The Savannah morning news., 1902-01-09
wouldn't Admit VanderI

Sna1tS and watched the rescue work.
Wouldn't Admit Vanderbilt.
Cornelius Vanderbilt was among
those who came to the tunnel but the
policemen denied him admission, de-
spite the fact that his family controls
the railway.
responsibility for the disaster is un-
fixed, but Supt. Franklin said that so
far he had been able to discover. j.
M. Wischo, engineer of the White
Plains train, is to blame. It is de-
clared that when the South Norwalk
train stopped, fiagman ran back into
the tunnel and, besides placing a tor
pedo on the track, endeavored to flag
the oncoming train. The tunnel was
beclouded with steam and smoke while
the snow. which fell through the air
shafts tended to obscure the view. En-
gineer Wischo and Fireman Christie
pher Flynn were arrested. A signal
man also was detained for a time but
was released.
Supt. Franklin has issued a state
ment as to the accident, in which he
declares that the block signals at Fifty
ninth street were obeyed by the New
Haven train, while the engineer of
the White Plains train disregarded
them. "The torpedo on the track
went off" said the superintendent,
but he did not stop. even though the
fireman called to him to do so. The
system of block signals is such that it
is physical impossibility for sig
nal man to make his light declare the
track free if another train is on the
block"
District Attorney Jerome visited the
wreck and personally examined many
witnesses. The State Railway Com
mission also announced it's intention
to make an investigation, and similar
intent was expressed by the general
officers of both the New York Central
and Hudson River Railroad and the
New York. New Haven and Hartford
Railroad.
Residents of New Rochelle, contrib
uted the largest number to the casual
ty list. because the rear car of the
South Norwalk local was reserved for
them. and was kept locked until the
train reached that place.
An Eyewitness Account.
Eugene Herold, of Rochelle Park,
one of the passengers on the Danbury
train, gave this account of the acci-
dent:
1--WE were sitting quietly in the next
to the last car and there were only one
or two unoccupied seats. There was
the usual morning crowd. There were
five cars.
There were several women in my
car and also in the last car. We had
been stalled at Fifty-seventh street for
some time. Suddenly there came a ter
rife crash. The lights in the car went
out. There was a roar of grinding steel
and wood and q chorus of shrieks. I
looked back and saw the car behind
telescoping over the rear of our car
and through that mix-up plunged g
roaring locomotive.
Il was thrown on my face by the
jolt and / felt some blood splash over
my forehead. Sitting smoke and steam
seemed to arise from all sides and
looking back / could see mangled per-
sons crawling about through the mist,
Our one idea was to escape. I found
a friend of mine right in front of me
He cried:' Open the windows, for
Gods sake l turned to the window
and found the glass had all been shat
tered by the collision. We climbed out
| saw several persons almost covered
with blood crawling about
Good Work by ChapIains.
When nearly all of the dead and in
jured had been removed from the wreck
Father Smith, from the Church of St
Vincent de Paul, and Chaplain Walk
ley of Grace Church, both chaplains
the wrecked car, over the hot boiler
of the demolished White Plains loco
motive, and found two girls in the mid
die of the last coach. They were sis
ters named Scott of New Rochelle One
sister lay on top of the other, the sis
ter underneath held by wreckage,
which pinned down her body below
the waist. One leg was crushed. The
dead body of a man, which was also
pinned fast by the wreckage lay across
the chest of the other sister and held
her down. Stimulants were adminis-
tered to the girls by the chaplains,
who remained with them until they
were removed.
Acting Battalion Chief Friel found
in the wreck man who gave his name
as T. M. Murphy and tried to move
him. Murphy said his leg was held
fast, and asked Chief Friel to free it.
The chief found that If he loosened
the timbers that held Murphy's leg
he was liable to let down more wreck
age on the bodies of the two girls. He
told Murphy this and Murphy said:
"All right, I'll wait; but please be as
quick as you can" The chief made
Murphy as comfortable as he could
with a seat cushion, and with his
badly mashed leg he lay there till the
bodies of the injured ones beside him
were removed.
The Scene of the Wreck.
The tunnel in which the wreck oc-
Cured extends from Fifty-fifth street
lust above the Grand Central Station,
and is about two miles long. 1t is un-
der Park avenue. and there is an air
hole in each block. Complaints have
been made for a long time, however.
that it's ventilation was insufficient and
the New York Central had been con-
sidering plans for the use of electrical
power in the subway, so as to do
away with the smoke and steam from
locomotives.
J. H. Franklin, manager of the Har-
lem division of the New York Railroad,
made the following statement:
."The engineer of the rear train, the
White Plains local. so far as / have
been able to learn, was responsible for
the accident.
'The Norwalk local was due in the
depot at S:15 and the White Plains
local at S:17. The Norwalk local was
stopped by the danger signal at Fifty
ninth street. The hagman got out
with a lantern and torpedoes and put
the torpedoes on the rail. The engin-
eer of the incoming train failed to
recognize the signal and made no re-
sponse, and the collision was the re-
suit"
Mr.. Franklin said this is the third
accident in the New York Central tun-
nell The first took place in November,
1882 when 20 persons were killed. The
second occurred Feb. 20. 1891. when 6
persons were killed and many injured.
Tried 10 Rob Dead bodies.