The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1907-02-17
Cars on New York Su-
burban Electric Line
Leave the Rails
WOMEN VICTIMS ARE
GROUND TO PIECES
HOLOCAUST NEAR WHEN MASS
OF WREckAGE cANGHT FIRE
30 DEAD AT MIDNIGHT;
SO OTHERS HURT.

filed mostly with happy women re
turning home from matinees In tht
city were wrecked this Afternoon
when the White Plains and Bre Sste
Express, six-c.l electric train or
the Harlem division OF the New lorl
Central jumped the track at curve
near, Woodlawn Road, in toe Bronx
bringing death to 20 and serious in
jury to at least 50 others.
At midnight the casualties resulting
from the wreck we've 1G passengers
killed outright, four others died o.
their injuries and at least so more
were more or less seriously injured.
Identified dead:
CLARA S. BUDSON.
MRS. JESSIE TOBIN.
MYRON Z EVANS.
ROBERT j. ROSEBOROUGH.
T. F. JOHNSON.
c. +. PAGE.
MRS. MARY kINCH.
MRS. OR MISS Il. p WARREN.
". A. SLOANE.
J. SLOANE
ANNIE MOREHEAD, aged II.
JESSIE A. JABIN.
The unidentified dead include seven
women and one man.
or those removed to hospitals ii
was said dozen and perhaps double
that number would die of injuries.
Running Sixty Miles An Hour
Ihc tram was loaded with mail.
nee crowd and commuters In their
way home from the city. When the
train reached the curve at the Wood
lawn road II was, according to passen-
gers running 60 miles an hour. Both
the motor and smoking cars swung
safely around the curve but the four
cars following left the rails and plung-
ing over on their sides with a terrific
clash and sliding hundred yards col
lapsed in one mass.
OF those instantly killed by far the
greater number were women. Many
were mangled beyond recognition.
Ambulances and surgeons were
rushed to the scene Many of the in
jured were quickly extricated from
the wreckage while others were so
pinioned that they could not be taken
out for some time. Those most seri-
ously injured were hurried to hos
pitals while the coroner's officers took
charge of the dead as fast as the
bodies were recovered.
Fire started in the overturned cars
hut the flames we're quickly eXtin-
guishcd.
Victims Mostly Women.
The rear car, containing more
women than the others. suffered the
greatest as il was completely over.
turned and before the breaking OF the
coupling released It. from the cars
ahead. II was literally torn TO pieces
aud the broken bits scattered for
hundred feet across Woodlawn ave,
uUe.
The cause Of the wreck Is not def
nitely known though the passengers
believe the train was thrown from
the track by reason of the high speed
when il struck he curve. Coroner
Schwannecker, however, declared to-
night that he had found a defect in
cne of the rails He has taken posses
sion of this rail and will have a tech
nical examination made.
Eye witnesses say that the motor
and forward car took the curve safely
bu. the following coaches we're de-
iailed and tumbling on their sides
were dragged 100 yards before the
couplings gave way and the four cars
piled together in ruins at the foot Of
2 low embankment.
Holocaust Was Threatened.
A sheet OF electric flames enveloped
the rear car a-d for a moment threat
cUcd to rias' the victims pinioned in
the debris. Tho flames did not. how
ever. spread and the horror of holu-
caust was svcrted. As the cars fell
tho smashed the third rail breaking
the current and ending the danger
from this source.
Victims Ground to Pieces.
Many victims we're ground to pieces
aud for hours identification was al
most hopeless. One woman was i'm
paled on a huge splinter from a rail-
road tie.
The coroner ordered the arrest nf
Engineer Warren Williams and As
sistant Stansield. The engineer was
held without bail and his assistant
paroled. The coroner said that be
did notbelieve the employees we're re
sponsible for the accident bBt that he
would bold Williams pend his iuyesti-
sat.Cn- tsmUErUF.