New-York tribune., 1905-07-16
TEN HURT IN SUBWAY.
Injured in Collision of Three Trains
at IS7th-St. Yard.

Ten men were injured in crash between
trains in the East Side subway yards at 18th
st. yesterday afternoon, three Of whom were
taken to the ]. Hood Wright Hospital others
being attended by physicians The officials Of
the Interborough Company failed to report the
accident, except to tell the police that the men
had been injured washing car windows.
Seventeen cars were partially wrecked. the
glass flying in every direction from the impact Of
the collision. Escapes among the workmen were
OF the narrowest character.
The injured treated at the ]. Hood Wright
Hospital were Sylvester Devine Of No. 427 West
54th-st.; John Davis OF No. 274 West 1T5th-st..
and Peter Ham. of No. S19 East 56th-st.
There are seven or eight tracks in the yards at
this point in the subway. one Of the centre
tracks being used for express trains and another
for local trains, while two to the east and as
many to the west are used for the storing Of
cars that the wheels and air brakes and other
equipment may be inspected.
Two trains stood one OF the westerly tracks
shortly before 2 o'clock They were eighteen or
twenty feet apart. third train was coming
south from a cross-over switch at about
13Sth-st. on the same track. preparatory to
inspection when 1t got beyond the control OF the
motorman
1t was said that there were airbrakes on the
first car of the train and on none OF the other
cars. Owing to this the train was not in con-
troll at any time after full speed had been put
on according to a statement made last night by
an eyewitness.
When the motorman in charge OF the train ap-
preaching from the south realized that he could
not stop his train before it crashed into the
train at rest he jumped.
Such was the force Of the collision that the
rear car Of the first train at rest teescoped into
=
that had been telescoped were thrown over
almost on their sides. blocking the track to the
west Of the express track as well as the one
Immediately west Of that
Glass in almost all Of the seventeen cars in
cluded in the three trains was smashed
Pits are between the tracks where the two
trains were, for the employees to stand while at
work on the running gear of the cars. In these
pits were most Of the men injured.
Sylvester Devine. a wireman. one Of those
who were severely cut and more or less seriously
bruised by being caught between the cars at the
side of the trains that had been in collision.
John Davis was the most seriously injured, 1t
being reported that his head was cut, laying
open the skull.
Many of the men at work in the yards in the
immediate vicinity were saved by the shout that
went up when the men saw that the crash was
impending.
The gates leading to the street at 13Ith-st-
were at once ordered locked. and no one was ad-
mitted unless he had the pass of the INTERIOR
ough. A patrolrnan was on the scene a few min
utes after the accident occurred It was he who
summoned the ambulances, two of which hurried
20 the wreck from the ]. Hood Wright Hospital
An express train running south half minute
after the accident happened narrowly escaped
crashing into the car which had been smashed
The switch leading to those on which the
wrecked cars were standing had been closed;
otherwise the accident would have been Of far
greater magnitude.
That collision had taken place in the sub
way was known to hundreds Of people, who con-
gregated about the station when the ambu-
lances reached the scene. No report of the ac-
cident was made to Police Headquarters. with
the exception of report that two men had been
thrown from a ladder.
Nothing probably would have been heard OF
the accident if the relatives of one OF the men
had not made inquiry which developed the fact
that the man was in the j. Hood Wright Hos
pitaI suffering from injuries received In the ac-
cident Two wrecking crews were at work for
seven OF eight hours clearing the tracks.