Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1906-10-29
AWFUL DISASTER
IN new JERSEY
MORE THAN THREE SCORE PER-
SONS INSTANTLY KILLED
AND MANY INJURED.
bridge FAILS TO LOCK
Three Cars Dash a. Great Speed into
Trestie and Two CO over tnto the
River.

Atlantic City. n J.. Oct 2s-As the
details uf yesterdays terrible wreck
On the electric line ot the West JeT-
ses and seashore railway were dis.
ehosed during the night. the disaster
became more appalling. The total
number ot persons Instantly Killed
was probably sixty-six. With nearly Il
score injured, several Of whom ii H.
thought will die, Forty eight bodies
have haen brought 60 the surface
There were ninety-one persons on the
train and twenty-five have not been
accounted for. which with the bodies
recovered. brings the total up to sev,
"nty-thre". This leaves eighteen un-
accounted for and perhaps drowned
II ts piubable some of these fl,,atVd
through The broken windows and were
carried out TO sea, The wreck occur.
cd In a. drawbridge which span. the
waterway about n mill, outside the
city II was directly due To the draw
'" WV n bHoREsAS. ~ A&dku 0A
three cars dashed onto the trestle at
high speed before the draw was prop
eriy locked. The cars jumped the
rails and the first two plunged into
the water, while the third caught on
the abutment and remained suspend,
cd. II was from this car that nearh
all the injured escaped. The cars
which went into the water were en-.
ttrely submerged and as the tide was
running In rapidly the divers had hard
work getting bodies for several hours.
More Bodies Brought Up.
Three fresh divers arrived from
Philadelphia this morning to take the
place ofs those who worked all night
10 recover the bodies of those who
perished In the railway disaster at
the thoroughfare last evening. The
efforts Of these men resulted In bring
ing up three more bodies. The scenes
In the temporary morgue when the
public were admitted were heartrend
Ing. Among the pathetic cases was
that Of Samuel McElroy Of PhiladeL
phia who found his family wiped out
by the disaster. A wife and five year
old daughter are In the morgue and
his three year old boy is missing. A
few minutes after ten the wrecking
crew brought from the water the first
car. No bodies were found In II. but
three bodies were brought up with the
lifting Of the car from its bed of mud
which seems 10 bear out the theory
that some of the bodies might have
floated out through the windows.
Fifty-one Bodies Recovered
At eleven O'Clock today fifty-one
bodies had been recovered from the
two ears which dashed into the thor
oughfare Yesterday How many re-
main in the second car. which has not
yet been examined, is unknown. but
its survey will be completed by noon
Motorman Scott stuck to his post
and went down with his train.
Conductor Curtis also perished.
The third trainman. Brakeman
Wood. proved himself hero When
the train left the rails and was bump
ing over the ties Wood ran to the
rear door of the last car. threw IL
wide open and held 1t for the passen-
gers to escape He held the door
open until the car slid off the bridge.
and went down into the water with IT.
He then swan to the shore. His ac-
tion in holding the door open probably
saved many lives. When the third car
dropped into the water Henry Remer
was In th4yact Of crawling from
window. Ffeeing himself with an ef-
fort and being a strong swimmer. Re-
n,er get about to help others. Swim
ming along the side OF the fast sink'
ing car he kicked the glass and thus
gave several passengers an opportnn-
ity TO escape. One man was caught
In a window and was drowned before
he could extricate himself.
The accident was witnessed by
many people. and rescue work was
prompt. Strong swimmers endeavor-
ed to dive to the submerged cars In
search OF bodies, but SO strong was
the tide that they were forced to de-
sist. Professional divers were then Sc
cured, who donned their armor and
then went down. But even they were
unable to do anything against the tide
that swirIed around the sunken coach
es.
Fifty.ttree Killed
Fifty-three persons are positively
known to have lost their lives in the
electric railway accident yesterday at
the thoroughfare, and Of these forty
seven have been identified, two are
missing and four remain In the