The Savannah morning news., 1903-01-28

iiShiSA HUN WeSI0elQ were
summoned by telephone, but arrived
too late to save many lives. Doctors
were called for from Elizabeth. West
field and Plainf1eld, and there were a
score on hand. The parlor cars of the
Royal Blue train were converted into
temporary hospitals. The dead, as
they were taken out, were laid in a
row alongside the track until means
could be found to convey them to
Plainfield.
Inc fremen after a time mastered
the flames. Then the wreckage was
attacked again and the work of re-
covering the bodies was begun. Out of
the first car eight bodies were taken.
The sight while the wreck was burn
Ing was horrifying. Men could be seen
In the wreckage pinned fast amid the
timbers of the cars and struggling to
be free, while the flames roared around
them. The rescuers were helpless to
aid them, as they already had been
driven from the wreck by the flames.
Cut Leg of to Save Him
one of those who tried to take out
man pinned in, found that he wac
held down by one leg near the ankle.
and seeing it would be useless to do
anything else, is said to have finally
severed the mans leg and then carried
him to one of the parlor cars. Both
rescued and rescuer were badly burned.
When the engine ploughed into the
rear car, it partly split the car open,
and at the same time lifted it up and
onto itself. The car was the first to
take fire and most of those in it are
dead Some of them are believed to
be beneath the overturned engine.
Those in the car ahead, which was
lifted over the rear car, suffered the
most. For some time before the flames
reached them from the car below and
behind them, they were enveloped in
smoke and steam, and it was here that
the worst sights were witnessed.
One Hurt on Royal Blue.
One passenger only was severely
hurt on the Royal Blue. He was walk
ing in the aisle of one of the cars
when the crash came, and the impact
hurled him up into the air and across
the heads of several persons in chairs,
and through a window. One of his
hands was cut and he was bruised. He
said he was a son of John Wanamaker
of Philadelphia. He did good work
later on after his hand had been band
aged.
Just as the wreck occurred, an east
bound train was approaching on track
No. 2. Before it could be stopped the
engine crashed into the wreckage.
which had been hurled onto the track,
but it was light stuff and the engine
brushed 1t aside and crushed part 81
it under the wheels. The train ran
its own length beyond the wreck,
stopped, and after ascertaining that
it had sustained no injury itself, pro-
ceeded toward New York.
Twenty-fOur Dead.
it is known that there are twenty
four dead. Sixteen charred bodies have
been taken out. Eight dead were
previously taken from the wreck. Of
the twenty-four only one appears to
be a woman. and there is some doubt
whether the body is that of a woman.
One of the rescuers relates an ex-
perience which startled him. He had
climbed onto the worst wrecked car
The fire was burning below him
There were two men there. One of
them begged for a drink and a bottle
of whisky was passed UP. The in
o,-Irv
gan to drink. While clutching the
bottle he died. The rescuer took the
bottle from him and passed it to the
other man, but although he had been
alive a few minutes before, he was
then dead.
The rescuer then started to get out,
intending to drop out of a window.
AS he was climbing for the window he
knelt on a body and found it to be
that of child. On reaching down for
it he was startled to find the child
alive. The little one was taken out,
apparently uninjured, and is now in
a house al Westfield
The engineer of the express, John
S. Davies, was not the regular engin-
eer. He was relief engineer for the
fast train and had been put on in the
absence of the regular man, who had
a day off. He was, however, perfect
ly familiar with the running of the
train, as he ran it at least once a
week.
Before the wreckage had cooled, the
work of getting out the charred bodies
began. Men attacked the heap with
poles and rods of iron taken from the
pile of debris and raked out several
arms, legs and heads. Many of those
who died will never be recognized, the
bodies being burned to crisp.
What Officials Say.
Plainfeld, N. j., Jan. Fit is i'm
possible to give any authentic list Of
the missing.
The railroad officials say the signals
were in working order and that they
were properly set, that is, that the
express overran and dashed into the
block in which the slower
train already was. Railroad men
here say the engineer probably
failed to notice the signal, and even
when he saw the tail lights of the
train ahead did not realize for mo-
ment that they were on the same
track as he was, instead of being on
track No. 4, where they usually were.
Travelling over sixty miles an hour
with heavy train behind him, it was
utterly impossible to stop when he
realized the truth.