The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1903-02-21
Pupils HURLED I1 DEEFH

vi FLU EaCslaLD ~ DLfkEiS
Express Train Crashes Into
School Children at Newark.
TROLLEY CAR SLIDES ON RAILS
Motorman Cannot Stop 1t and Eight
of the Occupants Are Killed, While
Score or More Are Injured, Four
of Them Fatally.
Newark, N. j., Feb. 2O.-A fast ex-
press on the Lackawanna railway cut
through trolley car crowded with
school children at the Clifton avenue
crossing yesterday. Eight of the chill
dren were killed and score or more
of them injured. The motorman of the
car, who stuck to his post, will die,
and the engineer of the express was
SO badly hurt that there is little hope
of his recovery.
Both the express and the trolley
were on steep grades, going at right
angles. The express was signalled
and the crossing gates were lowered
while the trolley car was yet halfway
down the hill. The motorman imme-
diately put off the power and applied
the brakes, but almost Immediately
the car began to slip along the Icy
rails. 1t gained tremendous moment
um and at the bottom of the hill
crashed through the gates directly in
the track of the incoming train. The
locomotive ploughed its way through
the trolley, throwing the children in
every direction.
The dead: Viola ILL., Maud Baker,
Enestine P. Mueller, Mabel E.
Karschner, Alma Loehnberg, Rosebud
Kohn Ella Werpuep, Evan L. East
wood. Jr.
Fatally injured: Peter Brady, mo-
torman: Oscar Rackliff, engineer;
Jennie McLelland, sFlorence Doll.
l., Car Slides on Rails.
The accident happened within three
blocks of the high school building,
and in the car at the time were nearly
100 pupils. AS many as thirty others
had managed to throw themselves
from the car before the crash came.
The trolley was one OF the specials
which every day bring the children to
school. 1t had more than its ordinary
load yesterday owing to the cold. 1t
contained every child that could
| squeeze inside and others stood on
the platforms. A score or more chill
dren were compelled to walk, and
they followed the car afoot They
say that when the car was still less
than halfway down the hill the rail-
road gates began to drop. Peter Brady,
the motorman, promptly shut off the
power and applied the brakes The
ice-covered rails afforded no hold for
the wheels and although Brady jammed
his brake harder and then swung
on the reverse, the momentum OF the
car grew at every yard, and the car
shot down toward the railroad.
When it was right at the gates the
express thundered into it. Warned
by the cries of those afoot and by
their own sense of danger those on
the platforms began to thrown them
selves off into the snow, but there was
no time for those within the car to
do more than crush toward the rear
door. The gates were swept aside
like tooth picks and before the crack
ing of the gates died out came the
crash. For thirty seconds before the
air was filled with frantic cries Of
those who saw death dashing down
upon them.
One Body Lodges on Moving Train.
The wreck OF the trolley car was
complete. The pilot of the engine
struck it almost amidship and turned
it partly around and then the ponder
Gus engine cut it in two. The upper
| part OF the street car was reduced to
fragments under the drivers of the
locomotive. One-half of the car was
thrown to one side and lay on the
tracks. The other section was hurled
some distance away. In every direc-
tion lay the injured and dead. The
engine was brought to a standstill
and from the train and from nearby
houses men rushed to the rescue.
The spectacle was appalling and many
who started to work had to give up
unnerved Over from the high school,
where the crash had been heard, came
pupils and teachers to aid in succor-
ing their companions. Within five
minutes as many dead bodies had
been laid side by side In the snow
alongside the track. One of the bod
les, that OF a girl, was found block
beyond. 1t had been carried there on
the pilot Of the engine. Load after
load was sent away in the patrol
wagons and ambulances. Within a
short time there was not an injured
person near the scene of the wreck
and the dead were on the way to the
morgue.
A. N StinSOn and his siXteen-year