The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-02-18
20 KILLED IN
CENTRAL WRECK

Continued from First Page)
The track on which the train was run
ming and which was ripped In tho
accident. had been restored, the third
rail replaced ana traffic resumed prac-
tically under normal conditions.
At the Webster Avenue Police Station.
late to-day, lay eleven mansled bodies,
three of them unidentified. One was so
badly crushed that identification seemed
impossible, except through tho clothing.
All day a stream of people passed through
this temporary morgue, many leaving In
tears after having found some friend or
relative in the gruesome row. Tonight
the line Of persons seeking to identify
the remaining bodies continued.
Seventy Miles an Hour.
Coroner Schwanneclse has secured
statement from Motorman Rogers, of the
wrecked train In this according to the
coroner, the motorman had stated thnt
he was running on schedule time when
the accident occurred, and admitted that
the speed Of his train WAS seventy miles
an hour. Rogers, said the coroner, de-
cared that he did not know anything was
wrong until an eighth Of a milo beyond
the place Of derailmcnt.
The train consisted Of a double header
motor, coupled onto one engine, with
first was a smoker, the second is described
as a. power cur, though it Is commonly
designated as Il combination baggage and
smoker, and the three following were
ordinary passenger coaches. The coroner
said to the Associated Press to-day: "It
appears to me that n spreading of the
rails caused the disaster. l think that
one of the motors hit section Of the
track with force enough to cause it to
jump off. The smoker followed and
swung the cars following completely of
the track, breaking the coupling. When
the rear cars broke loose they ran wild
for distance. and finally turned over"
Cars Wrecked.
The smoker showed but little damage
but the other cars gave evidence of the
drag along the roadbed. Tho combina-
ton car, called by the coroner the power
car, was scorched in the centre ana on
ono end, probably having caught from
the lighting gas after the wreck. The
their right sides. Windows were gone
seats torn up ana curtains ripped In
| pieces.
Great dirty streaks marked where
| they had scraped along the third rail
and then upon the ground, and the steps
on the right sdo were torn away.
When the wreck occurred tho three
| rear coaches, completely filled with pas
J scngers, wcro thrown on their right side
Just above sharp curve at. Woodawn
| Road bridge. Tho shock was terrific.
People We're hurled violently from their
seats and the most Of those who were
! killed We're pitched through the win
dows as the cars slid on their sides.
| The third rail held for time, but finally
| broke With Il flash and a roar seen and
| heard for Il great distance Between tho
wreck OF tho current" rail and tho
main track tho bodies were wedged,
| They We're held here us the cars passed
| along and IN this way were terribly
, mnngled.
The police guarded the wrecked cars
| all day, but with daylight q large NUM-
/ Der of persons managed to work their
/ way to the coaches and cut out pieces
/ of cushion, curtains and carpetlng, even
taking bits Of glass from tho broken
| windows.
May BE Criminal Prosecution
| Assistant district Altorney nathan
! a. Smythc, With two other assistants,
continued his inqulrles into the wreck
to-day, with n view to determining
whether tho circumstances warranted
criminal prosecution.
MI. Smythe said tonight Tint no
mad made his inquiries particularly on
tho speed Of the train, whether a tire
had been lost from one OF the motors,
ana as to tho condition of the rails,
llo said he found that one OF tho out 81.
rails onithe curve had been torn IN
and that tho heads or the spikes when
held the rail to the ties had boon cut
Off but there was nothing to ind!-
cate by what agency. lilo said pieces
/. n 81 N >uh F,F No ,,,lo