New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-07-02
Others Missing May Have
Been Swept Into
Whirlpool
Washout Drops
Trolley 20 Feet
Passengers Trapped Under
Water; Soldiers Aid
Rescue

niagara + ais, ~ L. July l. ~
least ten persons, and probably four
een, we're killed when a belt line car
m the Great Gorge route left the rails,
nlunged down a twenty-foot embank-
ment and turned over in ten feet of
water on the edge of the Whirlpool
Rspids at $3.50 o'clock this afternoon.
According 70 statement issued late
tonight by t. Z. Nickels, superintend-
ont Of the road, ten bodies have been
recovered, and four of the fifty pas
.neers are still unsccounted for. Over
score of victims are in local hospitals
suffering from injuries received in the
accident.
Washout Caused Accident
A washout, due to recent heavy
rains. was the cause Of the disaster,
which occurred just below the Can't
lever Bridge and sixty feet below the
noint where the smooth waters of the
upper reaches Of the Niagara River
break into the turbulent waters Of the
Whirlpool Rapids.
The car was in charge Of Louis E..
Crandall, motorman. and Alexander
Heron. conductor. II had all but com
pleted the circuit Of the gorge, having
crossed from the Canadian side Of the
river on the trolley bridge st Lewiston.
There were more than fifty passengers
on board. according to estimates. 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.
Car Was Crowded
All the seats were occupied and some
Of the passengers were standing be-
tween them and there were others on
the rear platform.
The car was running at a speed Of
twenty miles an hour when IL struck
weak spot in the roadbed Less than
half a minute elapsed from the time
the motorman felt the first jarring
sway until the car was bottom up on
the edge Of the rapids.
As it slipped down the twenty-foot
incline from the tracks 10 the edge of
the river screaming men and women
fought 70 escape, and some Of them
we're able TO get free, but failed to gain
footing on the steep bank.
There was a mad scramble in the
shallow water between the wrecked car
and the bank From the river side the
bodies Of at least two Of the pas
sengers were seen 70 be caught in the
svifter waters, and were carried down
to the Whirlpool.
Soldiers Rush TO Rescue
Members of a National Guard regi-
nent who we're on guard at the canti-
lever bridge saw the accident and were
first TO the rescue. The soldiers
slipped down the bank into the river,
and worked in water up 70 their waists
getting injured passengers free from
the wreckage and passing them up the
benk. where an emergency car had been
placed 70 carry them TO the Niagara
Falls Hospital
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 together.
This pinioned many Of the passengers
below the surface Of the water, and IL
was in this part Of the car that most Of
the fatalities occurred.
Swept Into Whirlpool
81 believe at least half dozen bodies
we're carried down the river TO the
Whirlpool" said one Of the soldiers
who was taken 10 hospital TO recover
from exhaustion. "When | was run
ning down the railroad tracks | saw
out IN the stream what seemed to me
% be t~O arms raised above the sur
lace. Ten feet away from them / am
sure ] raw the bright color Of a
Noman's dress near the surface. and
hIiI further down a man was swim
ming IN an effort 20 get out of the
rapids. lie disappeared"
heTon, the conductor, was in the for
wsrd part Of the car collecting the last
OF me fares. He was thrown from the
running board and crushed 10 death as
'he car toppled over.
following is list Of the dead, miss
sno injured 50 far as known tonight:
Dead-Asrion Lloyd Schumacher
h',Hron, o.; j. Z. Muck, Princeton, Ind. +;
afs. Bertha Seastrom, jamestown. ~
- Mrs. g.. J. Mccoy, Kansas City;
Alexander Heron. Niagara Falls; two
unidentified men, two unidentified
women.
Missing Violet seastrom, James
own, y. y, and S. X. Brown, War
Twenty Injured.
lnJUred-Alec Seastrom, Jamestown,
- T.; Alna and Florence Sesstrom,
eArzhtsrs Of Alec Seastrom; Mrs. Eta
D. Poole, Cincinnati; Mrs. James Kent
hcrsn,on, Pa; Mrs. n. o. Smith, Akron
"; Frank Stominski, Chicago; Nor
man Miller, Erie, Pa; s. Skmoni and
r. hsfapdO, Japanege students; Raphael
=. simpson. Martins Ferry, o.; Mrs
,. ". Bail, Washington, Pa, Miss Jo-
tsphine Volgsteadt. Erie, Pa; Clarence
heGHl. member Seycnty-fo- rth Rcgi-
rent, Buffalo; George Rising, Erie
"a; Cnsyncey HEM, 433 Gregory Ave
hss, New York; Daniel Manning
~ West Iggth Street, New York; Mrs
.. 4. Brown, Warren, o.; George W.
sr.tnsy ksnoyo, Pa; Mr.. and Yrs
holsehsr, Rochester; Mrs. u. j. Slee,
asIsde. and Bertha L1yas. Remove. Pa