Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1912-12-27
FOUR INJURED IN HEAD-ON
CRASH OF TROLLEY CARS
Local Passenger Car and Inbound Freight From Baltimore Via the
Electric Line" Come Together on Main Track Just
Outside of City Near West Street Station
RAIN CREWS BLAME FOC-COULD NOT SEE BLOCK SIGN
MOOman Aiken and Conductor Duva Most Seriously Hurt Former
Losing Leg, and Latter Sustaining Broken Limb Besides
Other Injuries

and Motorman Christopher were con
veyed thither, but their hurts only re-
I quired dispensary attention.
Meantime many persons had gath
cred at the scene of the collision and
relief car had been quickly dis
patched from the local terminal.
Some minutes elapsed before Motor
man Alken's s groans and cries were
heard, and dozen men immediately
set to work to release him from his
perilous plight. The injured man
managed to reach one hand through
a splintered portion of the car and
frantically called for hep. He dis
played remarkable calmness after he
had been placed on litter. and told
those about him that he was all right
except that he was afraid he would
bleed to death.
DR.. Walton H. Hopkins, one of
the Emergency Hospital staff, admin
istered hyperdermic on the way to
the hospital and this allayed the in
iured motorman's $ suffering considera-
bly,. Que of Aiken's first thought,
was of his wife and child. He was
hear to repeatedly utter: 81 want
my wife and little boy"
General Manager J. j. Doyle, of
the Railway Company's line. is in
Cleveland. He was Immediately ad-
vised of the wreck by telegraph, and
is now on his way East. An official
investigation will be started at once
to place the blame for tne collision.
Whatever may be developed by the
inquiry. it is not unlikely that il will
resolve itself into a question of al
legged misunderstanding of orders. or
additional instructions, according to
the best information that can be
gathered.
AS before stated. employees of tho
road, in semi-ofiicial statements made
are inclined to hold the pail of fog
in which the cars were running and
the consequent inability of the train
crews to see the block signals.
as responsible for the collision.
But, it is argued by many, in their
theories of the wreck, that If the
trainmasters and dispatchers were
aware of the prevailing thick fog at
the time, why was it the two
cars were allowed to enter the
block at one time, and leaving
the respective points at practically
the same time? Certain it is that
the freight was running at good
speed, for she had covered more than
three-fourths of the distance between
Camp Parole aud Annapolis when the
crash occurred.
In a statement issued in hospital
ward, after his injuries had been at
tended to by physicians, Conductor
DuvalI said that he had instructions
to proceed on the runsto Camp Parole
He said that he had been advised of
the position of the incoming freight
by Train Dispatcher Tuey, at Acad-
emy Junction. He said further that
he was told by Trainmaster Norris,
also at the Junction, that he had
running time to make Camp Parole,
his destination.
Motormaa Aiken states tnat the
fog was responsible for the collision.
He said he did not see the on-rushing
freight until it was 1Ily a short dis
tanee away. At the hospital at I 80
o'clock this afternoon, il was stated
that the condition of Aiken and
Duvall was progressing favorsbly.
The wreck did not cause any SER
ious interruption to traffic over the
! line today, the delays in arrival and
departure of the regular trains being
only slight In spite of thu general
] 81
wreckage of the two cars that blocked
F., the main track, arrangements were
hurriedly made by the Railway Com
/ pany officials to use a side track fer
I the resumption of service, and the
go O'Clock car for Baltimore and
Washington was delayed only about
/ thirty-five minutes in pulling out of
\ the terminal station. OF course this
delay necessarily caused a skakeup in
the orders for the meeting places Of
the different cars, but within a few
hours all trains were running prac-
tically to schedule. A wrecking crew
was soon at work demohshing the
1 passenger and freight cars, for they
were so badly damaged in the COLI.
sion as to render proper repairs al
most out of the question.
News of the wreck spread about
the city rapidly, and in the absence
of details. caused much excitement
among a number of residents who had
relatives or friends whose arrival
here was anticipated, or had left the
city on early morning cars. This
I uneasiness, however, soon was re.
lieved. That so many people were
soon at the scene of the wreck tC
lend assistance if necessary. was due
in a large measure to the fact thai
an alarm Of fire was sounded from In
dependent Fire Company, as well al
the other FIRE quarters Of the city.
This not only brought out many o.
the fire laddies. but hundreds of resi-