New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-02-28
Twenty Killed
AS Trains Crash
IN Fog on P. II. R.
Fast Freight Drives Into a
Stalled Express Thirty
Miles from Altoona
Sleeping Car Shattered
Not One In the Coach Escaped
&C. A. Minds, Ex-Football
Star, and Family Die

Altoona. Penn, Feb. 27.-At least
lWerty persons were killed and many
more seriously injured when the east
bound Mercantile Express on the Penn
sylvania Railroad was run down by
fas. preference freight train at the sta
ton Of Mount Union, forty miles east
OF here, shortly after midnight to-day.
The express train had stopped to dis
charge passengers, and members of the
crew we're testing the airbrakes, when
without warning, the heavy freight
crashed into the passenger train from
the rear, telescoping two coaches and
shattering all the cars Of the waiting
train. A dense fog prevailed at the
time.
Investigations started soon sfterward
bv the Pennsylvania Railroad and the
Interstate Commerce Commission nave
established that the wreck was due to
the heavy fog. mistake in signals oy
the engineman Of the freight and ar
brake trouble That delayed the passen-
Ger train. officials of the railroad are
Inclined 10 place the blame on tne en-
oireer of the freight, who ran past tue
danger signals.
List of the Dead
Following is the list Of the dead as
given out BY the railroad COMPANY
Chester A. Minds, twenty-five hani RAM, ,
Penn: Mrs. Doris Minds tWehIy
eight. his wife; Miss Maud M y, "a
twentv-eight. his sister, Counter ~ =
Chester A. Minds. Jr.. two wees Cl9'
SON of Mr.. and Mrs. Minds; NJ. "A; Cal-
- Ion bro,ber-in-law of Mrs. Minds,
Conifer. n. Y: Miss A. T. Delllng, Sis,
tor of Mrs. Minds, Cleveland; Richard
Ovens seven. nephew of Mr.. MINDS
Dorotbv Owens, six, niece OF MT
+ Minds: Jean Owens, four, niece OF Mt
Minds: p. K. Tanning. of PlatevlIe'
Wis : Mrs. p. R. Tanning, his wlfe; n
A RopAer. Plateville, Wis; Charles
Levine Is Nassau Street, New YORK
p. 3 POLAND. SO Lispenard Street NeW
Work. Milton Hymes, twenty-seven, 4d4
West 15sth Street, New York; {. NJ
Netsger. 3Os West Forty-sixth street
New York: J. S. Kelley, Brooklyn; r.
W. Montgomery, salesman, Wilmington
III. y Bright (colOred), Pullman por-
ter; unidentified infant boy.
Officials of the railroad said to-nlgnI
that the list of dead might exceed
twenty, as fourteen bodies had oeen
recovered and at least six were known
IN be still in the wreckage.
All of those killed. il was stated
vore in the third sleeper, the Bellwood,
which was split apart by the COLLISION
and was penetrated its entire length
/. by the car ahead.
Relief trains from Altoona and Hunt
\ ingdon, bearing physicians, were hur,
ried TO the scene. Little Roadway could
he made in reaching the dead and IN
iured. owing to the three sleeping
coaches being almost lnextrlcaoiy
! massed together
Flagman Blames Engineer
The railroads investigation Of the
wreck was started at the ONCE OF
Jacob Whiteman, trainmaster, at Har-
r;sburg- After several members of the
messenger crew had testified halt was
called and orders given TO continue the
investigation at Altoona. The testi'
y1onv of 5. X. Jacobs, fagman on the
Messenger train. was considered of vital
Importance by railroad officials. Jacobs
said:
when the train stopped at Mount
Union | got off the rear. Receiving a
signal TO 20 ahead. stepped back on
the platform. Then | noticed there
was trouble in starting the train and
started back with my lantern. had
gone twenty or thirty car lengths when
/ saw the headlight Of the freight.
gave the red signal to stop.
1.-The engineman gave no signal that
he saw me. When the train came
closer | realized il was too late to pre-
vent an accident, and jumped down an
embankment TO save my life. The
freight train was running about nifty
miles an hour Il was foggy, but
could see the headlight"
Chester A. Minds, who with his fam
lily was killed, was coal operator in
the Clearfeld region Of Pennsy vania
He was travelling 10 Utica, n. Y, to at
tend the funeral Of his wife, father
Minds was a football star on the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania team and a
brother Of John II. Minds, a Philadel-