Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-25
CAR RUNS AWAY IN
Tunnel; IS KILLED
After Mile Dash Steel Trolley
Jumps Tracks With ia
Passengers.

PITTSBURGH, Pa, December 25.--
Fourteen persons were killed. four SO
badly hurt that they died later and every
other one of the ia passengers on a
Knoxville street car was more or less
hurt here late yesterday, when the car
ran away In a tunnel which connects the
South Side business district with the
South hills. After a wild dash of almost
a mile through the tube the car emerged
at Carson street and turned over on its
side Hospital doctors said that number
Of the injured could not recover.
Two Of the injured died in hospitals
this morning Eightytwo other persons
were in hospitals, some of them SO badly
hurt they were not expected to live
through the day. Among the dead were
eleven women, nine OF whom were moth
ers.
The car. which was of the latest low
floor, steel type, was packed with city,
bound shoppers when 1t left the station
at the south end of the tunnel. minute
or two later the trolley is said to have
left the wire, and the lights went out.
lost control and 1t dashed down the steep
grade, gaining momentum with every In
slant as the wheels slipped along the wet
rails.
Panic; Car Leaves Rails.
The passengers were thrown into panic
and their shrieks could be heard by per-
Sons in Carson street as the car shot out
OF the tube. A few feet from the mouth
OF the tunnel Is a short curve, but 50 ter
rife was the speed the car had attained
tsat the wheels, at this point. left the
track.
The car instantly turned over on it's
side, piling the passengers in strug-
mr. tear
ing along the sidewalk, struck tele-
graph pole The roof was ripped on
and men women and children were
scattered along the roadway. Even
then the wreck continued on its way
and finally brought UP In little con-
fecttonery store near Smithfeld street.
Early reports placed the number OF
dead at seventeen, but q careful can
vas Of the hospitals and the morgue
showed that fourteen had been killed
and one little girl. and two died
afterward Some OF the bodies were
scarcely recognizable and identihca-
ton proceeded slowly.
Equipped With Every Safety Device
A statement issued by the Pittsburgh
Railways Company. which owns the
the most modern and substantial con-
struction and equipped with every
modern device for the safety Of pas
sengers We have been unable yet to
learn Just how the accident happened,
but have started a searching investiga-
tion to ascertain the facts"
Many of those who escaped alive from
the wrecked car are SO seriously in
jured that they will probably die.
The work Of identifying the dead
progressed slowly, and 1t was mid
night before a list could be obtained.
OF the sixteen dead, nine were women,
one a child and six men. The bodies Of
two women lie unidentified at the morgue
at this hour.
List of Killed in Accident.
The death list follows: Mrs MathiIda
Klinzing, Pittsburgh: Mrs. Aulerie
Czerny, Pittsburgh; William Bolitho,
thirty Knoxville; Sarah Kirkham,
thirteen, Pittsburgh; Wesley Jones,
Itwenty-one. Knoxville; Miss Pauline
Dowmyer. twenty-one, McKeesport, Pa !;
Howard E. Ford, twenty-one, Rankin,
Pa; Mrs. Joseph Tanney. thirty-oae,
Knoxville; Mrs. Ella Sheridan. thirty,
Knoxville: Frank Herbert. fifty, Al
toona, Pa; Mrs. Mabel Brecht, thirty.
Knoxville; Mrs. Eugene Breemont,
Pittsburgh; Mrs. Rose NJ. Verlinder.
thirty-six. Pittsburgh; Mrs. Carolina
Fischer, forty-two, Knoxville, and two
unidentified women.