Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1901-02-28
DIED In A WRECK.
Ten Lives Lost as the Result of
a Collision.
EVyO Passenger Trains on the PENN
syIVanla RaiIrOad Come TO@eth-
er Near Borden, N. J.-majOr-
ity of the Wen Killed
Were italian LA borers.

Trenton, \. j., Feb. 22.-One of the
worst collisions in the history of the
Amboy division of the Pennsylvania
railroad occurred at about $3.50
o'clock last evening at Rusling's Sid
ing, near Bordentown and about
eight miles south Of Trenton. The
Nellie bly," express, from New York
for Atlantic City. collided with pas
senger train No. 800, running from
Camden to Trenton. The number
of dead so far as known is ten and
the number of injured upward of 25
\ special train at about o'clock
from the scene of the wreck brought
four dead bodies and Is wounded
persons to Trenton. The wounded
were distributed among the three
Trenton hospitals. Other wounded
passengers were taken to Camden.
Among the killed was Walter Earl
engineer of the express, and James
Birmingham, baggagemaster of the
local train. Most of the killed were
Italians.
Frank Boland. a passenger on train
No. $3.50, an employe of the P"~nsyl-
vania Railroad Co, had both legs cut
off. The doctor says he will die.
"Nellie Bly," was badly injured, but
is expected to recover.
Frank Thomson, engineer of No.
$50, had a leg broken and is badly
bruised. He is in a precarious con
dition.
The Italians were riding in the
smoking car of the express train.
They were being taken to Atlantic
-, Il - fn I -
railroad company.
The scene at the wreck is described
by those who were present as horri
fying. The two trains collided at
full speed and both engines were com
pleiely demolished. The forward
cars of each train, in both instances
combination baggage and smoker,
were entirely demolished and to add
to the horror the wreckage took fire.
The second ear of the ''Nellie Bly,"
turned over on its side and the pas
sengers had to climb out through the
windows In this they were assist
ed by passengers from the cars that
did not leave the wreck. The track
at this point ia so close to the Della
ware and Raritan canal that the pas
sengers in getting out of the over
turned coach got into the canal and
many of the bodies of the dead and
injured had to be taken from the
water.
Thomas Lawrence, of Trenton, said
he saw one man buried beneath the
ruins and crying for assistance. He
tried to pry him out, but found he
could do nothing to help him. He
believes the man persisted in the
flames.
The scene of the wreck was far
from outside assistance and when the
wreclting train arrived from Trenton
it was after dark and the work of
clearing up the debris and removing
the bodies was necessarily slow.
The "Nelly Bly," was running in
three sections, and it was the third
section with which No. $50 collided.
The local train had taken the siding
to permit the express to pass, and it
is believed that through some mis-
take the local came out on the main
track after the second section had
passed, mistaking it for the third sec
ton.
The story of the wreck as told by
the passengers is as follows:
The "Nellie BLY," express was made
up of a coach containing as far as is
known about "a Italians who were en-
route to Atlantic City to do construc-
tion work; a baggage car, day coach.
combination car and two more day
coaches. The car with the Italians
was directly behind the engine. The
express had made frequent stops on
the run down from New York and
was starting up noISh, Just north of
Bordentown, when the accident oc-
Cured. AT this point there is a
curve The first thing the passengers
knew was a sudden iolting of the
train, caused probably by the en-
gineer putting on the brakes. and the
next moment a terrible crash. Both
engines were reduced to a mass of
broken and twisted iron. The car
containing the Italians was crushed
to splinters and all of the occupants
were buried under the mass of wreck
age. The second car piled upon the
first car and the third car crashed
into the mass and tumbled into the
canal alongside the railroad
The survivors shuddered as they
described the scene of carnage. They
said the cries of agony coming from
under the wreckage where the Ital-
ians were confined were heartrend-
ing. The mass took hre from the
wrecked engines, and it is believed
that number of the Italians who
were not killed outright were burned
to death. One of the first bodies
taken out was that of Engineer
Walter Earl, of Atlantic City, who
was in charge of the express. He
was killed instantly, his head hav-
ing been cut off. Then the body of
James Birmingham, of Bordentown,
n. j., baggagemaster of the local
train. was found.
The railroad officials put the blame
for the accident on the crew of the
local train, which was in charge of
Conductor Sapp and Engineer
Thompson. The crew of this train
had been given orders to "meet" the
express at Bordentown.
Advances TeIesraphers' Wages.
Chicago, Feb. 22.-General Manager
Schaff of the Bio FOur system has