The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1905-09-14
DEATH FOR A D0ZEM.-
Crowded Car on Elevated Road in
New York Jumps Track and is
Demolished on Pavement.

Twelve persons were killed and
more than forty injured when the
second car Of a Ninth avenue ele-
waited train jumped the track and
fell from the structure to the street
at the junction Of Sixth and
Ninth avenue in New York city early
Monday morning.
The car, the seats, aisles and plat
forms of which were packed with
people, was turned bottom side up,
it's roof torn off and it was stooa
on end in the street.
The heavy truck of another car
fell upon it, crushing some OF the
passengers.
The cause of the accident and the
immediate responsibility remain TO
be settled. The motorman Of the
wrecked train is a fugitive, while
switchman, conductor and four guards
are under arrest. The switchman is
charged with manslaughter and the
trainmen are held as witnesses.
Corner Scholer, who has undertak-
en- the work Of fixing the blame for
| the wreck, announces that the
switchman's bond has been placed
at $4,000, and those of the witnesses
at s10O each.
Whatever may have caused the
mistake, the accident, the worst in
the history of the overhead railroads
| in New York, came when a south
bound train .on the Ninth avenue
line was switched off to the Sixth
avenue line at the Fifty-third street
| junction, the motorman expecting a
clear track on the direct
| line of Ninth avenue, or disregardinS
the warning signal that the switch
was open, rushed his train along at
a high rate Of speed.
The first car swung around the
right angle curve, holding to the
rails because Of the weight of the
train behind. Then the strain became
too great. The couplings broke, the
second car was whirled about almost
end for end, and to the horror Of
those who looked on from below
pitched into the street.
The first indication people on the
sidewalk had Of the accident was
a loud rumbling along the overhead
structure. Looking up they saw a
shower of sparks, then followed spin.
ters and the sound of splitting tim
bers.
Suddenly the outer guard rail OF
the railroad structure gave way, a
score of bodies were hurled through
space, and with a deafening crash
the car fell to the street. For an
instant it stood on end, then the
sides gave way as if they were made
Of pasteboard, belching out a mass
of humanity.
Those passengers who had not
jumped from platforms and windows
before the plunge came, were thrown
into a mass at the forward end Of
the car. AS the injured men and wo-
men. were struggling to free them
selves, the heavy front trucks Of the
third car on the train fell almost in
their midst as the car itself jumped
partly off the elevated structure, and
was wedged against building at
The southeast corner of Ninth avenue
and Fifty-third street.
Huge crowds were soon on the
scene, and the first work Of the has
tily summoned police reserves was
directed to clearing a way for the
effective rescue Of the passengers
pinned down by the wreckage. Al
most every ambulance in Manhattan
was summoned, and the injured and
dead were hurried away with ali
speed.
Three alarms of fire brought many
engines to the scene. A slight fire,
caused by burning insulation, was
quickly extinguished, and the firemen
set to work chopping out the dead
and injured.
The task was not an easy one, for
the heavy car, in falling, had almost
completely buried pedestrians in its
wreckage. At least one was killed
outright in this way, while Police
man Henry Aitkens, who was stand
ing directly under the Elevated struc-
ture, is among those most seriously
injured.