Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-07-12
SURVIVORS OF TRAIN WRECK
TELL OF THEIR EXPERIENCES
Woman Asks Rescuers to Save Baby First.
Sergeant Rogers, in Hospital,
Describes Scene.

RRIpG EPoRT. Conn. July 12-Many
of the survivors of the wreck OF the Gu
eral Express here yesterday tel thFlliiiis
stories of their experiences.
Miss Blenda Johnson of Philadelphia
who was travelling to Dock Harbor' Me-
said:
II was awake when the crash came
I never sleep train. fei' TINS at
cident coming before we left Ne" 1orh'
as the train was late and found great
deal of difficulty crossing the ferry. be
fore the crash came / could feel the car
tipping over and suddenly the upper
berth fell 1Ipon me- l was pinned in so
close that l could not get out. could
hear the other people in the sieepers
proaninc. As soon as could collect
myself L worked my way out in some
Way / do not know how | got out. as
I think the car was turned upside down.
was not hurt except being a little stiff
consider my escape miracle, as the
car was going very fast The thing that
frightened me most was the sparkling Of
electric wires. 1t was an awful sight.
Going to Brothers Funeral.
One OF the saddest cases was that of
q pretty young school teacher named
Bertha Monroe, who has been teaching
at boarding school in North Scituate,
r. l. She was visiting in Washington
and had been summoned to her home
at CIiftondale Mass, because of the
death of brother She was on her
way TO the funeral when the wreck oc-
CURED.
She is at ST. vincent's Hospital. COW
cred with bruises. Her back is injured
r,ftn Ill lnn tod al MI
torn. The physicians hope to save IT.
Miss Monroe is twenty-four years of age
She said:
Il was in the day coach and asleep.
The first l knew the car seemed to be
going down, down, down and l was
pinned in, not knowing what had hap
pened.
Sergt. Philip Blansfeld. who led the
first policemen to the scene, declared that
when he first saw. the wrecsage he be-
lieved that every one on the cars must
have been killed outright.
Train Seemed Buried.
1T was a terrible sight, said Blans-
field. The whole train, except those
last Pullmans, seemed at first to be buried
N the ground. 1t was just before dawn,
and sin the gray light it did seem as If
every one in the cars must have been
caught. There wasn't any blaze that
swapping and sizzling from the electric
wires that had been snapped and We're
swinging against the steel viaduct. That
one of the first things We had to look
after. TO get the power shut off, and l
think that that probably prevented tire.
There was a lot of screaming, and we
could see people trying to get out of the
cars, but apparently held in by masses of
broken woodwork and car fittings that
were damned up around them Those
base ball players came tumbling out in
their ajamas or half dressed, and they
turned right in to help.
We all climbed up on the floors and
sides of the overturned cars broke win
doWs and chopped through the bottoms
where we had to, and in some cases we
had TO shove ladders through to get into
the cars. Then we carried the people to
Horan's lawn and when the doctors
came from all over town in their auto
mobiles we used the machines TO carry
the injured TO the hospitals.
Experiences of Rogers.
George Rogers. the electrician sergeant,
United States Army who was injured and
whose wife and child were killed, told
his story of the wreck in St. Vincent's
Hospital He said:
THE first thing | can remember was
that in the night Frank (his little three
year-old SOM asked me for a drink. We
were in section. E upper berth. 1 sudden
1y felt the car j was in give percept1ble
leap and turn over. The car seemed to
turn before it struck Before could have
time TO think where / was what to do
II split open and ] was squeezed in be-
tween the and other matter
81 grabbed my little boy subconsciensly
and stepped from the ruins. He. with the
exception of a few bruises. in uninjured.
j had several slight bruises on the
shoulders.
Then | began to search about for my
wife. She was in the lower berth of sec
ton f. took several women from the
wreck. hoping each would be my wife.
after some searching, l found my
little seven-month-old baby with a plush
dog clutched in its hand-dead." At the
conclusion he sobbed aloud.
''Oh. | can't talk about ii any more
God. ii was awful If / could only find
my wife.
Crash Was Deafening.