The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-20
AUTO FIRE BLOCKS BROADWAY
John ~. SPRINGER AND FAMILY
m SWASHT'P WITH TWO CARS.


wreck In Front OG " allack'S-sOnle Oue
Let n LIKhI Drop and tiasolene SET
street Anamr-SeN PraI Persons Hurt.
John n. Springer, proprietor Of the Grand
Orera House, his wife, " children and
driver, had q narrow escape from death
when their automobile was caught and
crushed TO bits between north and south
hound Broadway cars, between ThlrtleIh
and Thirty-first streets, at n:O o'clock
L., night. Mr.. Springer and James d..
.larston, the driver, are in the New York
Hospital badly hurt.
Mr.. and Mrs. Springer, their sixteen-ycar-
old daughter Gladys, and their son John
,Jr. Is years old, left the Grand Opera
House at the close Of the performance at
% o'clock. They climbed into Mr..
~Srringer's touring car, and Marston drove
cast along Twenty third street to Broad
vay and there turning north beaded for the
Springer home az 10th street and Haven
avenue.
At Thirtieth street Marston attempted
10 pass a north bound car. He went to the
right OF it, but was unable to get through
the lam Of carriages lined mp In front Of
Wallack's Theatre. The car had stopped
and Marston backed around the rear oil 1t
and turned on TO the southbound track.
Seeing a ~southbound car coming q block
away he put on speed and tried to run around
IN front of the ~northbound car, which ny
this time had started ahead. The south
bound car was coming at a swift pace
and MarstOn shot the auto ahead to gain
the north track. A he did 80 the north
bound car caught the side Of the automobile,
showing it along, and before the motor
man Of the southbound car could apply the
brake the crash came.
There was a loud crash and the auto
mobile was crushed in like a bandbOK.
A crowd which was pouring ont OF the
theatres saw the smash, and a shrek went
up from the women. Policeman Shea,
who was standing on the sidewalk nearby,
quickly turned in an alarm for fire engines.
In the meantime Miss Gladys Springer
and her brother were flung between the
two cars. Both seized the guardrail Of
the south bound car to keep from being
dragged under il, as the car was not yet
stopped, but was slowly sliding along
crunching the automobile against the
other car. The passengers on the car,
which was an open one, reached out and
dragged the two children into it.
Marston was shot over the front Of the
auto when the crash came and as his body
was hurled over the hood. his right leg was
ripped open from the knee to the ankle.
He was picked up and carried into . drug
store on the corner OF T~hirty-tirst street
and an ambulance was summoned from the
New York Hospital.
By this time the firemen Of Engine /,
located in Thirtieth street, had arrived.
They set to work to clear out the wrecked
auto. It was known that Mr.. n Mrs.
Springer. who bad been seated in the ton
neau, were in the jammed mass, and the
shrieking crowd in the street felt certain
that they had peer crushed to death.
The first to be rescued was Mrs. Springer,
and she. too, was carried into the drug
store. II was found that she was only
slightly bruised. but she was suffering
from shock. The firemen had literally to
chop the mass Of wrecked auto TO bits in
order to extricate Springer. He had a
deep cash over his right eye, his lip was
FIVlN duh It "a bUGh NNA~ N
about the body.
Mr.. Springer was like a man crazed while
he Law in the drug store. to which he was
carried to wait for the ambulance. All
hands tried 10 assure him that the entire
party had escaped alive, but he was sure
that his two children had been killed. He
accused everybody in general OF trying
to hide the fact OF their death from him. and
only became quiet when the two children
were led in before him.
Miss Gladys Springer was hystertcal.
She had to be taken from the drug store
TO the Grand Hotel across the way, where a
physician succeeded in G~uieting her.
Springer was inclined to believe that the
children had been hurt and insisted on Their
going to the hospital with him. The two
went along. az did Mrs. Springer.
In a short time after the accident Broad
way was packed and jammed with excited
people. Capt. Schlottmann Of the Tender
loin station house hurried to the spot with
all the cops he coaid gather. Battalion
Chief Langford Of the Fire Department
called on the police to keep the crowd back
as he found that the big gasolene tank OF th'
machine had been split INC he feared ar
explosion. -
Both Chief Langford and Capt. Schlott
mann called out to the crowd and beggeC
them to get back, as any one with a cigar o.
cigarette might cause a catastrophe. Thu
police succeeded in forcing the crowd bacl
and Battalion Chief Langford saw that tn
motormen OF the cars didn't o them
as a short circuit might have been caused.
Broadway for half a block o wa
sprinkled with gssOlene, and the fumes Werv
plain enough to be q warning to the crowd
But suddenly the line that the police he'll
gave way, and some one either dropped
lighted cigar or cigarette or perhaps
match. Suddenly there WA Q fash and tn
block was in flames. Then the irennen ha'
to get busy. They used sand to bank N
the flow OF the gasolene and forced tn
fluid back until IL was in q lake. Then the
just let il bum out.
When the belching gasolene smoke q j.!
hame shot into the air the foremost Of Tn
crowd pushed backward with irresistibI
force. Many women were painfully bruise
in the miKup and some Of them had thei
dresses nearly torn from their backs
Several tainted and were lifted over tn
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