The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-29
P. R. R. Electric Train PIungGs
Into 20 Feet Of Water
at Atlantic City.
VICTIMS HELD IN A TRAP.
Pleasure Seekers Enguifed with
No Chance to Even Maks
Fight for Lite.

Third Rail system Put in Operation .
Month Ago-RaiIs Of Draw Hal Failed 20
TO Interiock Win Rails on rigid Pars
Or Structure and wheels Ran OG Onts
the Ties AIrbrakes Failed 20 Cheek
flying Train, which Owed into Thor
Oughrare creek Heroic Rcscups AMI
HearIrCnd'nS Scenes one Largs
Man NCdgrd In window Drowned
bS RIslng TIDE as II OlsandS Look On.
ATLANTIC CITY, Oct. .S.--More than fifty
persons the ma iorty Of them PhilsdelPh'ans
out for a Sunday holiday, lost Their lives
here to-day when a three cur train on the
Pennsylvania Railroad company's new
third rail electric line from Camden to the
sea was wh,rled of the drawbrdge over
the T~horoughfare and sunk in twenty feet
of water.
II was tho most terrible accident that
Atlaat C City has ever known and one Of the
worst wrecks in the history of r~ailroading.
when it is considered that more than fifty
of the eighty persons on the train are dead.
Although the accident happened before
23o o'clock this afternoon the exact numbe
of killed and injured cannot be given with
certainty ever at this late hour. for the
reason that the submerged cars. where the
dead are still lying in heaps. cannot be
entered until the tide goes out.
The third car of the train was not en-
49, zL.-.-l .-I .twhkoan hnAiaa
have been recovered from it. Fourteen are
identified and four unidentified.
Eighteen injured nave been taken care
Of at the Atlantic City Hospital and by
private physicians and five other survivors
have been accounted for. The rest of thu
eighty souls aboard the electric express
are supposed to be in the tangled wreck.
through which the waters of the Thorough
fare are pouring.
The estimate Of fifty dead is believed
to be conservative and the number may
reach sixty.
TIE T~hoToUghfare is a neck Of tidewster
which separates Atlantic City from h
mainland and the railroads cross il on
drawbridges. The draw of the electric
road had been opened about half an hour
before the express arrived to permit an
i'll fated yacht called the Sinbad to pass.
The Sinbad had been abandoned at sea
by her crew and was washed up on Fenwick
Island shoals. Her owner rescued her and
was bringing her back to Atlantic City.
When the bridge closed behind the Sinbad
the rails did not lock properly. The fanges
of the wheels on the first car Of the express
struck the outside Of the rails and in a
moment the whole train had been whirled
over and dropped into twenty feet Of water.
Men, women and children in the first two
cars were drowned Ike rats in a trap, less
than half a score escaping through smashed
windows.
Survivors of the wreck are scattered
throughout the city and it is impossible to
tell exactly how many escaped. but il is be-
lieved at least twenty-five were taken out
by rescuers or managed to crawl through
broken windows and to the surface OF the
water, where most OF them were picked
: up by boatnen who witnessed the accident
and at once 70 wed TO the scene.
The survivors are mostly men. only
three or -four women managing to get out.
Entire families. who were on their way
to the shore, were caught in the trap and
drowned without a chance Of escape.
The accident occurred while tho train
was running at high speed, just as it tool
the draw OF the bridge.
The wheels Of the front car left the rails,
and were followed by those OF the second
and third cars.
All three cars bumped over the ties for
a hundred yards and then the front car took
a plunge.
Motorman Walter Scott, standing at the
lever, felt the jar, and coording TO people
in the train applied the airbrake with full
force, but il was unavailing.
He went own with his car and is believed
10 be still at the bottom OF the waterway
gripping his lever.
The second car slowed up, but the COUP
lings held and 1t was dragged down behind
the first and sank out OF sight. The third
cars coupling also held and was dragged
of the bridge, but the rear end caught
on the abutment, leaving an air space
where the people in the car were able to
keep alive.
The trucks OF this car smashed through
its bottom like paper n several bodies ara
believed to be still pinned under the tons
OF steel.
Passengers in the first two cars had
hardly time to realize their danger before
they were in the water. struggling In their
cages. About half a dozen were thrown
against windows w~ithforoe enough to SmaSh
the glass and managed to get through.
When the first resouers arrived these were
floating or hanging on TO wreckage. Men
in boats went to their rescue, but were In
able to reach all and " At least sank before
l help could reach them.
The work q rescue wAa begun within