Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-02-27
TUESDAY
February 27, 1917
SURVIVORS TELL TRAGIC STORY
OF WRECK; TRAIN CREW PRAISED
Men Strove Desperately to Rescue Dying From
Mass of Debris-Women Showed Heroism-One
Man Thanks God for Second Life"

only one thing and that was to get out of
tne car and when we did get out we began
to breath little easier"
Even as far forward as the third car
from the rear the shock was severe Mrs
Arthur Pritchard who was on her way TO
her home in Ithaca, n. Y. from a suburb
OF Pittsburgh where she had been visiting
was IN the third car In lower berth when
the collision occurred
II shad gone to the berth only a few
minutes before the wreck" Mrs Pritchard
said, "and I was just getting ready for
sleep when the train hit us
can't say even now what happened
after that The car felt as though il was
going up in the air and then there was
terrible crash. I was thrown around. It
seemed to me, from one end TO the other
of the berth, and then everything stopped
dead You couldn't hear a sound. 1t was
like that for several minutes.
MEN MOST EXCITED
Then I heard the men in the car. They
really seemed to be more excited than the
women at frst. They went running down
the atsles telling every one to be calm. and
every one was
When I cooled off enough to look around
| found the floor of the car was nearly
level all the glass was smashed out of the
windows; no one seemed to be hurt except
for bruises. The men helped us out of the
car and we went to the rear to see what had
happened.
ut seemed TO me every one must have
been killed in that car. There wasn't
sound coming out of It. Both sides had
been split open. and there was such n pile
of wreckage you could hardly tell 1t had
been n car. I could see nothing of the
people who must have been in it.
MT UNION HELPS
People from Mt. Union arrived almost
at once with coffee and blankets and they
were most helpful. | was asked by at least
six different persons to come TO their homes
to get over the shock.
We all did what we could to find some
one in the rear car, but the wreCkage was
so thick IL was just about impossible. Even
after the doctors and nurses arrived they
could do very little until the wrecking crew
cleared away the steel and broken furnish
ings and other things that seemed to cover
the car.
THE rear car. besides splitting open. ha
jammed itS front trucks almost under the
center of the ahead. That one seemed
to be derailed and its front trucks were
lifting the end of the car | was in"
Israel Epstein, tailor. of New YorH city,
who was on his way from Nashville, Tenn,
said
THE whole thing was too terrible for
words. What impressed me most was the
silence that followed the crash.
SILENCE OF THE GRAVE
at was the silence of the grave. When
the collision came I was in my berth, and
I was thrown across the aisle by the i'm
pact ! ran to the back door, but found
the mass Of wreckage jammed up against
the rear and steam kissing over all.
81 ran around to the front of our car
and clambered down. BY the time 1 had
reached the wrecked the steam had
ceased and all quiet except for the
shouts of the trainmen and others.
found human hand by the side of the
rails and also saw several bodies under
meath the clutter But there was no cry
ing. ! guess everybody must have been
killed instantly"
Mrs. Edna Lester and her daughter
Dolly, one year old, were in their berths
at the time of the crash.
MY baby was thrown out of my arms
and out through the curtains to the floor"
said Mrs Lester. 81 thought for a moment
she had been injured, but she was un-
harmed. AS quickly as ! could l dressed
and ran out. found everything very quiet
as still as death"
Among the survivors who were taken to
Harrisburg was James o. Stone, of 712
Sixth street, Washington, u. c. a private
i'm Company C, Third Infantry He was
on his way home from the Mexican border.
IAN of the persons who We're killed were
jammed into q little space not more than
there was no way to tell how many were
killed. but very few were hurt Nearly
every one on the train was asleep when
the freight train struck us, and those who
were killed were killed outright.
81 saw them take a little girl out of the
crushed sleeper. She was moaning and
crying. but she died while they were placing
her on the stretcher."
CANADIANS IN WRECK
Mr. and Mrs. ]. c. Stokes. of Toronto.
Ont who had boarded the train at Steuben-
vile, o., for their first trip East, were two
other survivors. They, like many other
passengers on the wrecked train, were on
their way to Washington to attend the in
auguraton
Mr.. and Mrs. Stokes are farmers. Mrs.
Stokes has a brother who is a member of
the police force in Washington. and he in
vited her and her husband to attend the in
auguration. They were sitting in the chair
car, talking over the good time they ex-
pected to have when the windows of the
cars were smashed by the terrific force of
the freight train, and they were thrown
from their seats
"All l remember was a womans hand
sticking out of a Pullman window" said
Mrs. Stokes. THE smashed cars were
smoking. but were not ablaze. The entire
train was composed of steel cars"