Perth Amboy evening news., 1919-04-14
TRAIN PLUNGES
FROM BRIDGE
Wreck on Raritan River R. R. at
South River Great Success
for the Movies

With a roar and a burst Of flame a
box a n a caboose on the Raritan
River railroad, toppled through an
open draw bridge at South River yes
terday afternoon at 6 O'Clock and a
few minutes later, four struggling ac-
tors and a horse were plunging in the
waters of the river, freezingly be-
seaching Director Richard Stanton Of
the Fox Film Corporation, in the
name of all the movie gods to get
them out.
The scene was a part of the film
story Checkers" adopted from the
novel of that name by Henry Blossom
n it was a thriller hat sent cold
chilis coursing up the spine of the
two thousand residents of South River
and S~ayreville who turned out to see
1t.
South River, and the Raritan River
r. r. have been used before for movie
locations. Train wrecks have been
staged there before, but yesterdays
performance, preceded by scenes
filmed there OF Saturday kept the
POPULATION of the qui vive as to what
move the daring movie actors would
e take.
If one does not know the story of
Checkers it. might be we'll to tell
that in the burning box car. steaming
on down toward the open draw are
the hero, the heroine. the leader OF
the bad mans gang of very a thugs
and a niger horse tender M also the
most unwilling actor of the lot, Re
morse" a race horse.
Remorse yesterday was a remorse-
Jul looking race horse. Doubling for
some nobler specimen of the equine
family, the horse. who draws a South
River dray in ordinary week days
was unwilingly and after a half
hours battle forced into the water.
while Tammany Young, the very bad
leader of the very bad ang of
thugs shivered from a half hours
immersion in the water.
When Hamilton Thompson, chief
scenario writer for the Fox companies
scratched off the polarization story
he spared the actors not one whit. He
staged a fight on a burning box car,
the plunging roaring mass of flame
into the river the rescue of three per-
sons from Belmont Park by an aero
plane, which drops a rope and anchor
by which they climb to the Name, a
race scene where the heroine throws
her horse, and herself, n takes an
u~ngraceful tumble onto the track, a
race between a train and an auto,
where she does the proverbiaT jump
into the car from the auto and
well, and everything.
CTOWQ a ktLilCTeu early On
the muddy banks of the South river
10 see the train wreck, as early as 9
o'clock in the morning. But the thrill-
er was not put on until 6 o'clock last
night.
Jane Acker. a diminutive Fox star
plays the heroine, Pete Barlow,
and pulls the stunts hat thrill movie
yesterday. who a on a bank and
prayed for rain. prayed with a fer
vency that almost made one think 1t
was real, for a few drops of rain and
a few lark clouds that would convince
Dick Stanton hat he could not go on
with the immersion scene. But Dick
was adamant. Once he finished the
scene, where Tammany Young and
Eddie Adamatta fought with no stage
wallops On the top of a truly burning
box car. travelling at considerable
speed, he hustled the troupe, the
cameras, the press men and himself
into the decript and half demolished
caboose that was later to breathe its
last into the waters Of South River,
and speeded for the scene.
And Miss Acker's prayer went un-
answered. and she took the cold
plunge, together with her leading
man, Thomas Carrigan, and Tam
many and Sedgwick after the burning
cars flames bursting from all sides,
had dashed over the edge of the draw
and into the river.
That completed the days work and
the ~shivering actors went to a hotel
where they bathed and rubbed down
and generally recovered from the
shock of the immersion and were
then happy.
All except Sedgwick. who weighs
$50 pounds, and is assistant to STAN
ton. He roared for his suitcase. in
which was his other suit" and 1t
could not be found. After a wild
search 1t was found that his bag vas
in the property car. across the open
draw. which could not be closed. and
he went to bed, grumbling over the
act that he was too large to get any
suit in South River, INK perforce
must stay in bed until the wreck was
cleared away and his bag could be