The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-06-12
FATAL WRECK NEAR ALBANY
Electric Cars Going Forty Miles an
Hour Come Together.
BOTH WERE RACING FOR ASWITCH

BU h WtRE RAClNdfUh AoWllcn
At Least 12o Men, Women and Children
Were Hurled Together in Mass Of
Wreckage on the New Albany Line
Five Killed Outright and Over Forty
Severely Injured-A Pathetic Incident
Albany, N. Y.-Five persons were
killed and over forty were seriously in
jured in q collision between two elec.
trio cars which were racing for q
switch at forty miles an hour from op-
posite directions. The dead are: Maud
Kellogg, of Round Lake; David Ma.
honey, mate Of the Dean Richmond;
William Nichols, motorman Of Car No.
II; Frank Smith, motorman Of Car No,
%, and Annie Roonie, Of Stuyvesant
Falls.
The scene of the accident is a point
about two miles out of Greenbush, on
the line of the Albany and Hudson
Railway. The point where the cars
met on the single track was at q sharp
curve, and so fast were both running
and so sudden was the collision that
the motormen had not time to put On
the brakes before south-bound Car No.
% had gone almost clean through
north-bound Car No. II and hung on
the edge of high bluff, with its load
Of shrieking, MANNED humanity. One
motorman was pinioned up against the
smashed front Of the south-bound car
with both legs severed and died In.
stantly, while the other one lived but
q few minutes.
Fully 120 men, women and children
formed a huge, struggling. shr1eking
pyramid, mixed with the wreckage OF
the cars. Some of the less seriously
injured Of the men extricated them
selves, and began to pull people out. of
the rear ends Of the two cars, and al
most every one taken out In this way
was badly injured. The scenes were
heartrending. The few women and
children who had escaped injury and
death were hysterical, and added their
cries to the shrieks Of the dying and
mutiliated. Men with broken arms
and bones, dislocated joints and bloody
heads and faces tried to assist others
who were more helpless. !
Help had been summoned from East
Greenbush and vicinity, and in little;
time the bruised mass Of humanity
with the mutilated dead were loaded
on extra cars and taken to Albany.
There ambulances had been summoned
and the postofice was turned into a
mqrgue and hospital. AS fast as the
physicians could temporarily treat the
wounded they were taken to their
homes or to the hospitals in carriages
or hospital ambulances.
With both motormen killed 1t was
hard to get at the real cause Of the ac-
cident, but 1t Is practically determined
that 1t was caused by an attempt Of
the south-bound car to reach second
switch, instead Of waiting for the
north-bound at the first siding.
The cars weigh fifteen tons each,
and are the largest electric cars built,
but so frightful was the crash that
both cars were torn almost to splint-
ers. The cars on the line were running
at switch headway, that Is, as a car
reached q siding switch 1t was sup
posed to wait until another going In
the opposite direction passed. The
motorman Of the south-bound car
reached one Of the switches, but see
inc no north-bound car decided to take
chances and 60 on to the next. 1t was
at the curve between that the two cars
met.
One of the pathetic incidents Of the
disaster was the death Of Maude kel-
logg, Of Round Lake. She was on the
south-bound car with her f1ance,
George c.. Barry, Of Troy, and Mr..
Barry's father and sister. When the
crash came she was crushed to death
almost instantly. Near her, pinned
in by broken wreckage, lay her sweet
heart. Frantically he tried to reach
her, his own agonies from internal IN
iuries forgotten. Finding he could
not move, he appealed to his rather,
who was extricating himself, but the
girl was dead. On the way to the city
in the car he pleaded with those at
tending him to let him die and join his
sweetheart. He probably will obtain
his wish, for his injuries were pro-
nounced fatal.
The company has been operating Its
line for about year. 1t is the longest
stretch Of third-rail system in the Uni
ted States, extending from Albany to
Hudson. The motive power Is OBJ
tanned from Stuyvesant Falls, and is
sufficiently strong to run the cars at
high rate Of speed, as has been demon