Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-07-02
SWEPT TO DEATH IN
NIAGARA RAPIDS
Ten Dead, Four Missing and Twenty.
four Injured When Loaded Trolley
Car Plunses in River Above WhirI :
pool-Track Undermined by River.

Niagara Falls. n. Y, July An in
vestigation was started to fix the blame
Of the disaster at the Niagara Falls
gorge yesterday when a crowded troll
ley car was thrown from track by a
washout and into the headwaters Of
the whirlpool rapids. The death list
stood at ten. with four missing and
probably dead and twenty-four in
jured.
Following is partial list Of the dead
and missing: .,.
...- Dead.
F., Marion Lloyd Schumacher, Akron.
Ohio.
J. P. Muck, Princeton, Ind.
Mrs. Bertha Seastrom. Jamestown.
N. 7. ...r,...
Mrs. G. J. Mccoy, 1914 South Benton
boulevard, Kansas City, Mo.
Alexander Heron, Niagara Falls.
Two unidentified men.
Two unidentified women.
Missing.
Violet Seastrom, jamestown, N. Y.
S. K. Brown, Warren, Ohio.
Rains CAUSE, Disaster.
washout, due z to recent heavy
rains. was the cause Of the disaster.
which occurred just, below the CAN'T
lever bridge and sixty feet below the
point where the smooth waters Of the
upper reaches Of the Niagara river
break into the turbulent waters Of the
Whirlpool Rapids. .s-
The car was in charge Of Motorman
Louis E. Crandall and Conductor
Alexander Heron. It. had almost COM
pleted the circuit of the gorge. hav-
ing crossed from the Canadian side Of
the river on the trolley bridge at Lew
iston.
There were more than fifty passen-
gers on board, according to general
estimates.
Car Was Crowded.
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. All the seats were
occupied and some Of the passengers
were standing between them. There
were others on the rear platform.
The car was running at q speed of
about twenty miles an hour when It
struck the weak spot in the roadbed.
Less than half minute elapsed
from the time the motorman felt the
first Earring sway until the car was
bottom side up on the edge Of the
rushing rapids.
Bodies Carried Away.
AS it slipped down the tTenty-foot
incline from the tracks to the edge
Of the river, screaming men and wom-
en- fought to escape. Some Of them
were able, to get free, but were UNI
able to obtain footing on the steep
bank
There was a mad scramble in the
shallow water between the wrecked
car and the river bank.
From the river side the bodies Of at
least two Of the passengers were seen
to be caught in the swifter waters and
were carried down to the whirlpool.
Soldiers to Rescue.
Members Of national guard regi-
ment who were on guard at the can
tilever bridge saw the accident and
were the first to the rescue.
The soldiers slid down the bank into
the river and worked in water up to
their waists getting injured passen-
gers free from the wreckage and pass
ing them up the bank, where an emer-
gency car had been placed to carry
them to the Niagara Falls hospital.
The supports Of the roof Of the car
had been crushed by the impact on
the rocks in the river bottom and the
seats had been damned together. This
pinioned many of the passengers below
the surface Of the water, and 1t was IN
this section Of the car that most OF the
fatalities occurred.
800 2eana of Disaster.
The scene Of the accident, next to
the falls themselves, is probably one
Of the most wonderful to be found any
where in the world. The savage whtrl-
pool, on the edge of whose waters the
car overturned, has almost always been
associated with grim tragedy In some
form.
The whirlpool Ia about q mile and
three-quarrers below Horseshoe
Falls on the Canadian side, and the
water, comparatively placid between
the upper Arch and Michigan Centrai
canulever bridges, gradually churn ',l.
into the vortex which marks the Deno
Of the river q half mile or 10 below.
On the American side the gorge rail-
way runs along a low ledge. clingins
close to the 0lifnike wall Of tho gorge
and prcbably not more than a. avsFase