The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-07-02
PLUNGED
INTO THE
WHIRLPOOL
Niagara Falls Gorge Railway
Car Toppled Over Bank In
to Seething Waters
Of River.
FORTY LIVES ARE LOST
Eleven Known Dead, Twenty-nln'
Missing and Twenty-six Rescued,
Was the Record this Z.
FORTY LIVES ARE LOST

Hunted Press Leased Wire Service ]
| NIAGARA FALLS. N. Y. July r.
Forty persons may have lost their
lives when the Gorge railway car
plunged over the embankment into
the seething waters Of the Niagara
river.
With the recovery from the river
today of the body of Mrs. G. J. Nc
Coy, Kansas City, the total known
dead was increased to eleven. Twen-
ty-six persons were rescued, some
seriously injured.
Twenty-nine are still missing. Inc
bodies OF some may have been swept
away in the swift current.
These figures are based on the
latest tabu1ations OF 6mcials early
this morning.
All through the night and early
today soldiers and police patrolled
the river in search of victims of the
car which plunged into the river at
the edge of the Whirlpool Rapids
Sunday afternoon.
The known dead are:
MRS. LEO S. WALLACE, Akron.
MA MARION LLOYD scHUMAKER,
Akron, Ohio.
J. r. MUCK, Princeton, Indiana.
JAMES S. KEMP, Scranton, Pa.
MRS. G. w. MCCOY. Kansas City.
MRS. BERTHA SEASTROW,
jamestown, N. Y.
Il. MRS. B. M. RESTERY, secretary
of the president of the Illinois Gen.
trail railway, Chicago.
. HARVEL G. PHELPS, Schnectady,
N. Y.
ALEXANDER HERON. Niagara
Falls, N. Y.
TWO UNIDENTIFIED MEN at the
morgue.
It is believed the accident was
caused by washing out of the road
bed by recent heavy rains. Three
were started today,
one by the district attorney Of Mag
ara county, another by the state
public service commission and the
third by the railway.
Private Joseph Crowley Of the
Seventy-fourth regiment, who was on
duty under the cantilever bridge
when the accident occurred, said to-
day:
II was watching the car at the
time. l saw the trolley pole leave
the wire and swing around in the
air Then the car Just seemed to
sink down in the earth. There was a
scream and it just raised my hair
on end. There was not chance for
the poor souls who were trapped
there.
"The whole bank slid out-went
out just like sand. The trolley car
screeched. I guess that must have
been the brakes put on suddenly. 1t
was a terrible sound. The bank kept
going and in second the trolley
car was swaying on the tracks and
the ties and there wasn't any earth
beneath them. It all seemed to hap
pen in second.
'T don't know what happened next. |
/ could hardly move. Women cried.
/ heard that. I saw heads and hats
and arms out through the open sides
If the car Then the trolley car
swung down off the tracks and the |
1ext I saw was the trucks up in the
air and the car all smashed to bits
md sliding in the water.
II guess l gave an alarm. I don't |
know. was at the spot in a second |
But / had only two hands. / could |
aot do much"
Waist deep in the treacherous cur
rent, Crowley stood for an hour
holding tightly two young girls. One
,f the girls had tainted. The other |
vas trying to cheer him on The two
girls are thought to be Clara Schultz
md Lillian Cook Of Cleveland, who |
lad come here with party Of seven. |
Finally other men of the Seventy
ourth and the regulars of Fort
Niagara, reached Crowley and helped
Continued on page 2.)