Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1906-11-05
DEATH LIST
At ATLANTIC
CITY NOW IS
LOADED PASSENGER TRAIN
PLuNGES INTO WATER.
DRAwBRIDGE DEFECTIVE
Span Fails to Work, Crowded Cars
Pitch Over and Are Submerged,
Drowning More Than Half Hun
dred PeopIe-Whole Families
Numbered Among the Victims.

Atlantic City, N. j., Oct. 3O-The
total number of dead in the wreck Of
the electric train which Sunday, load
ed with passengers, plunged into the
waterway separating this city from
the mainland, is now placed at So. Of
these, 40 bodies have been identified,
two bodies remain unclaimed in the
Dlortuary and two people are known
to have been drowned, but their bod
les have not yet been recovered.
Draw Fails to Work.
The wreck occurred at the draw
bridge which spens the Thoroughfare,
a small waterway about one mile
outside of this city, just on the east
ern edge of the Meadows, and was
directly due to the draw failing to
work properly. The fishing schoon-
er Sinbad, which was recently
wrecked off Winter Quarter shoals
light, snort distance from the Della
ware breakwater, had just passed
through the drawbridge. AS the
schooner was entering the draw the
electric train hove in sight and
started across the meadow from the
direction Of Pleasant vile.
Two Cars Submerged.
Before the draw had swung into
position the three cars, which were
running at high rate of speed,
dashed on the trestle. With a 1urch
the forward car left the rails and
dashed into a guard rail, the other
two cars following At the point
where the cars jumped the track the
top of the trestle is nearly 20 feet
high. The first two cars were in
stantly submerged, but the third car
of the train caught on an abutment
and remain suspended. 1t was this
car from which nearly all of the in
jured escaped.
Tide Was Coming In.
The news of the disaster was quick
ly teIegraphed to this city and in less
than an hour the work of rescue had
been begun. At the time of the ac-
cident the tide, which rises about ten
feet, was running in and the work
of the divers was necessarily slow. It
was not until several hours later
that the divers were able to make
any progress. Then the awful evil
dences of the disaster became more
apparent. When the two cars struck
the bottom of the waterway they
stood almost on end and the first man
to descend reported that the victims
were packed in the lower ends of the
submerged cars so tightly that it was
difficult to move them.
Bodies Taken to Theater.
One by one the bodies were carried
to waiting train and laid side by
side, later to be borne to this city and
placed in the Empire theater, which
was pressed into the service as a
temporary morgue. Thousands of
persons quickly gathered at the
scene of disaster and score of boats
soon surrounded the spot where the
cars disappeared, but they we're I'M
able to render any aid and could only
await the arrival of the dives.
Sees His Whole Family cad.
At the morgue the scenes were pa
thetic. Persons who had friends OF
the Inflated cars crowded about the
door and with difficulty were re-
strained from forcing their way into
the building. One of the most heart
rending incidents was furnished by
Frederick Benckert, who lost his en-
tire family, wife and two children.
Benckert was not informed of the &C
cident until too late to catch train,
and he hurried here in an automobile.
When he saw the bodies of his wife
and two little boys lying side by side
on the cold floor Benckert collapsed
and had to be carried from the build
ing. Benckert had intended to come
to Atlantic City with his family, but
was unable to get away.
Waits at Station; Bodies Brought in.
DIR. Hudders and his wife we're on
their way to this city to purchase a
cottage and intended visiting Mrs.
German, the doctors sister-in-law.
who resides in this city. The latter
was at the station waiting for the ar
rival of the doctor and his wife and
when she learned of the accident the
woman collapsed. The bodies OF the
doctor and his wife were among the
last brought in from the wreck.
Wife and Daughter Dead; Son Missing
Among the most pathetic cases was
that of Samuel McElroy of Philadel-
phia, who, after a sleepless night.
found his family wiped out by the dis
aster, his wife and 5-year-old daugh-
ter lying dead in the morgue and his
3-year-old boy missing. When the
officials making record of the identi-