New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-06-11
M0tOrman Dies.
Fifteen Hurt i'm
Subway Crash
Front Car OF Lexington
Ave. Express Telescopes
Rear Coach of Seventh
Ave. Train in the Bronx
Tracks Blocked 4 Hours
Failure to Heed Signal by
Man Killed Is Given as
Cause of the Collision

Cause of the Collision
A motorman was crushed to death
at his post. fifteen passengers were
injured and a score or more badly
shaken up yesterday afternoon when
a north-bound Lexington Avenue sub
way express ran into the rear end of
a Seventh Avenue train waiting in the
Freeman Street station, the Bronx.
The front car Of the Lexington Ave-
nue. express telescoped the rear car
of the Seventh Avenue train for about
thirteen feet. The sound of crashing
steel and glass was heard throughout
the neighborhood and brought hun
dreds of persons to the scene.
The dead motorman is George F..
Adams, Of 4158 Edison Avenue. His
body was penned in the cab for more
than two hours while. firemen and
emergency truck men of the INTERIOR
ough Rapid Transit Company struggled
with pick and torch to release it.
List of Those Injured
The injured are:
Herman Hunnot, forty, a waitcr, 1880
East fremont Avenue: left leg
amputated; will probably die.
Joseph Urban, thirty-three, 1869 In
tervale Avenue, waiter; contusions Of
the back and decorations of the hand.
Albert Rabinowitz, twelve. 1875 For
est Park Avenue; decorations Of the
forehead and face.
Louis Carbone, t~wenty-six, 46 Pike
Street; decorations of the scalp.
John A. Morris. twenty-nine, Frogs
Neck; possible fracture of skull.
Charles Feldman, forty-fve, of 1906
Fifteenth Avenue, Brooklyn; lacera-
tons and contusions.
Charles Wise, 1924 Hoe Avenue. left
leg crushed.
Harry Levine, forty-fve, 1547 Vyse
Avenue, the Bronx; bruises of head and
lett leg.
Mary Kasuri, forty-three, 81 Pilot
Stree:, City Island; bruises of head.
Annie Gold, twenty-six, 1906 South
err Boulevard; bruises of right arm
and head.
Ccnstanto Covago, tw%enty-four, of
232 East 116th Street; bruises Of neck.
Aaron Katz, twenty-six, of 5O7 East
l72d Street, the Bronx; arms and legs
bruised.
Irene Goldsmith, of 1926 Vyse Ave
rue, the Bronx; bruises of right arm
and side.
Aaron K~risoffsky, forty-three, Of 985
East 10th Street, the Bronx; bruises
OF left arm and left leg.
lsadore karpf, of IA East 127th
Street, a guard on the stationary train;
cuts on forehead and body.
Fire Alarm Turned In
Immediately following the wreck an
alarm was turned in which brought
Engine Company 80 and Hook and Lad
der Company 81, in charge of Battalion
Chief White, to the scene. The fire
men, assisted by the emergency crew
men, worked for more thar four hours
&C clear the track of the wrcckage.
During this period service above 149th
Street was suspended, and passengers
were rerouted over the Jerome Avenue
line and the surface lines.
-Four ambulances filled with surgeons
and nurses were summoned from Lin
coin and Fordham hospitals. The Rev.
"a. oIOulH dULIlliIStCIcu tHC last r1CcS
to the move seriously injured beore
they were removed to hospitals.
The cause of the collision could not
be definitely ascertained. According
to James Sorchilli, of 81 Simpson
Street, the Bronx, a guard on the first
car of the Lexington Avenue train, the
signal was plainly set indicating there
was a train waiting as Adams ap-
preached the station. Either some
thing went wrong with Adams prior to
his reaching the point of the signal or
hi; mechanism failed to work.
Officials of the Interborough said
that the wreck was caused by Adams's
failure to heed the signal warning him
of the train ahead Of him. Ernest
Cook, the motprman of the train with
which Adams collided, was waiting in
the station, it was explained, for two
additional cars. His train consisted of
eight cars. Adams's train had ten cars.
All the passengers injured we're in the
front car of the Lexington Avenue
train and in the rear car of the
Seventh Avenue express.
Negligence Is Alleged
Sorchilli said he heard the "~tripper,"
an automatic brake which functions
when trains run past a danger signal,
drop as the red light, II feet behind
NoAhj was pdSocQ. he
said he then heard a rush of air and
stood up to brace himself in case the
train came to a sudden stop, as he ex-
pected it would. The only effect the
"%tripper" had, however, was to slacken
slightly the speed of the train.
lnterborough trainmen explained
that the %"trippcr" is not expected to
function properly on a local express
track, but that it is supposed to lower
the speed.
In discussing the cause of the col
llsion, James Doyle. an PETERBOROUGH
traffic official, and District Attorney
Francis Martin, who was accompanied
by his assistant, William Quigley.
agreed that it was due to the negli-
gence of the motorman.
Mr.. Martin said the motor was in
perfect condition, so far as he could
ascertain, and that it was a clear case
OF the motorman running past the sig
nal.
He attributed this to the fact that
the motormen, when their trains reach
the open air, rubber" out of the side
window, instead of paying attention to
their duties. Mr.. Doyle was of the
same opinion.
The District Attorney then asked him
why the marlborough does not have
frosted glass in the motorman's box.