The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-08-26
KILLED AS BOYS TOUCH
 ELECTRIC WIRE
Man Killed Trying to Save Youths in Follow the
 Leader" Game.

l New York, Aug. 26-A gagging electric feed wire on the Boston and Westchester Railroad and a group of boys playing follow the leader" on line of standing freight cars on a side track at East 177th street and the Bronx River caused a chain of accidents yesterday afternoon which brought death to two of the boys and 1 a rescuer and serious burns to two | others.
 1 Incidentally the falling of the wire kindled a blaze which set fire to two freight cars and caused short cir cult which held up traffic to New | Rochelle for an hour and a half at the | height of the evening rush period. The dead:-
 | George Robel, eight years old, of No. 2070 Vyse avenue, the Bronx; electrical burns and shock. | Dona1do, Laruso, twelve years old, of No. 1891 Bryant avenue; electrical burns.
 John Fulton, forty-six years old, of No. 526 East 150th street, an inspec- tor of the Kingsbridge division of the Union Railway Co.,; broken neck. The injured
 1 Carl Lehman, ten years old, of No. 1925 East 1SOth street; burns on arms and body.
 | Ernest Lehman, nine years old, brother of Carl; burns on arms and body.
 Boys Hnd-~Been Swimming 1 The story of the events which led up to the accident was told to Cor oner Flynn by Ernest Lehman, the least seriously injured of the three survivors The four boys had been in bathing in the Bronx River, he said, and started to make a short cut across the tracks to visit the aunt of one of them, who n~es in Unionport. They were in bare feet and carried their shoes and stockings, with their bodies still damp from immersion. The string of freight cars suggest the follow the leader game. The feed wires at that point sag to about four feet above the car tops to pass under the Fremont avenue bridge across the railroad tracks.
 The Robei boy, who was leading, jumped mp and grasped the wire. His | frightened sf1rfek as he hung sus- | pended came too late to warn the others.
 Young Russo, already had jumped to grasp the wire. He touched it and I crumpled nr, moaning. The two Lehman boys attempted to pull Robel from the wire. They were knocked down and burned by contact with his body.
 A Tremont avenue surface car came to the bridge just at that time. At- traetsd by the cries of the boys. the thirty passengers ran to the railing {! of the bridge and looked down upon the victims.
 I MT. Fulton. who was on his way to work, was the first to reach the rail- ing, Those who were tffere said he did not hesdtate 8 moment, but drop I ped down on the nearest car top and ran along ths roofs until he reached the group sfrboys. by that time un- conscious.
 Falls From the Car, Il He grasped Robe1 with his bare ! hands and pulled him looss from tae
 wire. 6mitten by fias voltage of the
 electric current through ths boys body. he fell from the ear roof, drag gsd the boy's body with him and struck on his head. It was found later that his neck was broken by the fall, after an unsuccessful attempt had
 been made ts resuseitate laifn with g
 puimStef. He was only slightly
 burned and it was the spinisH of the , physicians that he would have suF- . yived the electric shock, T Policeman Bean, of the Westehestef ) station, then climbed Upon the ear and brought dswH the remaining three
 boys. He took possession of the near
 est automobile and hurried them to
 Fordham hospital, where Dr, To-
 Rochelle said he believed both the Lehman brothers would recover.
 Buttons fall tore loose the feed wire, which set fire to the roofs oi , two cars. Fhe firemeR put out the
 blaze with slight damage, but news l of the accident caused a crowd of sev- eFai thousand persons to collect, Sc
 many were naassed on and Heaf the l, bridge that Deputy Fire Chief Gray
 ordeFed his mea to assist the reserves
 from the Westehester and Simpson
 styec4 police stations in restoring or der.
 MS. Fulton leaves a widow and six , children, the oldest fifteen years o16
 and the youngest three: B Fhe railroad officials said they hai
 been trying for years to keep chil.
 dren from their tracks, and asserted , that police records would show thai
 there had been numerous arrests
 which resulted in the offenders beipe
 let off with reprimands in chilaFen'f D court.
 Ernest Lehman told Coroner F1ynT n that he and his companions ha6 n climber on the cars several times be. |, fore, and said that it was a common practice among boys of the neigh: Ttorhood.
 Claims Man Wears