The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-09-12
Twelve Dead and Many lnjur- ed in Disastrous Accident
 on OVtIHeai Railway
HEAVY TRUCKS FELL ON WRITING MASS OF FORMS M orman Has Disappeared In New fork, But Other Trainmen Are Placed Under Arrest Charged
 With Negligence.

New York, September 1.-The death list of todays accident on the Ninth ave- nue elevated railroad, when a car crowd ed with early morning workers on their way down town, pitched headlong into the street, stands at twelve. Three men are in hospitals with fractured skulls One of these who as yet remains unidentified at Roosevelt hospital, is unconscious and not expected to live. More than two score of persons were injured, many of them seriously.
 The cause of the accident and the im- mediate responsibility remains to be seen. The motorman of the wrecked train is fugitive, while switchman is charged with manslaughter and the trainmen are held as witnesses. Tonight Coroner Schoe- Ter, who has undertaken the work Of fixing the blame for the wreck, announced that the switchman's bond had been placed at s5OOo and those of the witnesses at s100 each.
 Train Takes Wrong Track. Whatever may have caused the mistake, the accident, the worst in the history of overhead railroads in New York, came when a southbound train on the Ninth avenue line was switched off to the Sixth avenue line at the Fifty-third street june tion. IT. motorman, expecting clear track.y the direct line of Ninth avenue, or dj 1garding the warning signal that the witch 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 be- came 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 inc street.
 The first indication the people on the sidewalk had of the accident was loud rumbling along the overhead structure. Looking up thew saw shower of sparks, then followed splnters and the sound of splitting timbers. Suddenly the outer guard rail of the structure gave way, score of bodies were hurled through space, and with deafening crash the car fell to the street. For an instant 1t stood fairly on end. Then the sides gave way as if they were made of pasteboard, belching out mass of humanity.
 Passengers In Jumbled Mass.
  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 women were struggling to free themselves, the heavy front trucks of the third car on the train above fell almost in their midst as the car itself jumped partly off the elevated structure and was wedged against a building at the southeast corner of Ninth avenue and Eifty-third street,
 Almost every ambulance in Manhattan was summoned and the injured and dead were hurried away with all speed. Three alarms of fire brought many en- zines to the scene. slight fire caused by burning insulation was quickly ex- tinguished, 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 Policeman Henry Aitkens who was standing directly under the elevated struc- ture is among those most seriously in jured.
 Eight persons were dead when taken out of the wreck and four died later at hospitals.
 The Dead.
 The corrected list of the dead: Jacob M. Anspach, merchant.
 Ernest P. Scheible, electrician.
 Theodore Morris, colored.
 John Cochrane.
 Solomon Neugass.
 Cornelius Mccarthy, laborer.
 William Lees, electrician
 Joseph Bach, policeman.
 James Cooper.
 Emma Conhoven, died in Roosevelt hos pitai
 Albert Weflster, died in Roosevelt hos pital
 Louis Eberle, clerk.
 Of the dead the most frightfully mutilated was James Cooper, whose head was completely severed from his body.
 The Seriously Injured.
 The seriously injured are:
 Henry Aitkens, policeman; fracture of ribs and disocated leg.
 William Butler.
 Martin Fitzgerald. internally injured. James Greer.
 Patrick J. Gillian.
 John Genzel
 Bridget McMahon, internal injuries and injuries to head.
 John T. McKenna.
 William T. Neibuhr, skull fractured. Henrietta Osterlin.
 Seymour Rowe, skull fractured.
 Thomas Swan.
 Fred Mister.
 tniuentlned man, 1ractured SKULL; un- conscious.
 swltchman First Arrested.
 The switchman in the tower at Ninth avenue and Fifty-third street, Cornelius A. Jackson, was first arrested Then Con- ductor J. W. Johnson and Guards Higgin- son. J. McDavitt. w. L. Berry and B. Clark were taken into custody. At pre- liminary hearing this afternoon all the men waived examination.
 Two versions of the cause of the wreck were told to the coroner. One of these was that the switchman had set the tracks for Sixth avenue train, and when ha saw his mistake had attempted to