The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-08-29
ON TRAIN
Tbiay-Sevsn Killed and Sixty Injured at
Manchester, N. Y.
COACHES LEAVE TRACK

COACHES LEAVE TRACK
While Speeding Over Trestle Six Cars
of Train Carrying G.. A. r. Vet
Grams From Rochester Encamp-
nent Fall From Trestle to River
Forty Feet Below.
At least 81 persons are believed to
have been killed and d%more than 60
Injured as result of the wrecking
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 a! pair Of projec-
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 excur-
sionists 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 1t reached Rochester Junction
and from there sped eastward to
make UP time before reaching Ge-
neva.
Following is the list of the dead at
the Shortsviile morgue:
T. C. Madden, Trenton, N. j.; E..
Pangbun, veteran, Brooklyn; A. M.
Hunsuoker, Vinehnd, Ont; Charles
Hicks, Newark N. j.; R. S. Uncle,
Southfield, N. j.; Mrs. A. E. Sud-
Southfield, 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. VI. 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 trinklets with
initials, but in many cases there is
little to work upon.
The engine and two day coaches
hau just passed Che centre Of a 400
foot trestle over Canadaigua outlet,
ll50 yards east of the station at Man
chester, at 1885 O'Clock when the
Pullman car Austin, the third Of a
long train, left the rails. 1t dragged
the dining car with it and the two
day coaches and two Pullmans, in
this order, followed. ALI bumped ov-
er the ties 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-fated 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 terrlll
force.
Both cars were filled with passen-
gers. In a 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 derailed
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