The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1916-11-10
so KILLED IN
CAR ACCIDENT
Electric PIunges Through Open
Draw
SOUTH BOSTON, THE SCENE
Passengers Trapped in Closed Car as
IL Plunees To Bottom OF Chan
nel-The Worst Tragedy IN
History OF Boston.
SOUTH BOSTON, The SCENE

night, when a crowded surface car OF
the Boston Elevated Railway Com
pany crashed through the gates OF
the Summer street extension draw
bridge and plunged hoadlonE into
Fort Point channel. 80 feet below The
calamity came without warning only
those standing in the front and rear
vestihulos or clnEng to the steps had
any chance of escape Those inside
the car. bound inward from South
| Boston. were imprisoned. and either
! drowned or sunocatcd only dozen
in an were rescued
Gerald Walsh. the motorman
among those rescued. was arrested
and held ON "a charge of manslauEhter
/ He Is - years old. and lives I'm South
. Boston The conductor. George J.
/ Mckcon, OF SOC Broadway, South Bos-
ton also rescued. rs at the Relief hos
pital
Public Works Commissioner Muir
phy stated that without doubt the arc
light. located within 10 feet OF the
gates. was burning brightly. contrary
TO the statement made by Walsh the
motorman. that the light was ont
. Commissioner Murphy said that the
personal element" entered into the
case. when told Of Walshs state
ment Timothy Shea. the assistant
/ drawtcnder; John J. Fitzgerald gate
7 man at the east end OF the draw, and
Gateman McKeon on the South sta
. tion end. declared that conditions
were normal, and that the are light
| was burning
a diver worked all night removing
bodies from the car As they were
/ recovered the bodies were placed on
the police boat Guardian Later they
were removed 20 the North Grove
street and City Hospital morcucs.
Tho diver said at 115 a IN. that
he had completed the work of re-
bodies i'm all and that there was n
! possibility one or two more might be
later found in the channel They
would be those of persons who got
out Of the car, but were drowaod be-
| moving the bodies from the car. He
! reported that ne had taken out -
fore coming 10 the surface. one
body was thus picked up 30 minutes
| later
Walsh. nervous wreck. declared
that be had left the y street car
barns In South Boston al 513 p m,
on an extra trip. The accident oc-
CURED at $50 o'clock. He had
stopped 10 take on or leave passon-
gers az the white post nearest the
drawbridge and was travelling AZ "a
reasonable rate" from that point 20
the gates The gates, he admitted
were closed. and "A small red light,
marked them He did not see this
| light however, until almost on top
OF H. Ten feet 10 the left stands an
electric light pole, with an arc light
This light, Walsh declares, was out
/ When he realized that the draw was
open he applied the brakes, then
/ threw his reverse lever. hc said. The
/ lever failed 10 work
Eye witnesses Of the accident state
/ that the car broke through the gates.
/ pitched headlong into the channel
striking on heavy wooden buffers
/ placed about eight feet from the wa
ter's surface Tho rear trucks Of the
car wrenchod from the main body. re-
manned on the street level. Exami-
nation later showed that the brakes
siill held the wheels A wrcckinP
crew from the Elevated shops re-
moved the trucks, all that remained
visible az evidence OF the grim ia.
tality
Walsh. the motOrman. said that
there were not more than 30 passcn-
gers on the car when II went over
One OF the men rescued, however. de-
clared that the register stood Al G2
and there were several fares 10 b9
collected The car itself was ~ tho
2j-foot type, with seats for ~ pas
sengcrs on each side. II is admitted
hat the car was crowded.
The men on the platforms. includ-
ing Walsh and McKcOn, jumped when
the car hit the gates. OF the II per
sons listed among those rescued four
hours after the accident. u were men
and presumably those who had the
opportunity 10 leap.
George J McKcon, a spare cOnduc-
tor. who was in charge Of the car
said that 10 the best ~ HE knOwl'
edge there were between 70 and 81
passengers aboard So far AS he
could recall there WAS only ono
Young woman who stood on the rear
platform Both platforms were crowd
ed. and he was inside the car col
lecting fares The FIRST knowledge
that he had ~ any danger was when
he heard tho car crash into the gate.
The car pitched. going hcad-hrs' into
the water. 2 small part ~ i's rear
end protruding above 'he surface
McKeon said that his fret though
was 10 get away from the crowd
within the car. and AZ for what hap.
pened next. everything came go sud.
denly that he could not clearly re-
call He does not know exactly how
he got out % the car but he knew
that he was swimming under water
lie saw life preserver. but ignored
this 20 grasp a rope dangling from
above Twisting HE forearm into IL
he managed ~ hold on until rescued.
McKeon received bad scalp
wound. but he knew nothing ~ II IN.
M he was In the ambulance on The
way 10 the hospital He could not
say how n was received re said
that he had great difncul'y In keep
Ing afoat. being burdened by his
clothes. and that he vas glad that he
did not have much money with him.
feeling that he might not have been
able 20 sustain the added weight.