The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1911-08-30
DEATH ON TRAIN
lhirly.Seven Killed and Sixty Injured al
Manchester, n. 7.
COACHES LEAVE TRACK

While Speeding Over Trestle Six Cars
of Train Carrying G. A. r. Vet
Grams From Rochester Encamp-
ment Fall From Trestle to River
Forty Feet Below.
At least 81 persons are believed 10
have been killed and more than 0o
injured as a result of the wreckang
Friday of Lehigh Valley passenger
train No. 4. Speeding eastward be-
hind time the train ran into a spread
rail on a trestle near Manchester, N.
Y. and two day coaches from the rear
section plunged crashing downward
striking the east embankment
40 feet below like pair Of pro1ec-
tiles.
The wreck was one Of the most dis
astrous ever recorded on the system.
| Crowded with passengers, many OF
whom were war veterans and e1cur-
sionfsts from the G.. A. R. encamp-
ment at Rochester, the train, made
up of fourteen coaches, drawn by TWO
mogul engines, was 40 minutes late
when it reached Rochester junction
and from there sped eastward to
make up time before reaching &C.
neva.
Following is the list of the dead at
the Shortsviile morgue:
T. C. Madden, Trenton, N. j.; F..
Pangbun, veteran, Brooklyn; A. NJ.
Hunsucker, vineland, Ont; Charles
Hicks, Newark N. j.; R. S. Uncle,
Southfield, N. j.; Mrs. A. E. Sud-
sourhfield, N. j.; Mrs. A. E. E. Sud
leck, Buffalo, N. Y. Helen Pownell,
addess unknown; c. P. Johnson, or
DR.. Johnson, Philadelphia or Cleve-
land; Mrs. C. P. Johnson; Joseph
Hickey, address unknown. The re-
mainder of the dead were unidenti-
fled.
The dead at Rochester: D. NJ. Belt
veteran, Los Angeles, CAL; Henry
Becker, brakeman The other dead
at the Manchester morgue are seven
women two girls, four men and a
boy. On some are tuinklets with
initials, but in many cases there is
| littlo to work 11DOn
The engine and two day coaches
had just passed the centre OF a 4Oo-
foot trestle over Canadaigua outlet,
$50 yards east of the station at Man
chester, at 12:35 o'clock when the
Pullman car Austin, the third OF a
long train, left the rails. It dragged
the dining car with it and the two
day coaches and two Pullmans, IN
this order, followed. All bumped oV-
er the ties a short distance before the
coupling btween day coach No. 237
and the rear end of the diner broke.
The forward end of the train dragged
the derailed Pullman Austin and the
diner over safely, after which both
plunge down the embankment and
rolled over.
The free end of an ill-fate1 Lehigh
Valley day coach, in which most OF
the victims were riding, with a grand
Trunk day coach, stripped the rear
guard of the south side Of the trestle
and plunged to the shallow river bed
more than forty feet below.
The end of the first day coach that
went over struck the east embank-
ment of solid masonry, and with the
other sixty-foot car behind it, both
shot against the wall with terrific
force.
Both cars were filled with passen-
gers. In few moments the cars
lay a mass of battered wood, metal
and glass under which hundred
men women, and chilren, many OF
whom were killed instantly, were
buried. The greatest destruction oc-
currrd in day coach No. 237. A doz-
en- persons later were taken dead
from the second day coach, which af-
ter following the first car over
snapped it's rear coupling and thus
saved the rest of the train from be-
ing dragged along.
This second day coach struck on
the bottom and stood end UP, the
rear end projecting few feet above
the top of the trestle. All of the pas
sengers in this car were piled In a
tangled mass of broken seats at the
bottom of the car.
Indescribable pandemonium fol-
lowed. The Pullman car Emelyn,
which remained on the bridge with
one end projecting over the gulch,
and several cars behind it deralled
and in serious danger Of going over
the mass Of wreckage below, were
soon emptied of their passengers, who
aided by gangs of railroad employees
from the big freight yards at Man
chester, rushed to help the injured.
It. was several minutes, however, be-
fore anybody reached the cars at the
bottom to help the victims.
The cars did not catch fire. Axes
were secured and body after body
was reached and carried by rescuers
knee deep in the river bed to the
bank on the west side Of the trestle.
There the dead and injured were
laid out battle-ground and a field
| hospital was established.
1t was more than an hour before
many of the injured could be re-
moved and special trains from both
Geneva and Rochester brought ply
sicians, nurses and medical supplies.
Hundreds awaited treatment and the
railroad station at Manchester, cl-
der mill and an ice house were used
to give temporary shelter and treat
ment to the suffering.
It was necessary to chop through
the sides and bottom of the day
coach at the bottom and the work OF