The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-19
THIRTEEN ON
 DEATH JEST Five More Arc<eported
 MissjY,.
 -E FEW DEAD IN FIRST CAR Fatalities Not as Numerous as
 Expected. Work of Recovering Bodies From Elis- abeth River Into Which A. c. L. Excursion Train Plunged
 Still Continues.

 terday afternoon revealed the fact that there were but two bodies in the car. making the number of bodies recovered thirteen with five reported missing. None of the injured now in the hospi- tals will die but a majority of them will be sent to their homes in day or two. The bodies of the dead will be forwarded to their homes tomorrow. A | careful examination of the bottom Of | the river revealed no more bodies and the Coast Line officials are convinced that the death list is now complete. The small casualty list in the first car which was completely submerged IS explained by tn etheory that when the emergency brakes were applied many of the passengers thought collision was imminent and they rushed into the second car and all of them had time to escape, except two, before the car finally sank beneath the surface of the river.
 The only white persons known to be dead up to this time are ". E. Jolly, the promoter of the excursion. and his young nephew. Edward Forbes.
 Faded Danger Flng. There are some fifty-six or sixty Of the 169 excursionists who have come to Norfolk either slightly Injured or bruised. There are twenty-three in- jured at the hospitals with twelve known dead. which leaves between seventy and eighty of the excursfonists yet missing. and 1t is believed large majority of these are at the bottom of the river. A revised list of the in- jured is being made up.
 The Atlantic Coast line officials have given out no statement in the matter, but Cleveland Thompson an eye-wit- ness, says that the small danger flag which was placed on the track to warn the approaching Kingston train that the draw was open, though formerly a red flag. had faded almost completely white from continuous use in the last | five years. |
 It was Engineer R. B, Reiss first run l over the Atlantic Coast Line to Nor folk, he having just come from East Radford, Va, to this line, his former employment having been with the Nor folk and Western Railroad. He did not know that he was approaching a draw at the time. The faded danger" flag, 1t is declared, was so small that the engineer did not see 1t and when he saw the "stop" signal just before he reached the trestle leading to the draw his train which was moving thirty five miles an hour, could not be stopped in l time, though he made every effort to | make the danger brakes work. The small unseen danger flag Is said to
 
 tie, which is a short one.
 Tug Barely Escaped. The tug for which the draw had been 1 opened was just in the act of passing through when the train dashed into the water. The tug reversed her engines quickly and just avoided being caught | by the engine. -@
 Cleveland Thompson declares that Engineer Reig remained by his engine i up to the last and did not jump as first | reported. He went down with the en- ! zine and was badly injured about the head and body. He is now in the Sarah Leigh hospital here and may recover.
 J. J. Thompson. aged 60 years. a farmer and father of Cleveland Thomp- 1 the wreck and leaping twenty feet to the top of the second coach cut a hole in the top of the car and rescued thir- | ty-five people just before the car drop ped into the water and became almost completely submerged.
 At noon divers went to the bottom | of the river at the scene of the wreck l and found a carload of dead men, women and children. these being the | victims in the first car behind the en- zine whose bodies went into the river when the end of the car dropped out as 1 1t was raised by derricks this morning. l Engineer Reig will live, according | He will make a statement within a week Today he is daZed and de- pressed His answers to those who question him are sometimes vague and generally unsatisfactory
 T had no stops to make" he repeat l ed.
 Were there any signals when the draw was open?" he was asked.
 T don't know" was his vague reply.
 The house physician at the hospital 1 who was present when Engineer ReiG was interrogated suggested that it would be useless to query him further
 Badly Hurt.
 Said the physician: He is suffering from his injuries and he Is mentally depressed. Anything he will say now will be unsatisfactory. I have seen many such cases. In his present con- dition the engineer is suffering under the impression that the world holds him responsible for the lives that were lost. It weighs upon him and he can give no one a satisfactory statement It will be a week, perhaps. before he 1 will be able to talk satisfactorily. Any thing he might now say he might con- tradict when his mind becomes more clear"
 Reig is seriously wounded. He has a slight fracture of the skull, near the base of the brain, and he Is severely cut over the left eye. He is badly bruised about the body and may have suffered internal injuries.
 The work of raising the carload of dead bodies found in the river will be- l gin at once.