the accident. 1t was seen
that his injuries were sucn as to cause
death In a short time, and no attempt
was made to secure a statement from
him. Whether he turned on the current
or whether the car in some way became
unmanageable will never be known.
Flagman Frederick Walleck, Of the
railroad company, who was attending TO
his duties at the crossing and who was
slightly injured by flying bits of wreck
age, said: '1 don't know what was the
matter with the motorman. I saw the
train coming, lowered the gates, which
were in good condition, and had a light
swinging from them. I saw the car
coming also, but as the gates were down
never dreamed Of It's coming right on.
1t don't seem to me that it stopped at
all. There was a smashing sound as it
came through the gates also at fun
speed. 1 yelled at the motorman, but 1t
was all over in a second"
The gates, which were broken to frag-
ments and pieces of which were carried
upon the tracks by the trolley car, proved
the correctness of Wa1licks statement.
Towerman Albert Haas, OF the railroad.
declared that the gates were down and
that as the car approached the crossing
he could see Bowman tugging at the
brakes and heard him shout that he
could not stop the car.