The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-07-04
Express Crashes Into Rear of
a Passenger Train.
Wrecked Cars Were Standing
on the Track.
HURLED FROM THE RAILS
Two Day Coaches Are Rolled
Down an Embankment.
Engine PIunges Half Way
Through the Pullman.

Corning, N. Y, July 4.-Nearly &c
passengers were killed and so injured
today when an express train crashed
into the westbound Lackawanna pas
senger train No. two miles east OF
this citv.
The passenger train which runs
from New York to Buffalo, had been
standing on the track a few minutes
when the express train, which carried
no passengers. struck it in the rear
at full speed. The two day coaches
attached to the rear of No. were
hurled down an embankment and the
express plunged half way through the
rear Pullman of the standing train
before it came to a stop.
Most of the killed were passengers
in the day coach who were going home
to spend the Fourth. F. w. Drake of
Passaic. N. J.. the Pullman conductor,
said four passengers were killed in the
Pullman. A score of physicians soon
were on the scene and the injured were
brought to the Corning hospital. A
number Of injured are still penned I'M
der the wreck and their groans and
shrieks can be clearly heard.
The bodies of the dead were laid on
top of the embankment along the
track and at the roadside and were
covered with blankets from the Pull
man. Every undertaken in Corning
was called to help care for the dead,
but their wagons were first pressed
into service to carry the injured to the
hospital. Many of the injured also
were taken away in automobiles.
AS yet the cause of the wreck has
not been determined. The place
where IL occurred was straight stretch
of track. So far as can be ascertained
the engineer of the express train had
no warning that the passenger train
he first saw it he thoughtssthe4 train
was standing on a parallel track.
Wires Are Down. 81
Scranton, Pa, July 4.-Only meagre
details have been received at division
headquarters of the Lackawanna rail-
road here of the wreck at Corning.
According to this information twenty
persons were killed and Is injured.
Telegraph wires are down
Thirty-Four Bodies Recovered.
The death list probably will run over
forty. Thirty-four bodies had been
ta ken from the debris three hours after
the wreck. Many of the injured were
mortally hurt Among the sufferers
were several babies and children.
As soon as the news of the accident
spread hundreds OF automobiles dashed
to the scene blocking the roadways and
interfering with the removal of the
dead and injured. A. detail of police
was sent to keep the roads open and to
keep the crowds back from the wreck
age. A special relief train from Elmira
brought physicians and nurses.
Coroner Herbert B. Smith ordered all
the bodies brought here and planned to
hold an inquest before the passengers
have departed. .-37'@r
The passenger train which left New
York at S:45 last night was heavily
loaded and was drawn by two engines
It was running about half an hour late
Most of the dead and injured it is be-
lieved were New York City and New
Jersey people
Information received by the company
says train No. had stopped at Corning
to allow a freight train ahead to take
a siding. The express train smashed
into it at almost full speed. 1t is be-
lieved here that it was impossible to
get out a flagman in time to prevent
the crash, the express having entered
the block close behind the passenger
train. Nearly all the cars in both
trains were wrecked, thrown across the
tracks. breaking down telegraph wires
50 that full details are impossible at
this time.