The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-02-20
MOTORMAN STUCK TOPOST
AND MET DEATH BRAVELY
Brake Failed to Work on the Slippery
Track and Car Full of Boys and
Girls on Their Way TO School
Dashed Through Gate Di.
rectly in From, Of the
Fast Flying Train.
fps As.ocla,ed pre.sA

NEWARk. ~. j.. February ia fast
express on the Lackawanna Railroad cut
through trolley car crowded with school
children at Clifton Avenue crossing to-
day. Eight Of the children were killed
and a. score or more OF them injured.
The motorman of the car. who stuck TO
I his post. Will die. and the engineer of the
express was SO badly hurt that there is
little hope OF his recovery
4 Both the express and the trolley were
on steep grades. going at right angles
The express was signallcd, and the cross
ing gates werS lowered, while the trolley
car was yet half way down the hill. The
motorman shut on the power and applied
the brakes. but almost Immediately the
car began to slip along the Icy rails. It
gained tremendous momentum. and at
the bottom Of the hill erased through
the gates. directly In the track of the
oncomtng train. The locomotive plowed
It's way throug h the trolley. throwing the
children in every direction
The dead are:
VIOLA ILL, seventeen years.
MAUDE BAKER, sixteen years.
ERNESTINE P. MUELLER, fifteen
years
MABEL E. KARscHNER, seventeen
years.
ALMA LoEHBERG. sixteen years.
ROSEBUD KOHN.
ELLA WERPEPP. nineteen years.
EVAN L. EASTWOOD, Jr.. sixteen
years
Injured:
Peter Brady. notorman OF trolley car.
skull crushed; will die
Oscar Backliff. engineer OF train. head
crushed: probably fatal.
Jennie AIcClelland. sixteen years; skull
fractured: other injuries; probably fatal.
Florence Doll. ankle broken and badly
hurt about head and shoulders.
Mabel Smith. fourteen years. head in
jured.
a. Frederick Ansop injured about head
and body.
George Smith, coored. leg fractured
Carl Paquet. cut about face and bruised
about body
Maude Van valen. seventeen years.
bruised about head and arms.
Walter Bauerman. seventeen years,
ribs broken.
Susan Decamp. arm fractured.
Edith Fox. Pauline Rich. Mary Lyttle.
Margaret Commerford. Frances Nevius
Helen McCord. Allene Coursen. Nina Bull
Lillian Geraghty. Marion Price. Frede-
rick Lindsey. Emily knight. Arthur Lu-
land and Jacob Wallack.
CAR CROWDED.
The accident happened within three
blocks OF the High School building. and
in the car at the time We're nearly one
hundred pupils. AS many as thirty 9th
ers had managed to throw themselves
from the car before tho crash came. Tho
trolley was one Of the specials which
every day bring the children to school.
HofJ J.
day, owing to the cold. 1t contained
every child that could squeeze inside
and others stood on the rear platform.
Because this car had been SO crowded.
many who We're waiting for 1t before the
hill was reached could not get on. al
though some climbed on the front plat
form with the motorman. A score or
more children were compelled to walk
and they followed the car afoot. They
say that when the car was still less than
half way down the hill the railroad gates
began to drop.
ICE ON RAILS.
Peter Brady. the motorman promptly
shut off the power and applied the brakes.
| The speed OF the car was checked but
| 1T continued to move slowly down the
incline, There was no thought Of dan
ger. Then 1t began to move faster and
faster. The ice-covered rails afforded no
hold for the wheels and although Brady
| JaNlHleu MS DEdhcS tldIue|. ana then
swung % 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 thun-
dered 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 re-
naming feet toward the rails perhaps
one-thrid escaped death or injury In this
way. but there was no time for those
within the car to do more than crush
toward the rear door
The gates We're swept aside like tooth
picks. and hSfore the cracking OF the
gates died out came the crash, For thir-
~ seconds before the air was filled with
frantic cries OF those who saw death
dashing down upon them.
WRECK COMPLETE.
The wreck of The trolley car was COM
plete, The pilot OF the engine struck 1t
almost amidships and turned It partly
around, and then the ponderous engine
out It In two. The upper part OF tho
trolley was reduced to fragments under
the drivers of the locomotives 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
direction lay the injured and dead. The