The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-05-12
80 KILLED IN RAILROAD WRECK
Pennsylvania Express Ran Into Cars
Loaded With Dynamite.
ONE HUNDRED WE'RE INJURED
lie Wreck Occurred in South Har-
Observation-Disclosures of the Killed
and Wounded Nav be Too Small.
All the City Physicians Working
With the Injured

Harrisburg, Pa, May 11-An exc
press train of the Pennsylvania railroad
ran into freigh. train in which there
were two cars loaded with dynamite,
at Ito O'Clock thus morning In South
Harrisburg, near the plant of the Pax
tang Light, Heat and Power Company.
Three terrific explosions that broke
windows all over the city followed, and
the two trains were completely wreck
ed and took fire. 1t was estimated at
3 o'clock that fifty persons were killed
and one hundred injured, though these
figures may be too small.
1t is impossible to ascertain the ex-
act number of fatalities because The
wreckage is still ablaze and unap-
proachable, in which many of the pas
sengers and some members of the train
crews are pinned and many small ex-
plosions occurred continually.
When the first explosions occurred
bodies were thrown clear out of the
oSi lAo LII tAC SlCCpiA5 SoiSs A31as
landing down the railroad embankment
and some even having been hurled
into the Susquehana river, which paral-
lels the railroad in that locality. All
the physicians of the city procura5le
were summoned to work with the in
jured.
A fire alarm sounded and the firemen
arrived, to find themselves practically
helpless in the work of rescue. A pc
lice patrol wagon was commissioned as
an ambulance, as many of the injured
as possible were loaded into it en-
each trip and taken to the Harrisburg
hospital, the capacity of which soon
became taxed because of the large num-
Der that were brought in. A special
train has brought the injured and dy-
ing to the union station. Many of the
injured were taken into private houses.
Immediately after the wreck all the
passengers who could do so ran from
the scenes of horror to safety from the
incessant small explosions.
The agonizing cries of the unfortu-
mates were heart rending. The Office
of the Paxtang Light Heat and Pow
er Company looked like hospital At
an early hour the Harrisburg Traction
Company ran out number of cars
from it's south Harrisburg barns and
used them to bring the injured to the
hospital. With practically no clothing
many women and children from the
| train were compelled to wander about
| the fields as there are few houses in the
| immediate vicinity of the wreck.
The train was the second section OF
No. 10. There were 169 passengers in
the train, and the latest estimate is
that fifty were killed. The hospital IS
crowded to the doors and the hotels
are being opened for the care of the
injured 1t may be necessary for The
authorities to seize one of the hotels
and turn it into a temporary hospital.
Train No. 10, which was wrecked,
was westbound and is known as the
Cleveland and Cincinnati express. It
left Philadelphia at 11:5O Wednesday
hight, and was due at Harrisburg at
/ 80 a. m. and at Pittsburg at a. m.
The engineer Of the passenger train
was H. K. Thomas, Of Philadelphia,
who was killed outright. He leaves
family. The fireman, r. r. Dickey, or
Philadelphia, was only slightly injured
Il. L. Crosby, conductor, was injured.