The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-20
8 CHILDREN
 ARE KILLED Express Train Strikes
 Trolley Car. NO ONE IS TO BLAME
Every PrecautiOn to Prevent
 the Catastrophe.
Ice-covered Tracks Caused Applica- ton of Brakes to be of No Avail-A Score of Persons
 Are Injured.

Newark, N. J., Feb. 1s-A fast express Western Railroad today cut through a trolley car crowded with school children at the Clifton Avenue crossing, killing eight of the children and injuring a score of them. The motorman of the car, who stuck to his post, will die. and the engi. neer of the express was so severely hurt that there is little hope of his recovery.
 Both the express and the trolley were on steep grades going at right angles. The train was signaled, and the crossing gates were lowered. while the trolley car was only half way down the hill. The mo- torman shut off the power and applied the brakes. but almost immediately the car began to slip along the icy rails. 1t gained tremendous momentum and at the bottom of the hill crashed through the gates, directly on the track of the oncom- ing train. The locomotive ploughed its way through the car. throwing the chill dren in every direction.
 The Dead and Injured.
 The dead: Viola Ill. Maude Baker. Err nestine P. Mueller, Mabel F. Karschner, Tifhn, O.; Alma Loehnberg. Rosebud Kohn, Ella Werpupp. Evan T. Eastwood, Jr Injured-Peter Brady, motorman, skull crushed Oscar Bakliff, engineer. skull fractured; Jennie McLelland, skull frac- tunred, probably fatally; Florence Doll. Mabel Smith, Fredericy Allsop. George Smith. Carl Raquet. Maud Van Valen. Walter Bauerman, Susan De Camp.
 Others received bruises and decorations, All the girls and boys lived in Newark except Mabel Karschner. The ages range from F to IS years.
 The accident happened within three blocks of the high school building and in the car at the time were nearly one hundred 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 took the children to school. It had more than its ordinary load today owing to the cold. It contained ev- esy child that could squeeze inside and others stood on the rear platform. Be- cause the car had been so crowded many who were waiting for 1t before the hill was reached could not get on. although some climbed on the front platform with the motorman.
 Children Tell Story.
 A score or more children followed the car afoot. They say that when the car was still less than half way down the hill the railway gates began to drop. Pe- ter Brady, the motorman, promptly shut off the power and applied the brakes. The speed of the car was checked, but 1t con- tinued to descend. There was no thought of danger Then 1t began to move faster. 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 every yard and the car shot down toward the railroad.
 When 1t was right at the gates the ex- press thundered into view. Warned by the cries of those afoot and by their own sense of danger, those on the platforms began to throw themselves off into the snow, and as the car sped along the few remaining feet to the rails, perhaps one third escaped death or injury in this way, but there was no time for those within the car to do more than rush towards the rear door.
 Cries of the Helpless.
 The gates were snapped like twigs and the car was struck by the locomotive which had slowed down. The air was filled with the cries of the helpless chil- dren.
 The wreck of the trolley car was com plete The locomotive turned 1t partly around and then cut 1t in two. The chll- dren were hurled in every direction. One half of the car was thrown to one side and lay on the tracks. The other section was hurled to the other side. The engine was brought to a standstill and from the train and nearby houses men rushed to the rescue
 From the high school pupils and teack~ CTS came to aid the injured. A lad who had been hurled to safety in snow bank thirty feet from the crossing, arose, brushed the snow out of his eyes and with a shriek rushed up the street to a fire box and turned in an alarm
 Within i've minutes as many dead bodies had been laid side by side in the snow along the track One of the bodies, that of d girl, was found a block beyond the crossing It had been carried there on the pilot of the locomotive The injured were sent away m patrol wagons and ambulances.