Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-31
AT THE B. & O. STATION
AWFUL SCENE WHEN FIRST RE.
LIEF TRAIN ARRIVED.

Words cannot adequately describe the
awful scene aboard the first relief train,
which pulled into the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad station at $40 o'clock last evening.
There were three coaches and they were
| literally packed with the injured, the dy
| ing and the bodies OF those who had ex-
pired during the three-mile run from the
| scene Of the terrible catastrophe.
Every approach to the tracks Of the sta
| ton was crowded with friends of persons
expected to arrive on the train and others
attracted by curiosity. Three hours had
elapsed since the accident and the news
| had spread like wild fire. Policemen. under
| the personal direction Of Maj. Richard Syl-
| weston, chief Of police, blocked the way on
| every side to all except surgeons, station
assistants and newspaper men.
Groans and Sobbing.
| Slowly. amid deep silence, now and then
broken by the sobbing of some one in the
| great crowd behind the station gates. the
three coaches were backed into the station.
Before the train had come to full stop the
medical men were aboard with their
| stretchers. They began with the nearest
persons and quickly and deftly carried them
| to the long line of waiting ambulances on
| the new Jersey avenue size OF the depot.
| Promptly the ambuances dashed off. one
| by one, for the Casualty, Providence,
| Emergency, Garfield and other hospitals.
4 Casualty and Providence were given the
| greater number on account of their proXim
| ity to the station.
Star reporter was aboard the relief
| train the moment 1t reached the station
| and made his way between the PROSTATE
! bodies as best he could little ahead Of
| the physicians. His purpose to dis
cover who had been injured. The first car
| he entered was a regular passenger coach,
| the seats of which were down and their
! plush backs in position as improvised beds
or stretchers. Every bit of available space
was occupied by some badly injured and.
| in most cases. managed passenger. Blood
| ran on the floor and stained the cushions.
| Labored breathing, smothered groans and
| now and then Shrek filled the murky
| air.
| In Attitude of Anguish.
| Turning from a brief interview with
man who was endeavoring to ease the pain
| of woman lying beside him on the floor
| the reporter leaned over form with arms
elung over head in an attitude of anguish. In
| the darkness he could not distinguish the
| features and leaned over to see better. At
| a glance he realized that he was viewing
the crushed body OF a mddle-aged man,
who had died only few moments before
The most terrible and heart-rending
sights obtruded themselves on his view
as the reporter picked his way ahead of the
| physicians into the express car. The floor
was carpeted with pain-racked bodies.
Many were unable to suppress their cries
| and groans. Others were unconscious and
| breathing heavily. Here and there per-
| son, whose injury was more serious
| than broken arm or leg, striving to
| lend aid to a companion in worse condition.
Distress of Little Girl.
The reporters attention was attracted to
the form of a little girl. He could see
~
| hands bloody. She was squatting on the
| floor beside a womans body that was still
| except for a slight heaving of the chest
or twitching of leg. He came close to
| the child and, touching her on the arm, in
| CURED who she was. The reply he received
| was a vacant stare. The child was COM
| pletely dazed. AS the reporter passed he
| saw her make a convulsive grab at the
blood-stained skirt of the woman beside
| her
| further along, lay Brakeman B. F. Legge.
| He was in an awful condition, his head
slashed in many places, his limbs crushed
and almost every portion of his body soak
| had it not been for the almost superhuman
! efforts of his brother he would have prob
| ably brought on instantaneous death by
| throwing himself about the car. AS it was
| his brother" had placed himself at full
! length on the injured mans body and
| wrapped his two arms around the injured
mans neck. Every attempt at a struggle
was blocked, sometimes savagely, and the
shrieks Of pain were smothered. The
| brother meanwhile filled the injured mans
ears with words of comfort, and pleaded
with him to lie still SO that all might
| come out right
| Asked to "Come Closer"
| At the far end of the car the reporter,
by that time almost ready to fee from the
scene in horror. heard the voice of man
calling to him in weak tones Come
| Closer
The reporter obeyed and knelt down at
| the side of large, strengthening man.
| What is it?' he inquired
Are you a reporter after names?" was
| the reply.
Yes, what do for you?"
"Oh. nothing. l guess 1 am all right
| for while. My name is johnson, General
| press Company. Say that I'm all right,
will you? But in all my twenty-five years
Of railroading l never saw anything like
| this-never."
Don't try to talk too much, Mr.. John
| son." was the admonition.
| "Oh, that's all right" he replied. do
you represent The Starr
| Yes
well, want to tell you that 1 saw Cor
! nelius Eckhardt the auditor of your COM
| came. He must have been hurt. United
| States Attorney Baker was sitting with me
| when 1t happened, too; but what became of
| either of them l can't say"
| The same reporter later saw Mr. johnson
in the Emergency Hospital, while they were
| badly fractured in two places his head cut
| and bruised, an ankle severely Wrenched
| and his body injured. But he was still talk
| ing-sometines smiling.