The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-11-08
CROWDED CAR PLUNGES THROUGH DRAW BRIDGE:
 30 TO 40 ARE KILLED

Boston, Nov. S-Thirty to forty per- sons lost their lives last night when a crowded passenger car of the Boston Elevated Street Railway plunged Point Channel, just outside the South Station terminal.
 Twelve other persons were rescued from the water by fireboats and tugs, One man, Thomas J. Cannon, died after being brought to shore. Five bodies were found with grappling irons, but the recovery of other bodies was delayed, as it was believed they were pinned in the car, which rested on the bottom of the channel, 35 feet deep. Gerald Walsh, motorman of the car, who jumped before it went over the cage of the draw, asserted that the accident was due to the fact that there was no light on the gates protecting the opening, with the result that the car crashed through the fence and into the channel He thought there were between 50 and 60 passengers aboard. A number of them were women ana CIl1lOTon.
 Crew of the Car Arrested.
 Walsh and George McKeon, the conductor, who also leaped and so saved his life, were arrested on tech nical charges of manslaughter. The conductor was unconscious and the police were unable to learn exactly the number of his passengers.
 Some of the rescued people estimat- ed the number of passengers at up- ward of 50. J. Harvey White, pub licity agent of the Boston Elevated Railroad, in a statement issued soon after the accident, said his informa- ton agreed with that of the police that about 40 persons were unac- counted for.
 The channel is 35 feet deep at the point where the car went down.
 Most of the passengers were em- ployes of the Western Electric Sos. factory in South Boston, and were re- turning to their homes from work. Many women and children were in- cluded in the number. The car was of the closed type, with a narrow door at each end. so that escape was inn possible, except for those who hap pened to be standing on thep latforms.
 The first assistant draw tender, Timothy J. Shea, who was in charge of the bridge, disputed the statement of the motorman that there was no light at the draw. Shea said that the usual red signal lights were on the gate. He was not sure, he said. whether the arc lamp on the bridge was lighted.
 Says Draw Had Signal Lights
 The draw tender said that he re- ceived a signal about 5:25 p. m., from the tow boat William G. Williams which was going upstream with a lighter in tow.
 'I was in the controlling house, :" said Shea, "and I took all the usual precautions. There were red lights on the gate. I opened the draw and the tugboat started to come through. Sud- denly my attention was attracted by a crash and screams. AS I looked around the car went right through the gate of the draw and plunged into the channel. Only the rear trucks re- mained on the rails, the body of the car breaking away from these trucks and disappearing under the water.
 ''I yelled to the men on the tug boat to let the line of the lighter go so that she would drift down where her crew might be of assistance in res- cuing some of the passengers. Two of the assistant bridge tenders, John F. McKeon and John J. Fitzgerald, jumped into row boats and picked up three men, who weres winning George Litchfield, in another boat, also rescued a man, and the tugboat crew picked up another. All were put ashore and sent to hospitals.
 Floating Derrick Sent to Aid
 A ten-ton floating derrick from the Charleston Navy Yard was brought to the bridge by the United States tug Iwana, and preparations were made for lifting the car. It was considered doubtful, however, whether this could be accomplished, as the car weighed approximately twenty tons, according to railroad officials, and was believed to be too heavy for the derrick.
 It was announced that Mayor James M Curley had given orders that if the car could be raised it should be taken on the derrick float to the navy yard before the bodies were removed. The purpose of this order was to per- init the bodies to be taken from the car away from the crowd of curiosity seekers gathered at the bridge.
 Three divers in the employ of the T. A. Scott wrecking company were sent down to assist in locating the sub- merged car The two bodies recovered with grappling irons were identified from papers in the clothing as those of Antonio Dellapella, 25 years of age. of 336 Commercial street, and George