The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1906-12-31
DETAILED ACCOUNT.
CONTINUED FROM FIRST PAGE

compete dS llc ADotS N-iS'''N 49,
its way through and scattered the IN
fortunate victims along the track
Some were ground beneath the wheels.
while others were killed by the flying
debris. For a distance of fully a quarter
Of mile the wrecking crew and the
hundreds Of curious people who went out
from Washington to visit the scene of
the awful catastrophe saw strewn re-
mains.
1t required fully three hours on the
part OF the earnest workers to gather
these fragments of human beings to-
gether and spread them along the banks
Of the railroad track. Identification was
extremely difficult in the darkness, and il
was not until after midnight that the
bodies were brought to Washington and
taken to the morgue.
Engine Remains on Track.
A strange feature Of the accident is
the fact that neither the engine, the
tender. nor any Of the empty coaches Of
the colliGing train left the track. De
spite the damage which was wrought the
engine was only slightly injured. and
neither the engineer nor the fireman sus-
tanned any injury
Both remained in their cab and were
, placed under arrest as soon as the po-
/ lice reached the scene.
Engineer Hidebrand, who has been
/ cited that he has not yet been able to
give any lucid account Of what happened.
/ he does not even remember putting
on the airbrske to stop his train which
ran a full length after it had struck the
| rear coach Of the local.
Says He Had "CIear" Signal.
He states positively that when his train
| entered the block at North Takoma, d
short distance beyond Terra Gotta, he
was given a clear track This statement
/ is directly contrary TO that OF the
operator at North Takoma, who declares
that he gave the train the red light. in
dicating that the track vas 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 corpses from the debris.
It 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 wreckage was strewn all along the
track. and there was practically nothing
TO burn. The trucks Of the rear coach
OF the local We're thrown of the tracks
at the station. Those Of the second coach
were carried on distance Of several
hundred yards and remained upon the
track
The forward coach was the only one
which was not completely teIescoped. Il
was lifted from the track and its side,
steven in. The bodies Of two women and
a child, all terribly mangled. we're takeT
from beneath the truck Of the seconJ
/ coach.
Hard to Identify Dead.
! The rescued hand baggage was OF Httlt
assistance in determining who wer,
among the list OF dead. as it was scat
tered far and wide from those 10 whom
it had belonged. But here even in som,
instances it was possible to ascertain
something concerning the identity Of tn,
dead.
In a number Of cases so badly were III
bodies mutilated that it was only pos
sible by examining the hair TO deter
= mine whether woman was white o
colored. Several Of those who were kiIe
were evidently In the employ Of the rail
way. In the pocket Of the coat of on
man were found two pay envelopes whicI
had never been opened In the Goa
, pocket Of a lad about eight or ten year
old was found a Baltimore and Obi
Railroad pass issued to Mrs. J. A. Nc
= Caghey and son. It is not known whethe
or not the boys mother is among tn
list Of the dead, but A woman. evidentl
his mother. was found dead not far fror
! him.
Commissioner West in Charge.
The only representative of the Distric
government to be on the scene of tn
disaster was Commissioner West. VIII
: reached Terra Gotta within short tim
, after the news spread about the city H
, took active charge OF the relief work, an,
B his presence assisted materially in ex
e pediting the arrangements for the train
and bringing TO the scene every possibl
! medical aid to be summoned. He spen
b the better part of the night at Terr
. Gotta directing the work
Commissioner Macfarlsnd and Mai. syl
vester. chief of police, were kept busy 4
the city with the numerous arrangement
connected with the reception and care o
7 the wounded
The wreck occurred at exactly 5:35 p. n
5 This is proven by a number Of watche
e taken of Of the persons of the dead an
picked up along the track, all of whic
were stopped at that hour
; wonderment as to how the coal cal
= found in the wrecked train after the col
lision, had gotten there was cleared u
by an eyewitness. When the first cras
came the coal car was standing on tn
|, siding Of the Terra Gotta Company
works. and was caught by the rear car