The Penn's Grove record., 1905-09-15

The Ninth avenue train left the
Fifty-ninth street station at 7 o'clock.
1t consisted of five cars, all of which
were crowded, many passengers stand
ing in the aisles and on the platform.
These trains take the crossing and
switches at Flfty-third street without
slowing up, as there is an upgrade to
the station at F1ftieth street. The Or
der to Sixth avenue trains is that they
come to a full stop at Flfty-fourth
street and remain stationary until they
get the signal from the tower that the
line is clear. They are supposed to
round the dangerous curve at very
slow speed.
The train was running at full speed.
The switch was set for the curve. The
first car cleared the curve. Then there
was q grinding and crunching of tim
bers, and the second car slowed around
and vas torn off its trucks. The third
car with the weight Of the remaining
two behind it bumped with full force
into the one ahead and sent it flying
from the tracks into the street below.
AS the car fell it turned completely
over, and its forward platform struck
the sidewalk with a crash that could
be heard for blocks. The rear plat
form remained suspended against the
framework of the elevated road. The
trucks of the third car were hurled
from the track through the bottom of
the second car. adding to the havoc,
and the bodies Of the first and third
cars came together with a crash. The
car which had been thrown from the
structure remained suspended at m
angle Of forty-1ve degrees, and the
passengers in it were hurled as through
a great shute to the forward end,
which rested on the sidewalk.
The great mass of men and women
hurled forward fought for freedom and
screamed madly. Under the wrecked
Of several men who had been caught
under the wreck when it struck the
sidewalk.
In an incredibly short time an i'm
mense crowd had gathered. Volunteers
set to work to eXtricate the dead and
injured lying in a huddled mass in the
forward part Of the car. Men and
women, frightfully injured, crawled
through the car windows and through
the hole In the roof and fell to the
street unconscious. 1t was q bedlam
Of confusion In which the rescuers
worked as best they could.
The forward end of the car tore q
hole in the tagging in the sidewalk in
front Of the drug store at the southeast
corne Of Fifty-third street and Ninth
venue A part of the car tore its way
through the double show window,
smashing the glass and sending a
shower of sharp missiles over persons
In the street and the passengers I'M
prisoned in the car By a margin Of
only a few inches the car escaped
striking the main pillar Of the four
story house on the corner. Had the
car struck this pillar there is little
doubt that the whole four-story struc-
ture on the corner would have tumbled
down.
The third car Of the train, hurled
forward by the weight of those behind
It, was showed over the elevated struc-
ture and its forward end was forced
through the window OF the apartment
of Mrs. James G. Grove, who lives
above the drug store. The car rocked
for a moment and seemed as If about
to fall into the street. Then it settled,
its forward end held by the sill of the
window and the fire escape, and hung
suspended like a bridge across the
street. The frantic passengers clam
bered out of the windows and along the