New-York tribune., 1909-07-18
CRASH ENDS JOY RIDE
Continued from first page
of Glen Cove, escaped serious IN

Sherwood Of Glen Cove, escaped serious In
jury.
The four men were on their way to Hampstead
Plains to see the fight of the Curtiss aeroplane,
and were going at terrific speed as they got out
into the outskirts Of Long Island City. Yer
sions % how the accident occurred differ.
Charles Van Warren. the gateman at the cross
ing. declares that the gates were down. but
that when he saw the automo5ilists paid no
heed 10 the warning he swung red lantern.
This statement is eorroborated by Gus Franz,
the engineer on the train. who said he saw the
red lantern as he approached the crossing.
AS the shot upon the track TaUpan caught
sight of the train, which was almost upon him.
going at the rate OF forty miles an hour He
tried to turn the machine into a ditch at the
side of the tracks. but miscalcuIated and ran
head on against the locomotive
terrific crash resulted. the locomotive pick
ing up the automobile and tossing It along the
ties for distance OF about twenty yards before
the engineer could bring the train to a stop.
Underneath the tangled mass into which the
automobile had been converted Hurley was
found with broken neck Tappan was thrown
to the pilot OF the locomotive When picked
up it found that his right thigh was fract-
ured and the right hip and leg were cut their
whole length Terry had his right eye gouged
tub h4tu IStStFSu LHtSfhdt injuries ana many
nasty cuts on the body. Sherwood esca ped with
only few scratches.
A. H wood. of No ~ west Broadway. Man
haitian, drove up in his automobile at that mo-.
rient and the three injured men were hurried
to St Johns Hospital Hurley died on tn. vav.
and Tappan and Terry were put upon the oper-
ating table as soon as they reached the hospitaI
Tappan's condition was reported last night as
very serious. and Terry may lose his sight as IL
vas found his left eye was also affected bv the
collision.
Franz. the engineer OF the express. was ar
rested later in the day. When arraigned before
Magistrate Fitch. in the Flushing police court
he corrobotated Van warren's story of how the
accident occurred. Magistrate Fitch. who pa
rolled him until August 2s to await the result
of the coroner's investigation. was inclined 10
believe that 1t had been the fault OF the ehauf.
feur and not OF the engineer.
Nine out OF ten of these accidents are caused
by the earelessnsss OF the Chauffeur" said the
magistrate. He is the man who should Rave
been arrested in this case
Policemen were thereupon sent TO the hospitsI
to arrest Tappan. but his condition was toe crit
ieal to allow OF his removal
a peculiar feature about the accident il that
the gates ct the crossing were found ta be un-
damaged after the collision The gatenan ana
the engineer explained this by saying that the
car was SO low that It could easily have passed
under them Had Tappan allowed his machine
10 continue straight ahead the car would prob
ably have cleared the tracks without being
struck.
Hurley was thirty nine years old and lived at
sea Cliff which is also the home OF Terry. Tap
pans summer home is at The Place, Glen Cove.
Sherwood declared yesterday that the autorno-
bile was going at moderate rate OF speed and
that they had no warning of the approach of the
train until the machine reached the tracks.