New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-02
Trolley Carries Two Down
QueensbOrough Incline
Into Another.
FIREMEN USE AXES
TO REACH VICTIMS
Accident Occurs In Rush Hours
Crowds Aid In Getting Men
from the Wooden Coaches.

Nineteen men and women were in !
jured last night in four-car trolley
collision at the Manhattan end of the
Greensboro Bridge. Fragile wooden
cars, sandwiched between heavier ones
Of steel, combined with overcrowding,
raised the list of injured to its high
mark.
Three men standing on the front plat
form Of light bridge local were i'm
prisoned when their car telescoped with
one just ahead. They were lifted out
unconscious after fremen had worked
for twenty minutes chopping away the
wreckage. Hundreds of persons, de-
layed at the Manhattan side Of the
bridge because of the traffic tie-up re-
sultng from the collision, watched the
fremen as they whitfield their way to
the three prisoners.
The accident occurred at s o'clock
A steel trolley, bound for Stenway, in
charge of Michael Medrick as motor
man, was at the head of long stream
of cars pulling out of the Manhattan
loop and toiling up the 25-degree in
cline to the bridge proper. As it
reached the crest of the slope the troll
ley pole jumped the wire. Unchecked,
| the car began TO coast backward. Med
drck declares he threw on both his air
and hand brake without avail
Crowded Wooden Car Follows.
Just behind the Steinway car was q
crowded wooden trolley bound for As
toria. Behind the Astoria car was a
fragile bridge local, jammed to the
steps with passengers, and back Of it
was another steel Steinway trolley.
The foremost Steinway car, gather
ing momentum as il coasted down the
incline, struck the Astoria car, re
versed it and carried it backward. At
the instant the Steinway and Astoria
cars charged backward into the wooden
bridge local the rear Steinway car,
making running start that would
carry it up the incline, plunged into
il from behind.
For a second the fragile local with
stood the shock, trembling like a
frightened animal. Then it collapsed
like a pasteboard box caught in the
jaws of trip-hammer. Its front plat
form gave way, telescoping the rear
platform of the car just ahead. The
wooden beams cracked and splintered
from fore to rear, passengers were
hurled through the windows upon the
crumbling floor and in the path of
a 4.
Many Crawl to Safety.
Scenes of the widest disorder fol-
lowed. Most Of the passengers Of the
smaller car were able 70 crawl through
the wreckage to safety, as were the
men and women on the wooden Astoria
car just ahead of the local. Others
had to be lifted out by police and by
the waiting throng that had witnessed
the collision.
Such a tangled mass of debris had
been piled up over the three men on
the front platform that the fire depart
ment had TO be called. While fremen
hacked at the wreckage the groans of
the men pinned beneath could be heard
by the hundreds outside. Ii was twenty
minutes before the first man was lifted
out
He was Charles Kilgus, eighteen
years old. of 337 Webster Avenue, Long
| Island City. Both his legs were
crushed Frank Martech. thirty-sever
Of $50 East Fifty-seventh Street, Mali
haitian, and Salvatore De MARITIME,
thirty, of 306 Mount Vernon Avenue,
Long Island City, the other two caught
beneath the wreckage, sustained frac-
tured limbs, cuts and bruises.
Motorman Arrested.
Frederick Schweitzer, twenty-four,
of 22l Webster Avenue, Long Island
| City, and Frank Fernelli twenty-one,
| of 462 East ll5th Street, passengers or
/ the demolished bridge local, were so
severely injured that they were rushed
| to Flower and st. Johns hospitals with
/ the other three. The rest of the in
| jured nearly all Of them riding on
| the local-were treated in an impro-
vised street hospital, then sent home.
/ After the injured had been removed
/ Inspector Morris, Captain Wakefield, a
representative of the Public Service
| Commission and an official Of the New
/ York G. Queens County Railroad, tested
/ the Steinway car that had coasted
/ backward to cause the collision. When
| they reported that all brakes were in
/ perfect order, Meddrick, the motorman.
/ was arrested on a charge Of criminal
negligence.