New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-08-06
MIR. and Mrs. r. ]. Halle
we'll and Daughter Are
Killed When Train Hits
Car Near Binghamton
Crossing Scene of
Many Accidents
Had just Bought Machine
i'm Syracuse and Were
on Way to Scranton, Pa.
From G. special CORRESPONDENT

FROM { SDsclIi CORRESPONDENCE
BlNGHAMTON, N. Y, Aug. 5.-R. j.
Hallewell of New York, his wife and
their twelve-year- daughter were
killed when an Erie Railroad passenger
train hit their automobile at Newberry
Crossing, near here, this afternoon
The girl still breathed when help ar
rived, but died before she could be
taken to a hospital.
Mr.. Hallewell was secretary of the
A. G. Spalding Sporting Goods Com
pany, 124 Nassau Street, New York
The car he was driving, sedan, was
fresh from the factory. He had been
to Syracuse to get it and was on his
way from that city to Scranton. Pa.
The crossing where the accident took
place is OIL the main highway to New
York and is regarded as one of the
most dangerous on the route. 1t has
been the scene of numerous accidents
several Of them fatal. The approach
on the Ringhamton side desccnds a
steep hill and traverses a deep cut Just
before reaching the tracks. The walls
of the cut obscure the tracks until the
motorist energies, almost at the cross
ing.
The Public Service Commission re-
Gently ordered the crossing at grade
to be eliminated. Material for the re-
construction work lies beside the road
and workmen are expected to take up
their task within a few days.
Brakemen riding on the top of a
freight car saw Hallewell's machine
coming down the winding hillside road
toward the tracks, its new paint flash
ing in the sun, and at the same moment
heard No. A, a passenger train whistle
for the crossing.
The automobile emerged from the
cut and took the incline to the crossing
before its driver perceived the train,
which then was only few yards away.
A plume of steam rose from the whistle
dome of the locomotive and the valley
resounded to the shrek, while the
train rocked and bucked to the sudden
application Of the brakes.
Hallewell was twisting fiercely at his
steering wheel and managed to swerve
his car parallel to the tracks when his
front wheels were almost upon the
rails 1t seemed to the watchers on
the freight that he had cleared the
train unless the rough going Jared the
steering wheel from his grasp for a
moment.
train, however, that one Of the coaches
swaying violently to the pull of the
brakes, rocked toward the automobile
at the moment that rut careened that
vehicle slightly toward the train.
The side of the coach ripped the
sedan body from The chassis and flung
it on ahead. Mr. Hallewell, his wife
and daughter dropped from the uphol-
stored projectile, rolled down the rail
road embankment and lay still.
AS soon as the passenger train had
come to a standstill members of its
crew, together with men from the
freight train who had seen the acct
dent, fastened to the three injured
persons. The girl was the only one in
whom life remained, and she died be-
fore their eyes.
The odomcter on the car showed
that it had been driven only 124 miles
1t was assumed that its brakes and
other mechanism must have been in
perfect condition. Coroner F. II. Good
win has started an investigation Of the
accident