New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-05-10
DEATH IN IL" COLLISION.
MOTORM4N DIES IN BOX.
Cars, TcIescoped. Burn-PaSsenger
Pinned DOscn-Chaos at Stations.

entn ana FlIty-slNth stS., shortly betore p. m
yesterday. The motorman of the City Hall
train was instantly killed and three passengers
injured. while thirty fought with the
guards to get out OF the windows.
William y. Cornell, thirty-1 years old of
No. LII Forest-ave.. the Bronx. the mo-
torman who was killed. Harry NcDermott,
eighteen years old. a bank messenger. of No
Coz West Forty -ninth-st. was chopped out OF
the wreckase. badly injured Thomas McGlynn.
a lRborer, OF No 5s1 West Fifty-seventh-st-
bruised. but able TO walk to Flower
Hospital Anna Goldstein. twenty years old. OF
No. 40 Monroe est became hysterical.
Fortunately, the trains were southbound at
an hour when they were not crowded.
The exact cause OF the collision Will never be
known. for Cornell killed instantly. His
train bound for the City Hall terminal
a rush hour extra, and had few passengers.
II was following closely the South Ferry train
which was tagged Just after leaving the Fifty
ninth-st- station for repair gang laying sleep
at Fifty-sixth-st. When the first train
came TO a stop with the usual jerk the city
Hall train did not slow down
a passenger who looking out the rear
window of the last in the stationary train
saw the other train and realizing that col
lision inevitable dashed down the aisle.
shouting: Run for your lives! They're going
10 into u.s."
There We're four men IN the rear part OF the
coach and they lost no time following his ad-
vice. McDermott sitting in one OF the
cross seats, under which he had placed a suit
case. He stopped a moment 10 get this and
was caught in the crash Before he could
reach the aisle even, the motor OF the City
Hall train had torn half way through the coach,
spreading aside the roof and aises. The heavy
trucks dropped almost on top Of McDermott.
II. S. Prescott did not take flight at the first
alarm and as the motor car was crashing It's
way toward him he dived head first through
window. He landed on tho footpath beside the
track and was not badly injured. Cornell was
crushed and mangled before the car stopped.
One OF the brass rods Of the window guard
pierced his head and the rest OF his body was
tangled up IN the wreckage Of the guard railing.
one arm hung out OF the window and could be
plainly seen from the street below. There was
an immediate burst OF flame and smoke from
the motors. but not near Cornell and Meier
mott
While the passengers wers still struggling 20
get out OF the train. policemen from the street
sent in fire alarms. which brought engires and
hook and ladder trucks from the fire houses,
reserves from the neighborins police stations
and ambulanoes from several hospitals After
a time the third rail current was shut or
The rrer.en under Deputy Chief Langfcre.
quickly put out the flames and were on the
structure before the ladders could he raised,
climbing the pillars and swinging out on the
wires which are strung on the ties. AS quickly
as possible they chopped their way 70 McDer-
mott and. lacking up the body Of the car. re-
leased him. SO tightly were :he cars teleecoPed
that the jacking took twenty minutes. McDer-
mott was carried to the Fifty-thirds-- station
and from there by ambulance 10 the hospital.
mil lag hallV
and he sustained other injuries.
He was as careful a motorman there is OF
the line" said one Of the elevated employees as
they were working 70 free the body 1t was no
fault Of his that this wreck occurred There
was something wrong with the controller OF his
motor car. II buckled on him as they do some
times, and he could moro have stopped his
train than jumped 1t to the north bound track"
Several employees agreed with him, according
10 the iremen who were work on the wreck.
As soon as a superintendent arrived. however.
the usual order 10 SAY nothing about anything
went out.
An eyewitness OF the collision SAID that he
saw Cornell tugging at his levers as his traia
bore down on the standing one. Investigation
afterward showed that the brakes on his train
were set. This does away with the theory tha.
Cornell died from hear. disease before the cci-
lision
One OF the first 20 scale the hremens ladders
was a Catholic priest. Father Alps:nsus Dunn.
OF Windsor. Conn. lie climbed through the win
dows OF the burning car to the side OF the
notorman. On the train Father James
Dunn, OF the Church OF 81. John the Evangelist,
in East Fifty -hfth-st. He did much 10 quiet
the passengers and helped the women and chi!-
dren from the cars
Coroner schOler after an investigation.
dered the arrest Of the motorman of the South
Ferry train and the conductors OF both trains.
The South Ferry train was I'm charge of Ed
ward Gibbs. motorman. No l24 West Nine
teenth St. and August Tillmar. conductor. OF
No 307 Alexander-ave. Tillman was arrested
and GibLs gave himself up soon he heard
the coron.r wanted him. They we-e paroled in
the custody OF George L. Flannigan. attorney
for the Interborough Company, who will pro-
duce them I'm the Yorkvile court this morning
The conductor OF the City Hall train was p j.
Duffy He lives in Brooklyn, but the police did
not know the exact address. and he not ar
rested.
Hedley said that the responsibility, far as
he could determine seemed to rest entirely
with the motorman of the City Hall train. The
train, like every other train on the road. was
equipped with automatic brakes, he said and
had the nlotorman been stricken by death or
disease the release Of his hand from the con-
trolling mechanism would instantly have set
the brakes and stopped the train. He did not
want TO blame a dead man, who could not tell
his side OF the story but nevertheless the cir
cumstances pointed to some act of carelessnes5
on CornelPs part.
1t was necessary to call out more reserves
to keep order among the rush hour crowds at
the stations before the seriousness OF the acci-
dent was known and the sale of tickets stopped.
Half hour after the gates were closed at
the City Hall station there were, according TO
the police estimate. ct least twenty thousand
people on the platforms.
There small riot at the Thirty fourth
81 SRcOnd-aNe when