The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1919-07-02
EIGHT DIE IN TRAIN
COLLISION BELIEVED
. CAUSED BY A TRAMP
REAR.END CRASH ON NEW YORK
CENTRAL WHEN AIR BRAKE
Is SHUT OFF.

Dunklrk. y. Y, July Eight per.
than 10 We're injured in n rear-end col
lision here between the section of train
No. II and train No. I, known as the
"Westerner" on the New York Central
railroad, at 2;20 o'clock this morning.
All the fatalities occurred in the first
passenger ear of the rear train, the
Westerner when its engine buckled
back through a wooden express ear.
Eight bodies were taken from the
wreckage and rescuers clearing the de.
bris were working toward what they
believed to bc two additional bodies.
Twenty persons, some seriously in.
jured, We're taken to the hospital.
Train No. IL left Buffalo at 1901
| o'clock. The Westcrner left short
time later. Railroad officials say that
No II developed an overheated jour
nal and was delayed here. \ flagman
was sent back TO protect the rear Of
| No. Al. it is claimed, but the Western.
er, approaching at a speed of As to so
miles an hour. did not check its speed
perceptibly as it rushed into the Dun.
| kirk yards, eye witnesses say.
All the coaches of No. IL were of
steel construction. The rear of the last
coach was badly battered as No 7s
engine knocked it from the track. but
! the body remained intact. Three other
coaches Of No. II We're also pushed
from the rails. but remained upright
When the tender and engine of the
| Westerner bucllled back through the
wooden express ear and crashed into
Il steel day coach, the first passenger
car of the train, the boiler exploded
fatally scalding the engineer and the
fireman. The steel day coach of the
| Westerner was reduced to wreckage.
Traffic west of Buffalo on the. New
York Central lines was completely tied
up, trains being operated over the
Nickel Plate railroad.
Probably Caused by Il Tramp.
Washington. July Am unidentified
tramp killed in the railroad wreck Mt
Dunkirk this morning was, according
to reports to the railroad administra.
ton, probably the cause of the tragedy.
The mechanism controlling the flow
of air from the locomotive to brakes
on the train was found sut off at the
place where the tramp was riding
The official report says that when
the locomotive of train No. exploded
, after telescoping the steel Pullmans
it drove the wreck into such a tangled
mass that =. G. Crawley, general mana
ger of the New York Central. who was
in Dunkirk. had to order acetylent
flame torches to separate the wreckage
The official report to the railroad
, administration puts the known dead al
nine, the mortally injured at three, the
seriously hurt at II. and does not give
the number of lesser injured. although
it is said to be large. The preliminary
investigation has developed that on leav
ing the Buffalo yards the engineer o.
l train No. Z tested his brakes thre,
times and found them working, bu
had no further occasion to use them
until running into Dunkirk, when h,
encountered a caution signal Registered
, by No. Al standing in Dunkirk station
When he applied the air 1t acted OF
7 the locomotive and was not communi
, Gated to the cars following.
a After the wreckage was cleared, th
crushed body of the tramp was foun,
on the head end, the narrow space be
tween the tender and the first car o
the train The angle-cock controlling
} the flow of air through the brake pipe
was closed. 1t probably will never b.
f developed whether the man unwittingl.
!, closed it with his foot, as he used th
. cock as n step to lift himself up ont'
! the car, or whether it was done inten
tionally.