Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-23
Three Persons Killed in a
Rear.End Collision. ),
PARLOR CAR DEMOLISHED
Accident to Westbound Train in the
Allegheny Mountains.
SIGNAL NOT SEEN OR IGNORED
Blockaded Track Detained Two
Freights and Stopped First Sec.
ton of Passenger Train.
Special Dispatch 70 The Star.

Special Dispatch 70 The Star.
PITTSBURG. January 23.-Three persons
are dead and three injured in a rear-end
collision in dense fog at 1915 O'Clock
this morning at Summer HILL eleven miles
east of Johnstown, on the main line OF
the Pennsylvania railroad.
The railroad officials were extremely ret
cent as to the cause and extent of the
accident this morning, but gave out the
following as the list Of dead and injured:
Dead-S. l.. Taylor, Brooklyn. n. y, q
brokers' clerk.
NJ. J. Kelly of Jersey City. conductor OF
Pullman parlor car, sustained fractured
skull and died at 315 am.
Robert Booth of Philadelphia, porter of
Pullman car.
Injured-W. +. Johnson, passenger OF
Cincinnati, cut and bruised.
Mrs. Adam Rankin, passenger OF An
derson. Ky, cut and bruised.
w d. Kissel of Altoona, fireman on first
engine of second section.
These and five others were slightly in
jured and sent to Pittsburg.
Parlor Car Demolished.
The second section of train p. known
as the Chicago and st. Louis express.
dashed into the first section of the train.
The second section crashed into the par
lor car Of the first section and demolished
it completely. There were only three per-
sons in it. Mr. Taylor, the passenger,
and the two Pullman men. All were
killed. The first locomotive plowed en-
tirely through the parlor car and came
to a standstill at the end of the next
car a sleeper. Several of the cars on
the first train were derailed, as were the
two engines and the first two express
cars of the second section. All of the
passengers injured were on the first sec
ton.
The first section of the train was due
in Pittsburg at 30 o'clock this morn
ing. 1t left New York at 90 o clock
yesterday afternoon, and the second sec
ton ten minutes later.
Crash in the Fog.
The first section was forty minutes be-
hind it's schedule when it left Altoona
The fog in the mountains was very dense,
and it is supposed that the engineer of
the second section ran past signal light.
and. unable to see the rear lights OF the
first section, composed of day coaches
and sleepers, crashed into II. Both sec
lions were very heavy and the second
was going at a high rate of speed. The
first section had stopped for some reason
not explained by the railroad officials.
The cause of the wreck is believed to be
huge rock which rolled off a hillside
on the tracks due to the recent thaw. IL
stopped "a freight train early in the night.
and then another freight train stopped be-
hind the first. 1t is believed the first sec
ton of the express stopped behind the
two freight trains while the freight train
crews were removing the rock.
The block system is used on this section
of the road, and this is supposed to abso-
lutey prevent two trains being In the
same block
Relief Trains Sent to Scene.
AS soon as the officials of the PittsburG
division were notified Of the disaster re-
lief trains were ordered from Johnstown.
Altoona and this city. The Pttsburg
relief train carried all the physicians
that could be hastily summoned and all
the requisites for caring for the dead.
All the available physicians in Johns
town were hurried to the scene of the
wreck and Altoona sent twenty doctors
The unnjured passengers were placed in
the coaches on the second section and at
tached to train %, which arrived in Pitts
burg at o'clock this morning.