The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-07-04
CAR LEAVES TRACK AND GOES
INTO NIAGRA RIVER.
Bodies are RecOvercd-Number Of
Known Dead Placed at Nine With
Several Reported Missing.

Niagara Falls, n. Y, July IA belt
line car on the Great Gorge route left
the rails, plunged down a 20 foot en-
bankment and turned over in ten feet
of water on the edge of the whirlpool
rapids at $50 o'clock this afternoon.
Nine persons are known to be dead,
two persons known to have been OH
the car have not been seen since the
accident, and probably are dead. and
an indefinite number, estimated as
from two to ten, are reported miss
ing and more than a score are in hos
pitals suffering from injuries rece:v-
ed in the accident
| "A washout, due to recent heavy
ms, was the cause of the disaster.
s Mich occurred just below the cam
lever where the smooth water of the
ipper reaches of the Niagara river
breaks into the turbulent waters of thu
whirlpool rapids.
The car had all but completed the
circuit of the gorge, having crossed
from the Canadian side of the river
on the trolley bridge at Lewiston.
There were more than so passengers
on board, according to general esti-
mates.
The car was one of the open type,
the seats extending from side to side,
with steps on both sides the full
length Of the car.
The car was running at a speed of
about 20 miles an hour when il struck
the weak spot in the roadbed. Less
than half minute elapsed from the
time the motor felt the first Earring
until the car was bottom side up on
the edge Of the rushing rapids. AS it
slipped the 20 foot incline from the
tracks to the edge of the river scream
ing men and women fought to escape
and some of them were able to get
free but were unable to obtain a foot
ing on the steep bank. There was a
mad scramble in the shallow water.
From the river side the bodies of 1T
least two of the passengers were seen
Ito be caught in the swifter water and
were carried down to the whirlpool.
Members of a National Guard regi-
ment who were on guard at the
cantilever bridge, saw the accident and
were the first to the scene.
The supports of the roof on the for
ward part of the car had been crushed
by the impact on the rocks in the
river bottom, throwing the seats to-
gether. This pinioned many of the
passengers below the surface of the
water and it was in this section of
the car that most of the fatalities oc-
cured
The soldiers in the rescue party
were in the water at the side of the
wrecked car for more than two hours
with the water up to their waists.
The injured were hoisted up the 20
foot embankment with ropes.
Private Joseph Crowley saved the
lives of two girls by holding their
heads above water while others work.
ed to free their bodies from the wreck
age.
Crowley, who was on duty at the
bridge. saw the car go over the bank.
There was a scream that raised my
hair on end" he said. "The bank kept
going down and i'm a moment the troll
ley car disappeared. 1 heard women
cry and as 1 ran forward 1 saw the
car bottom side up in the water.
1T was awful to see that struggle
in the water. 1 saw coats and hats
float away in the swift current but I
am not sure that / saw any bodies"
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