The sun., 1906-12-31

the wrecking crew and the hundreds OF
curious people who went out from Wash
ington to visit the scene OF the awful ca
tastrophe saw strewn the dismembercd
limbs, trunks and heads 81 human bodies.
1t required fully th hours on the part
Of the earnest workers to gather these frag-
ments Of human beings together and spread
them along the banks Of the railroad track.
Identification was extremely difficult in
the darkness, and It was not until after IL
o'clock tonight that the bodies were
brought to Washington and taken to the
morgue.
A strange feature Of the accident Is the
fact that neither the engine, the tender nor
any Of tho empty coaches OF the colliding
train left the track. Despite the damage
which it wrought the engine was only
slightly injured and neither the engineer nor
the fireman sustained any injury. Both
remained in their cab and were placed
under arrest as soon as the police reached
the scene.
KSorNEER's CONDITION.
Engineer Hildebrand who has been with
the road for years. was 40 excited that he
has not yet been able to give any lucid
account OF what happened. He does not
even remember putting on the air brake
TO stop his train, which ran a full length
after 1t had struck the rear coach Of the
local. He says positively that when his
Al hlx,nlr af Tai
a short distance beyond Terra Gotta. a
clear track was given him. The statement
is directly contrary to that OF the operator
at North Takoma, who declares that he
gave the train the red light, indicating that
the track was not clear.
Great confusion and intense excitement
followed the crash, and in the darkness
and fog those who were fortunate enough
to escape serious injury could do little or
nothing to aid the dying or to extricate
the mangled OOrpses from the debris. 1t
was nearly an hour before a relief train
from Washington could reach the scene
and begin the work OF taking out the dead
and injured.
The first news OF the disaster reached
Washington by telephone from a negro
who was at the scene of the wreck and
broke into tho station and informed the
Baltimore and Ohio officials here.
LONG WAIT FOR HELP.
The first aid came from citizens and
physicians Of Brookland, about mile and
a half down the track, but as there is no
communication between Terra Gotta and
Brookland and no way OF reaching the place
except by walking up the track it was nearly
a half hour before succor reached those In
distress.
Among the first Of those upon the scene
were several priests from the Cathol Q
| University and monks from the Sacristan
Monastery, about a mile distant. They
entered into the active work OF administer
! ing to the living and rescuing the bodies Of
those who were killed.
The reserves from all the police stations
were rushed to the scene and an engine
company was also ordered out, but its SER
vices were not needed, as the only fortunate
feature OF the accident was the fact that
no fire followed the crash. This was due
to the fact that the coaches were so badly
shattered that they were strewn all along
the track and there was practically nothing
to burn.
The trucks OF the rear coach OF the local
were thrown of the tracks at the station.
Those OF the second coach were carried on
a distance OF several hundred yards and
remained upon the track. The forward
coach was the only one which was not COM
pletely teescoped. It was lifted from the
track and its sides STAYED in. The bodies OF
two women and a child, all terribly mangled
were taken from beneath the truck OF the
second coach. All along the rails beneath
the empty cars were found the msngled
remains OF the other victims.
HARRY HIoBEE's STORY.
From under one coach OF the collidinl
train five bodies were Ia ken. Among the
half dozen OF 80 persons who were stand
ing on the platform at Terra Gotta were
Harry Hgbee; an employee Of the terra
Gotta works; who with his seven-year-old
son, George Higbee, was waiting to assist
his sister-in-law. Mary Lippold, on the train
Miss Eppold was going to Brookland, about
a mile and half distant. Higbee had the
boy in his arms and the child was bidding
his aunt gOod-by when they saw the head
light of the empty train. Instantly; Hgbee
says, and before he realized what was about
to happen, the engine struck the rear coach
with terrific crash. He remembers hear
ing the awful sound mingled with the
shrieks OF many human voices.
The coach at the instant seemed to burst
It's sides few out in both directions and
he remembers seeing splinters and all
sorts Of debris flying through the air.
When he came to his senses again he found
himself beneath a pile Of wreckage, his
little boy still in his arms, and his sister-in-
law lying dead near by.
With an effort he managed to extricate