Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-19

torn up. but one of the rails was bent.
| Conductor Buckingham pulled from the
ed. Mr.. Rice said he was going to die. The
| conductor tried to cheer him. but Rice
shook hands with him and told him
| good-by.
| Fireman Charles Knipp1e OF Shenandoah
| Va, was severely burned, but. being pos
| sessed of remarkable vitality, was still alive
| when discovered. Engineer Rice was laid
| alongside his dying fireman. and they never
| took their eyes off each other until they
| died. Rice's last words were a message to
| his wife that he was thinking of her as
| he died.
| Stories Of Survivors.
| John Haverhill. brakeman on the express.
| came home He said the wreck was by far
| the worst he ever witnessed. When 1t oc-
CURED he was standing near water cooler,
| where passenger was taking drink. The
glass was knocked out of the passenger
| hand and went through window. The
| brakeman and passenger were both knocked
down, the latter falling on Brakeman Hav-
! erhill. The brakemans head struck vio-
| lently against seat and he sustained a Sc
verely bruised eye and cut lips. Several
\ seats that had been loosened were piled
upon him. AS soon as he extrcated HIM
| self he assisted in caring for the injured.
Vernon o. Derr. freight conductor. OF
Hagerstown was riding on the front en-
CINE when the collision came. and was
buried under the wreckage. He was badly
| scalded and was dead when taken out He
had been on the road about four years. Mrs.
dead until she was officially notified by
railroad employees Then she broke down
completely. and her condition Is regarded as
extremely critical
Fireman William H. McNamee of Hagers-
town went down with his engine, and was
scalded and crushed almost beyond recogni-
ton. When neighbors told his wife he had
been killed she. like Mrs, Derr did not be-
1 inc cbn folI
| neighbor that she felt sure her husband
was all right. and she prepared breakfast
Tor him. expecting him home. When rail-
| road officials informed her that her husband
was dead she went into Mysteries Mr. Nc
| Nance was about twenty-five years old
and mad been on the road only three months
| l. Newton Rumberger. express messenger.
1 OF Hagersfown. running on the fast mail
was on the scene of the wreck early In the
| evening and assisted in attending the in
| Jured. He said the wrecked engines twice
| caught nre. but Trackman Pickett of Pa
| tapsco threw buckets of water on the fire
constantly and finally extinguished II. Mr..
| Rumberger hunted for his friend, b. Frank
Ilerney OF Hagerstown. who has been an
EXPRESS messenger thirty years. He found
MIN lying on the ground with broken leg,
Droken arm and bad wounds on his head
| Mr.; Rumberger assisted him on a stretcher
ana 40 ne was taken to hospital.
| Dr. II. X. Walker OF 100 H street Wash.
ington. y. G.. was the only physician on the
IRAN. re Immediately made himself use
| ful, and the trainmen praised his work
nishiy: The doctor labored tireIessly with
! make bandages ~
| A M. Clark. chief train dispatcher Of the
| western Maryland Highfield division. ia
unaer the impression that the freight crew
| had not overlooked the express. but, going
| on the theory that the express was a few
| minutes late, were trying to make the next
station just beyond the scene Of the wreck.
| where the trains could pass.
|
Lynch's Graphic Story.
fiasman Lynch, said by the officials to
be reliable man, tells the following story.
| We got into the siding at Gorsuch about
4:2o pm. and waited there considerably
more than an hour While we were waiting
| we all got down from the train and sat on
a pile OF ties near the track. The two en-
| gneers and the conductors had their time
| cards and schedules and we talked for a
| whiie about the time we were making. how
| fong we had to wait for No 5 and where
we would run to after she passed. No II
| the Union Bridge accommodation came
| past on time, and then No. IL, the Blue
| mountain express which was making her
frst trip of the season. followed. We talked
about s what a fine train she was and. so
| iar as know. there wasn't any misunder-
| standing about No. 5. We had seen the
| other Two trains pass and were waiting
| for the regular
Il took bucket and went to a spring
| near by to get some water When I got
back to the track the engineer was in his
ca CAB and the train was just pulling out
going. and 1 did. Then 1 looked at INV
watch and saw that No. 5 was not due for
! a few minutes. I yelled out to the fireman
ahead; Where are you fellows going to
| pass No. 81? He yelled back, as near as I
| could catch 1t, AT Lawnsdale'
Again l looked at my watch, saw the
time and shouted. For Gods sake. look at
your watch He waved his hand at me, and
l could only think that my watch must he
| wrong. There were the two engineers the
two conductors and the fireman-fve men,
all of whom had the time and knew the
| schedule as well as l did.
For minute or SO I thought of put
| ting down the airbrakes. but 1 thought
again that l must be wrong and that five
men could not be mistaken. If 1 had put
| down the brakes it would have almost torn
the train to pieces. We were going down
grade, and 1 was back at the rear of the
train when we struck. There was a lar
not thrown down. Why We left the siding
when we did / cannot tell. The crew of
the train was composed OF old men and
knew their business"
Messrs Berger and Nyman the other two
survivors of the freight crew, corroborated
Lynch's story
Crew Blundered and Then Died.
Mr. F. S. Landstreet, vice president of the
Western Maryland railroad. was reluctant
to lay the blame Of the accident on the
freight crew. but said
'The men who were responsible for the
freight train being on the track were all
killed. and don't feel like saying ANYTHING
about them. as we can never know what
! made them leave the siding before the pas
senger train had passed. The engineers and
conductor were tried employees and knew
| the schedule perfectly. That all three should
| have forgotten the passenger train may
seem strange. but experience has shown
that in most wrecks due to just such causes
| as this one the blame falls upon the whole
crew. They get into the habit of depending
| upon one another. When one misinterprets
| the orders or forgets them. which happens
| occasionally, as shown by the wrecks that
occur. the others seem to comply uncon-
| sciously.
Wrecks occur for which there can be no
| rational explanation. and this seems to be
| one of that kind. Why did they pull on the
track without waiting for the passenger
| train to go by? The answer would contain
| explanations as strange as the question is
| unfathomable. The company will make
| careful examination of the affair, question:
| ing all of the surviving crew, and If we find
| the cause of the wreck we will announce it,