The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-29

to get off the Inflated cars before they
collapsed. Conductor Heaton stated
that the freight was moving at the
rate of about eight miles an hour, anC
could have been stopped in about ter
lengths.
He said that the motorman and con-
ductor were on the front platform talk
ing; that the trolley car came TO a
stop in the middle of the track and
was stationary when struck. The box
car struck the trolley car just in the
rear of the center.
when Crash Came.
There were shrieks and screams
from the helpless passengers the in
slant before the heavy freight cars
! crushed the large motor car as though
it were a shell. On both sides of the
railroad track and into the air the ne
gro men and women were hurled. 1t
was little short of miraculous that all
of the passengers were not instantly
killed.
Conductor Geeting was dashed vio-
icHAly lIOul the lIOul HldlAOl III anu
landed on the west side of the railroad
track. At the same time a trolley pole
went down with a crash and did not
miss the conductors head a foot. The
heavy trucks of the trolley car were
q jagged under the box cars ana
aDout $50 feet from the crossing the
first car crumbled and went down. Two
others jumped and piled upon it.
Three more cars left the track and
topped over, burying some of the
splinters of the trolley car and one of
the mangled bodies.
Hucksters' baskets, umbrellas, pieces
of clothing and parcels were churned
together and made a pile on the side
of the track. Pieces of torn flesh and
broken bones were strewn for $50 feet
on the track and the wreckage extend
ed from the crossing at the August
road fifty feet north of the Bay street
extension crossing. The trolley car
had been literally reduced to splinters.
Cries OF the Injured.
The means and cries of the injured
were pitiful in the extreme. Cut and
bleeding, on either side of the track,
they called for help, some feebly and
others Justify. 1t was a trying mo-
ment for those who had escaped in
jury, and for those who had witnessed
the awful collision from the roadway
and from the fields in the neighbor-
hood.
Immediately police headquarters was
notified by telephone of what had hap
pened, and those on the scene began
moving the injured from the wreckage.
Chief of Police Garfunkel at once or
dered both ambulances hurried to the
wreck, and had each of the city ply
cir 70 of
the scene of the wreck. With Detec-
tives Murphy, Stark and Wall the po-
lice chief hurried out himself.
The railroad company's surgeons and
those of the street railway company
were on hand early, and within twenty
minutes after the crash came a half
dozen physicians We're working like
beavers. The huts in the neighborhood
were converted into hospitals. and the
injured were given every possible at
tention. Drs. Jones, Barrow Simmons
and Weichselbaum were the first on the
scene. Police Surgeon Osborne was
the next to arrive, and in rapid success
sion the city physicians put in an APP
pearance. DIR. w. E. Norton was
summoned by some of the injured, and
arrived on the scene early. The in
jured negroes were given every posi-
BILE attention, and both ambulances
We're used in removing them to their
homes and the hospital.
sight Was Sicl<ening.
The sight was a sickening one.
Blood soaked clothing was strewn
over the ground and particles of flesh
baked in the sun, and attracted the
attention of dogs. Coroner Keller was
at the County Farm looking over the
sick convicts. An automobile was sent
for him. but he did not arrive until
after IL o'clock.
Chief of Police Garfunkel had taken
ii upon himself to have the mangled
bodies of the two women moved from
under the suns burning rays, but the
railroad company was not permitted
to touch the wrecked cars until the
arrival of the coroner. Photographer
NJ. Ed. Wilson was sent for and un-
der the direction of the coroner pho
tographs were taken.
officials and representatives of the
street railway company and the rail-
road were on the scene early securing
a list of the witnesses and endeaVor-
ing to fix the responsibility one way
or the other. Within a remarkably
short while after the coroner gave
permission for the removal of the
wreckage the line was clear. Coroner
Keller was unable to decide when he
would hold an inquest and no time has
yet been fixed.
News of the accident spread rapid
ly and hundreds of people went out to
the wreck during the morning. There
was a perfect stream of negroes from
the city for an hour or more, and the
police chief and his detectives re-
manned on the ground until all of the
wreckage had been moved away. Peo-
pie went out in cabs, on bicycles and
in automobiles.