Smyrna times., 1911-08-30
II DEAD IN
TRAIN WRECK
LehIgh Valley Express Rolls
Over Bank.
CAUSED BY BROKEN RAIL
Train Was Late and Was Runnino at
High Rate of speen When Disaster
Occurred.

iTaih was LATE and Was Runninq at
High Rate of speen When Disaster
Occurred.
TWenty-seven persons are dead, half
a dozen more lie at deaths door and
seventy others crowd hospital wards
from Canandaigua to Rochester, ac-
cording to the latest figures, as the
result OF the wreck at Manchester, N.
Y, of Lehigh Valley train No. 4. east
bound, behind two powerful locomo-
tives, on trestle spanning Canandai-
qua outlet.
A ainety-pOund rail on the 4OO-foot
bridge, shattered into seventeen pieces
and showing defects in manufacture,
marked the weak spot, investigators
say. end explains the cause of the dis
aster.
So far twenty-five of the twenty
seven persons who met death among
the twisted and splintered mass of
wreckage fifty feet below the trestle
have been identified
Steps looking to the usual rigid in
Vestigation have already been taken
by the public service commission, cor
oners and other officials who have
workers on the scene.
This train was considerably behind
its schedule, and was running at a
high rate of speed when it passed
Geneva station. Among the passen-
gers on the train were a large num-
Der of G. A. R. veterans and their
relatives, who were returning from
the national encampment at ROches-
ter to their homes in various points
in the east, but as far as could be
learned there were but three veter-
ans dead, none of whom have been
identified. A number of friends and
relatives of the veterans are among
the dead and injured.
The cause of the disaster was a
broken rail twenty feet before the
bridge was reached.
The first car to leave the track was a
diner, which was the fourth car in the
train from the engine. In leaving the
tracks the diner took with it a Pull
man, which was just behind it. While
the diner remained on the roadbed,
the Pullman was hurled down a sixty
foot embankment into the outlet. 1t
was in this car that the greatest loss
of life occurred. While other cars
in the train did not go down the en-
bankment their momentum carried
them into the rear end of the diner
causing a considerable loss of life
and serious injuries in this car.
AS soon as the wreck occurred the
work of rescue began. Relief trains
were rushed to the scene of the wreck
from Rochester, Canandiagua, Clifton
Springs and Geneva with physicians
and nurses to aid in caring for the
injured AS soon as the injured peo
pie could be gotten from the wrecked
cars they were loaded onto cots in g
special train and hurried to- Roches
ter hospitals.
The scene of the disaster was one
of almost indescribable horror. Th'
passengers of the train run about IL
a state of panic looking for missins
friends or relatives who wer suppos
ed to have lost their lives in the
wreck. Shrieks of the injured for {
time filled the air, while a large mum
ber of surgeons and physicians from
l the surrounding towns were bus.
\ dressing the injuries. Priests wh'
were on the train Immediately wen
among the injured and dead and ad
ministered the last. rites of the churcl
to those who we're still sufficient.
alive to take them. Many are tn
scenes that struck deep in the vital
of even the men familiar with tn
sight of death.