The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1906-12-31
APPALLING WRECK
Thirty-eight Killed and
About Fifty Injured on
the B. & 0. Road at
Washington.
TWO TRAINS IN ONE BLOCK
ONE CRASHES INTO OTHER At
SMALL STATION.

Frederick City Nd, Local Just on Point !
of Leaving Suburb Of National Capt.
tai When 1t is Run Into by Train of
Eight Empty Passenger Coaches from
the West-Nothing Since the Ford
Theatre Disaster Fifteen Years Ago
Has Produced Such shOck-No
Railroad Accident in Great Many
Years in District Of Columbia APP
prOaches it in Observation-Disclosures
Of Empty Train Fails to See Red Sig
nails Arrested--Dense Fog PrevaiI-
ed-ePathetic Scenes.
Washington, Dec. S0,-An appalling
disaster. resulting in the death, so far
as can be ascertained at midnight, of
thirty eight persons and the injury of
about fifty more. occurred about 6:20
o'clock to-night on the Baltimore and
Ohio railroad, at Terra Gotta, a sub
urb of washington. Frederick City,
Md, local train No. 66, on the point of
starting from the station, was run in
to by train made up of eight empty
passenger coaches, bound from the
west for Washington.
IT is stated that the engineer Of the
empty train had failed to see the red
signal indicating that another train
was in the block and plunged ahead on
its mission of death.
Nothing since the Ford theater dis
aster, which occurred about fifteen
years ago when large number of
government clerks were killed by the
collapse Of a portion Of the building,
has produced such shock as the dis
sster tonight No railroad accident
within great many years in the Dis
trict of Columbia, has approached it
IN magnitude.
"A dense fog and drizzing rain pre-
vailed throughout the day and to-
night and to the inability of the engin-
eer Of the rear train to see the signal
showing that another train was in the
block is attributed the cause of the
accident
The Grade at the place where the
tragedy occurred is downward and the
tracks were Slippery.
The Frederick train, which is run on
Sundays only, is largely for the ac-
commodation of those who have gone
to the suburbs on Sunday and for the
benefit of church goers who desire to
attend services at Washington at
night, and presumably number of
the latter were on the train. 1t leaves
Frederick at 4:O5 in the afternoon, and
is scheduled to reach Terra Gotta
about 6:15 o'clock. The train was
about on time tonight when the crash
came.
At first, owing to the impenetrable
fog, it was impossible to estimate the
extent of the disaster and early ru-
mors placed the number of killed at
higher figures than those proved later
to be accurate. Trains brought the in
jured. whose wounds had been hasti-
Il dressed and they were sent around
to the various hospitals. Three died
Oll 'ltlG way W lllC ClIyy anu VAlb GE6 III
occurred in one of the hospitals.
The engine of the rear train is said
to be one of the largest and latest type
Of passenger engines used on the road.
The fact of it's size probably saved it
from total destruction, as the principal
damage to it was confined to the front
Of the engine and because Of this Har-
ry Hildebrand and his fireman escaped
with their lives Hildebrand is said to
have been a substitute. He was later
arrested, together with his fireman. No
formal charge has been placed against
them, but they will be held pending an
investigation.
The wrecked train was composed Of
an engine, a smoker and two day
coaches. The two rear coaches were
reduced to kindling wood and the rear
of the smoker was telescoped.
So great was the impact that the To-
cal train was scattered along tho track
for a considerable distance.
Thaddeus T. Rodey, a laborer at the
Terra Gotta works, was one of the first,
not on the train, who became aware of
the accident. His place of employment
is not more than one hundred feet from
the railroad track, and of the wreck he
said he heard a loud noise which sound
ed like an explosion. 1t was only a
moment, he said, when he saw many
bodies stretched along the track. He
Immediately communicated by tele-
phone to the Baltimore and Ohio rail-
road at Washington.
Traffic was delayed by the accident,
and it was after midnight before the
bodies of the dead could be brought TO
the city. There was an entire absence
of any attempts at ghoulish deeds.
Many pathetic scenes were enacted in
the vicinity of the wreck as relatives
searched amid the fog and darkness for
the bodies of their loved ones whom
they feared were in the wreck.
From the appearance Of the bodies it
is believed that nearly all the victims
were killed outright or died within a
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