The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1905-12-05
FLYER JUMPS THE TRACK
Express Of Jersey Central Railroad
Wrecked Near Mauch Chunk, Pa.
HEROlSM OF TRAIN BRAKEMAN

Wake Two Miles with Both Arms Brok-
on 10 Notify Nearest signa1-Towersnan
If the Accident-Flange on the Drive-
Wheel Caused the Cars 10 Leave the
Track on a Curve.
Scranton, Pa.-Two trainmen were
killed and eighteen passengers were
hurt, only two of them seriously. in
the wreck of the Philadelphia flyer on
'the Central Railroad of New Jersey
near Stony Brook The train plunged
over an embankment late at night, the
locomotive and one car going into the
river, and at first it was supposed that
the list Of casualties would reach q
hundred.
The most seriously injured are a man
whose thigh was broken and a boy
with fractured skull When the train
jumped the track the locomotive and
1.-TWO cars crashed down thirtyfOOt
lembankment The locomotive and the
'combination car fell into the river and
the Pullman car landed on end on the
brink of the stream
AS the train went over the embank.
ment two telegraph poles were torn
down and the wires broken, cutting
of all communication. 1t was four
mile walk to she nearest telegraph
station on the other side of the river,
at Penn Haven Junction. The remote
place where the wreck occurred, the
broken wires and the excitement that
followed the order for the doctors
caused wild rumorS that the entire
train had been hurled into the river
and that 80 or 100 had been killed.
Not until 2 o'clock in the morning
WAS the extent of the wreck ascer-
tained.
1.-The dead are Clarence Detro, OF Ash
ley, an, engineer who was riding on
the locomotive of the train and re-
burning to his work at Bethlehem after
spending the day with his family at
ASHLEY, and Fireman John Leibert, of
Mauch Chunk
Some of the injured are: Engineer
Willis, was badly scalded and bruised;
Philip Reilly, baggagemaster; Calvin
sSwisher, a newsboy and Thomas Sny-
der, conductor.
The locomotive, while running about
thirty miles an hour, jumped the track,
evidently owing to a broken f1ange on
one of the driving wheels. 1t plunged
across the westbound track
The train left Wilkes Barre at $50
O'Clock at night, and the first news of
the accident was obtained when a
brakeman. bleeding and half dead,
staggered into the signal operators
tower at Penn Haven Junction. He
had walked two miles with both arms
broken. The operator autographed to
Mauch Chunk and wrecking crew
and hospital car were Immediately
sent, with three physicians and all the
help that could be gathered.
Some of the eighteen injured pas
sengers were taken to the railroads
hospital at Bethlehem, Pa.
The engineer and fireman were
pinned in the wreck of the locomo-
dive and crushed to death. An upset
stove set the cars on fire. The pas
sengers who were unhurt took ali the
wounded out of the wreck and then
,wreckers arrived the fire was under
control and the wounded passengers
were being cared for on the bank OF
the stream
Many persons cut by broken glass
and bruised by the crashing timbers
refused to go TO the hospital and left
on a special train that was sent to
carry the passengers on their way.
/ Two physicians were among the un-
injured on the wrecked train and they
did the best they could without the
aid of bandages to dress the wounds
of their less fortunate fellow passen-
gers.
The flyer had left White Haven
twenty minutes late and was running
at good rate of speed toward Mauch
Chunk, but it was said that no at
tempt was being made to make up the
lost time. The wreck occurred on a
stretch of level double track in q cut
on the mountainside. There are sew
eral curves there and the road has a
rule against fast running. On the OPP
pOsite side of the river are the tracks
of the Lehigh Valley road.
Traffic on the main line of the Gem
trail of New Jersey was laid up for
some time, and trains were sent over
the tracks of the Lehigh Valley, con-
nection being made at Penn Haven
Junction.
BIGGEST HAWSERS FOR TOW.