The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-02-18
INVESTIGATING WRECK
 ON NEW YORK CENTRAL
9 CAUSE OF THE DISASTER STILL 4 MATTER OF SPECC-
 LAYTON.

Seventy Miles an HOur-State Rail-
 way Commission Preparing to Make a
 Searching Inquiry-List of Dead Now
 Numbers Twenty-two.
 New York, Feb. r. Twenty-two dead, two fatally hurt, and 145 others more or less seriously injured, is the result of the wreck of an electric ex- press train on the New York Central railroad at 2O5th street and Webster avenue last night. Of the large num- Der of injured, fifty are, according to hospital and police reports, seriously hurt and the death list may be ir- creased within the next twenty-four hours.
 Most of the others are suffering from lacerations or shock, and will recover
 This was day of investigation and inquiry by representatives of the dis trict attorneys office, the coroner and the police. When daybreak came the police lists of dead had increased to eighteen, an hour afterward there were two more deaths reported from the hospitals, and tonight it is believed two additions will be made from the hospitals, to which most of the injured were taken after the Brewster express was derailed with such fatal results last niSht.
 The cause of the wreck is still a mat ter of speculation. All night Inspector Flood of the police department, Coroner Sclwannecke and Assistant District Attorney Smyth, together with other members of the district attorneys force, looked over the scene and sought to determine the cause of the derail- ment of the train. The result of their investigation may became known when the inquest is held by the coroner to- morrow. The wreckage was complete ly cleared away to-day. All four Of the tracks of the New York Central through the rocky cut wher ethe train left the rails and several of the cars went to pieces have been cleared. The track on which the Brewster train was running and which was ripped up in the accident has been restored, the third rail replaced and traffic resumed, practically under normal conditions. sfWith the clearing of the wreckage interest turned to what the authorities might do. Perhaps the most signifi- cant statement of the day was the one made to The Associated Press by Cor oner Schwannecke. He had secured a statement from Motorman Rogers of the wrecked train. In this, according to the coroner, the motorman had stat ed that 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, declares that he did not know anything was wrong until an eighth of mile beyond the place of de- railment. Then, said the coroner, it was another eighth of a mile before the motors came to a standstill. Rogers declared the motors did not leave the tracks.
 The train consisted of a double headed motor coupled into one engine, with one mlotorman, drawing five coaches. The first was a smoker, the second is described as a power ear, though it is commonly designated as a combination baggage and smoker, and the three following ordinary passen- ger coaches.
 Coroner Schwannecke in an inter- view said:
 q am skeptical as to the statement that the motors did not leave the rails, because the ties show that the motors and first cars were off the track an eighth of a mile from where they stop ped. In examining the ties this morn ing I discovered the marks of wheels, which showed thatthe tracks had been damned. The smoker was on the ties, not pn the tracks as has been stated. The train broke in two about an eighth of mile above the WoodlaWn road bridge. The rear portion appar- ently jumped to the tracks to the east, breaking the third rail. Consequently the motors lost control of the train, and the air brakes set automatically.
 q have an idea that one of the mo- tors left the rails first. l have a part of rail which indicates that this is so. It appears to me that a spreading of the rails caused the disaster Ih1nK IQdJ one Ol tlS IallS hit et oSS- ton of the track with force enough to cause 1t to jump off. The smoker fol- lowed, and swung the cars following completely off the track breaking the coupling. If the train had held to- gether there would not have been a disaster. When the rear cars broke loose they ran wild for a distance, and finally turned over"
 The coroner declared that he would present the section of rail to the jury, which will begin the inquest to-mor- row. This piece of iron, he declared, he had ordered taken from flat car, which was about to carry it away. He said it will show indentations which will tend to support his theory that the rails were out of alignment.
 The coroner then went on to detail some of the evidence which Will be pre- sented tomorrow. He said that he had secured statements from one of the passengers that the train was running at a speed which frightened them, that several declare that they were so alarmed that they put on their over shoes in the third car and went to the rear car, believing there was less dan- ger there"
 Assistant District Attorneys Smyth and Manley were with Coroner Schwannecke most of the night. From the district attorneys office came 8