The San Francisco call., 1906-08-13

4
for the accident as the fagman was
giving him signal TO stop, but 1t was
not until the train was right on top
of the car that he began 10 slow up
and then 1t almost came to stop IN
front of the train. l heard the motor
man of the car say that his brakes
would not work, and. of course, this
may have been true, but the accident
was certainly not the fault of the
| motorman of the Key Route train
HoDsoN HEARS A SHOUT.
| George Hodson, the Coast League
umpire, who was on the front platform
of the car when the collision occurred,
said: Il remember hearing some one
shout and I turned just in time to see
the train as it struck the car The
next thing 1 knew I was picking my
self up in the street. L had been
thrown clear through the window at
the front of the platform, and when
fell l Just escaped alighting on the
tracks of the train, which before 1t
stopped ran past me so close that the
wheels grazed my body. Dillon went
through a window too"
Al Broder. the motorman of the Key
Route train, was at loss to explain
| the cause of the car running in front
of him, as his train had the right of
way at the crossing. In describing the
accident he said: II had begun to slow
up as the train approached the station
| and had whistled for the stop when as
the train reached point within less
than hundred feet Of the crossing the
car shot ahead of me- Then the motor
car struck the other car. I did the best
could to stop, but the train was too
close when the car went across and
could not stop in time with the heavy
train. / don't know whose fault IL was.
but 1T certainly was not mine"
WRECKERs CLEAR TRACK.
AS soon as the news of the accident
reached the officials of the Key Route
Railroad and the Oakland Traction
Company wrecking crew. in charge
of General Superintendent J. p. Otter,
was hurried to the wreck and after
several hours of hard work the TRACKS
were cleared.
George Fitzgerald. president of the
City Council. and E. F. Holland. Deputy
City Clerk of Oakland. were among the
passengers on the rear platform of the
Telegraph-avenue car. Fitzgerald saw
the fagman signaling the car TO stop.
| The Key Route train was in sight and a
cry went UP from the passengers. Fitz-
gerald yelled TO Holland to jump. jump
ing himself as he did So Both rolled
over and over in the street. He and
Holland painfully dragged themselves
to their feet, and Fitzgerald linnped TO a
telephone near by and sent word to the
police. He also summoned a fire truck
company with appliances to lift the car.
Both Holland and Fitzgerald were
bruised and cut Fitzgerald said:
SPEED Is NOT sLACKENED.
| Il saw that the car was on was not
perceptibly slackening its speed, in spite
of the hagman's warning. as the heavy
Key Route train approached. The yells
| ~ n Hret az :
tention, l jumped. Holland followed
me off the car. just as the crash came.
| AT first glance 1 considered the motor
/ man of our car at fault, but afterward
! 1t seemed as though the car was so
heavily loaded that the airbrakes
would not re'.pond and the car could
not be stopped in time to prevent the
collision"
Margaret Thrall, the 14-year-old
daughter of Mr.. and Mrs. 7. C. Thrall
of l452 Carolina street. Alameda. with
Miss Leila Toelson, the 16-year-o
daughter of Mrs. I. NJ Toelson OF 152715
Morton street Alameda. was hurled
through a glass window of the Tele-
graph-avenue car. The girls were
pulled from beneath the wreckage by
Thrall. who plunged through a window
to rescue his daughter and her COM
panion. The Thrall girl sustained a
wrench to her right ankle and her left
side was bruised. Miss Toelson es-
capped with a slightly sprained ankle.
The Thrall and Toelson families formed
party that visited Berkeley during the
afternoon and were on their way to
their homes in Alameda.
Speaking of the smash-up, Thrall
! said:
RESCUEs HIS DAUGHTER.
Our car was running along at a
pretty good clip when the collision oc-
Cured. My wife and 1. with Mr.. and
Toelson, occupied two seats toward the
rear end and on the east side of the
car. My daughter. Margaret, and
Leila Toelson occupied seats in the
front of the car on the west side. They
were sitting facing each other and
both were close TO the window when
the crash came. The girls were shot
through the window. l jumped from
| my seat; forcing my way through
screaming passengers In the aisle and
| sprang through a window and found
| Margaret and Leila lying doubled up
and dazed near the side of the partially
overturned car l dragged them out. l
believe that the collision was due to
the failure of the brakes on our car to
! work properly.
MOTORMAN BADLY HURT.
| James Smith of 913 San Jose avenue,
Alameda, was also a passenger on the
/
| glass.
w. A. Pitman, the motorman of the
Telegraph car, is 80 years Of
| age and lives at 64S Fifty fourth
street. He received lacerated wounds
on the left side of his upper lip, lacera-
tions of the nose and confusion of the
| left cheek.
II had the right of way, and that is
about all 1 care to say" said Pitman
as he lay on the operating table at the
Receiving Hospital. we were going
at the ordinary rate of speed and were
within few feet of the train before
l realized our danger. Thinking that
the right of way was mine~I had no
idea that there could be a collision.
tried to stop, but 1T was too late. 1
remember nothing after the cars
crashed together until I was picked up.
What l know about the cause of the
collision l will tell to the company. l
don't want to talk about il now.
At the scene of the wreck Pitman
asserted that the brakes failed TO
work when he tried to put them on
after seeing that the collision was i'm
minent.