Bismarck daily tribune., 1903-01-29
APPALLING WRECK
REAR-END COLLISION OF PAsSEN.
GER TRAINS ON THE JERSEY
CENTRAL RAILWAY.
THIRTY PEOPLE KILLED
FIRE ADDS TO HORROR OF THE
SCENE AND MANY BODIES
ARE CONSUMED.
LIST OF DEAD MAY GROW
UPWARDS OF SEVENTY PERSONS
INJURED, A NUMBER OF
THEM FATALLY.

palllnS railroad wreck tndt mas Oc-
Cured in the vicinity of New York in
many years, the loss of life being es-
timsted at not less than thirty persons,
took place during the night at Grace
land. near Westfield, N. j., on the Cen
tral Railroad of New Jersey, when the
Royal Blue Line express, westbound,
plunged at top speed into the rear of
local train.
Seven bodies only have been iden-
tilted, while sixteen more almost unrec-
ognizable corpses have been recovered.
In addition, 1t is almost certain that
many bodies remain in the wreck.
OF the twenty-three dead, only one
appears to be woman, and there is
some doubt whether the body is that
of a woman.
Immediately after the crash, three
of the shattered cars of the local train
took fire. rendering impossible the
rescue OF many of the injured who
were pinned fast in the wreck. Many
| bodies are believed to have been con-
sumed.
On board the flyer all the passengers
but one, although badly shaken up, es-
capped uninjured except for trifiing
bruises.
The dead SO far identified are:
EDGAR WILLIAMS.
c. p. THAYER.
HARRY G.. HAND.
HARRY PATTERSON.
GEORGE +. RED.
THOMAS CUNNING.
| ROWLAND CHANDLER
EDWARD FLYNN
In addition to this list there are
many charred bodies unidentified still
at the scene of the wreck
Was a Rear-End Collision.
The train which was run into left
| New York at 5: As and runs express to
Bound Brook. making stops at Eliza
beth Westield and Plainfield. Beyond
Bound Brook it runs as local. The
Royal Blue train left fifteen minutes
later. but travels at higher speed
and makes no stops except at Eliza
beth and is scheduled to overtake the
slower train Just beyond Graceland.
where the latter switches from track
onto track to permit the Roy6!
Blue to pass.
During the evening a freight train
was blocked on track 4, and the local
received orders to proceed on the ex-
press track to Dunellen and there take
the outside or No. 4 track. Shortly
after receiving orders. the train had to
stop for a hot box, which delayed her
so that when she got under way again
she was due at Dunellen. She had just
started and was moving slowly. when
the Royal Blue, travelling apparently
at full speed which at that point usu-
ally approximates siXty-tive miles an
hour, crashed into the rear end.
The heavy engine of the Royal Blue
tore its way into the rear car and at
the same time drove the forward end
of that car into the rear end of the
car ahead. which in turn was driven
into the third car, and this in turn was
driven into the fourth car from the
rear The fourth car was only partly
! wrecked but the last three were torn
to pieces.
The engine of the Royal Blue left
the rails and turned over on her side,
the engineer and firemen sticking to
their posts and going down in the
wreck
Passengers on the flyer say the
engineer applied the brakes hard a
minute or so before the wreck. The
train ahead had sent fiagman back,
but il seems he was recalled when the
train got under way, and, although he
| left torpedoes, the Royal Blue did not
heed them or else was going too fast
to stop in the short distance remain
ing The man who went back to flag
the train had just swung onto the rear
end of his train and is among the
dead. The engine and the three worst
wrecked cars were
Piled Into an Awful Heap.
containing at least 100 dead and in
jured. From the mass came fearful
cries for aid. A minute later the
wreck caught fire from the fireboX OF
the locomotive. The screams of the
injured in the heap were intensified as
they found thmselves hemmed in by
the flames.
The passengers in the two forward
cars of the first train and all the mel
from the express and every one in tn
n n,ighborhood started to work at ono
TO get out the injured before the flame
could reach them. At times while toi
ing in the wreckage, tn flame