The sun., 1918-11-02
l2O KILLED, 200 INJURED
IN WRECK OF B. X. T. TRAIN

'
CHASTITY glow that arose only TO die
again. leaving the Victims OF the wreck
In darkness. The first rescuers found
the rear car with its nose pointed up
ward. 1t was half turned on one side
and from It's windows hung girls and
women who had been crushed in the
moment of the impact.
The rescuers climbed over dead bodies
to get to those who still lived. But in
the fore part Of the car they found
bodies wedged SO tightly that II was i'm
possible to remove them without first
cutting away the framework OF the car
Ftremen with axes hewed their way to
the Imprisoned dead and hurt.
Through the rescuing force there
! came Mgr. John T. Woods of the Holy
Cross Church. in Flatbush. With him
was the Rev. Francis Coppinger, his
, assistant. The priests pushed their way
through the tunnel and began admins
terng to the dying the last rites Of the
church. When this act OF mercy was no
longer valuable they Joined the work.
ers, and aided In bringing the dead and
the injured to the street
In the forward cars the rescuers
found the half burned bodies of men
and women. and stretchers which were
! lowered to the bottom of tho cut we're
used to take to the surface such as yet
showed signs OF life.
Those who first. reached the scene
found girls and women with their arms
| locked about one another pinned be-
meath the seats that had been torn and
broken and partly burned. In the second
car they found passengers pinned
against the roof. against the sides and
beneath the seats. Some of them were
Itransfxed with spllnters of broken wood
and others had been badly cut by flying
glass
Gruesome sights In wreckaRe.
| Some things rescuers saw were inde-
scritable In any detail. One or two ex-
alnples only are necessary to give some
Idea OF the nature of the worst traction
disaster New York ever has known.
Several burlap bags were filed with
severed arms and legs and carried UP
the ladders the firemen had rigged TO the
street. One man spoke with horror Of
seeing five heads, severed from bodies,
When the crash came a woman VIC
tim apparently put her hands to her
| mead instinctively Her body was found
with the head severed. bat The hand still
era ping the hair. Many bodies were I'M
paled on splintered walls OF the coaches,
as II on jagged spears.
! <1i VI the aNaiIaOie policemen and
! firemen Of Brooklyn were hurried to
the spot. The police and firemen
| dropped ladders at the north end Of the
cut Burlap bags we're used to encase
| the bodies that were taken from the
| wreck and In the street above all of
| the ambulances and other vehicles that
| could be Communicated were kept in
waiting to take the bag covered corpses
- the Kings county morgue, 70 Ebbets
Field and to the Snyder avenue police
! station.
thousands of persons booked the street
| above the cut. Hysterical women, wait
Ing for men, women and girls who were
known to be due at home at that hour,
pressed eagerly forward to see the bod
| les 1t was with the greatest difficulty
that the police prevented the excited
women from tearing the burlap bags
from the bodies IN order that they might
ascertain whether they contained the
bodies Of their own kin.
AS the excitement grew the number OF
police reserves at the scene increased
and more firemen were called to aid
The first police detail that went into the
| cut found twenty Eight dead In one pile.
Some Of them were women, with three or
| lpur children In the group. The rescuers
| lighted bonflres In the black tunnel,
| building them from wreckage of the
splintered cars, to enable them to carry
| OH the work of rescuing the injured and
getting out the dead. Then there came
automobiles. which turned their head
| lights like so many searchllghts in a sea
| fight from the open cut into the tunnel.
| The wreck filled the tunnel so COM
| pietely that In many cases II was nee
| essary to carry the dead through the
! tunnel to the Prospect Park station at
| Lincoln road. a distance considerably
further than that to the open cut at
Malbone street Bodies taken from the
rear of the train, however. were carried
| the short distance to the open cut and
lifted up to be carried across Flatbush
| avenue to the Brooklyn Botanical Gar
| dens.
Motor Corps ambulance girls with
| their auto ambulances and cars. did val
| liable work. There also came all OF the
available ambulances in Brooklyn, both
| public and private. Among the fire
men who came to work with might and
| main at the rescue task was one COM
pany from Cortelyou road. which alone
brought out thirty-five bodies.
There were many conflicting stories
as to what had happened. Eyewltnesses
| were sure that a second train had
| c dshed into the first after II had come
Il grief. but the police investigation OF
| the physical facts did not carry out this
view. Borough Inspector Murphy. In
spector McElroy and Capt e NJ. Gala
CHER, who were early on the scene. said
! that the first car OF the train was badly
! smashed, the second was even worse
than the first and the third was but
mass OF kindling wood. The fourth was
a wreck and the last. or nth car of the
train. alone remained on the tracks.
| In the yard along the tracks clothing
OF all descriptions was scattered. Shirt
waists. torn from their wearers In the
| frenzy OF the fight for life. we're found
along the tracks, and one woman had
] evidently lost her entire skirt. Papers
and magazines that had been read by
the passengers Uttered the right of way.
500 Police Seek bodies.
| TIE 500 policemen, taken from every
precinct of Brooklyn, worked manfully
| to rescue the injured and 10 bring the
| bodies OF the dead |o-the streets. There
! they impressed Into service every passing
| automobile, and the bodies, which were
wrapped IN the burlap bags. were taken
| to the big lobby OF the grand stand at
Ebbets Field. the Brooklyn National
League baseball park, as we'll as to the
morgue of the Kings County Hospital
| and the police station at Snyder avenue.
The Edison Electric Illuminating Com
pany sent to the scene a special wagon
that carried four powerful searchlights.
The lights played g!aring!y upon the
\ wreck scene and followed the rescuers
as they brought up body after body.
Relatives of persons who were thought
to be on the train damned the streets
Many Of them, hysterical herded about
the poorp1a tina nolIra atafIOp and the