New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-09-06
2 Die, 4 Hurt
AS Auto Hits
Train, Burns
Two of Injured Victims Not
Expected to Recover
After Accident at Tor.
rington, Conn, Crossing
Brakes on Motor Fail
Firemen Remove Bodies
From Ruins; Members of
Family Dying in Crash
Special Dispatch to The Tribune

Special Dispatch to The Tribune
TORRINGTON, Conn, Sept. 6.-Two
persons were killed and two mortally
injured yesterday afternoon when a
seven-passenger touring car hit a
freight train on the Bridgeport- Win
sted branch of the New York, New
Haven & Hartford Railway at Albert
Street crossing.
The automobile. driven by Gureo
Sardie, forty-two years old, of 11e
Roosevelt Street, Torrington, carried
in addition tc members of the Sardie
family, several New York visitors. The
automobile turned a somersault, pin
ming three beneath it. The wreckage
then caught fire and two fire COM
panies were necessary TO save the
bodies from the flames.
List of Dead
The dead are:
| Albert Scarrone, fourteen years old,
and Carrie Masmarie, fifteen years
| old, both of New York City.
The injured:
| Guireo Sardie, forty-t years old,
| 116 Roosevelt Street, Torrington, frac-
| tured skull and burns. Cannot recover
| Angelo Sardie, ten years old, severe
burns. Not expected to recover.
Anita Sardie, fourteen years old.
skull fractured and burned. Recovery
doubtful.
| Marble Sardic, sixteen years old, an
| other daughter, was thrown twenty
feet when the car struck. She es-
caped with slight injuries.
| The injured are in Charlotte, Hun
gerford Hospital.
Guireo Sardie owrar of tho r,~ool, - !
automobile, remained unconscious af-
| ter the accident and the only member
of the party able to make q statement
was Marble, his eldest daughter. She
told Captain Searl of the Torrington
Police Department that there was no
warning signal of the freight trains
approach. When the touring car
end was swung round and the car
turned over. being dragged some dis
tance by the train, with the bodies of
her father, Albert Scarrone, Miss Mas
| marie and Anita Sardie pinned beneath
it.
Failed to Halt Auto
The freight train had just left Tor
rirgton station, according to the police,
who say it was running less than twenty
miles an hour. When Sardie's automo-
bile struck the train five cars had gone
over the crossing. The cause of the &C
cident was given as Sardie's inability to
the freight trains approach. He is said
by eyewitnesses of the accident to have
had trouble with the brakes
The radiator of the automobile ran
under freight car and was twisted
off. the torn metal becoming entangled
on rods Of the cars underbody. 1t was
dragged fifty feet and then turned over.
The two dead children were visible
beneath the wreckage of the overturned
car. which caught fire. Two fire COM
panies responded to an alarm and a
squad of police from the Torrington
station arrived within five minutes of
the wreck. Efforts of bystanders to
remove the bodies proved futile be-
cause of the flames. Firemen extri-
Gated the dead and injured promptly
but young Scarrone and Miss Masmarie
were crushed so badly that hospital
surgeons summoned to the spot said
they had been killed instantly. Anita
and Angelo Sardie were both uncon-
scious when rescued. The death cf :he
former is expected momentarily.
Crossing a Danger Spot
The Albert Street crossing is known
as a danger spot for automobiles 1t
is guarded by a signal bell operated
electrically. According to p0ilce
statement made last night the bell
has been out of order for several days.
This bears out the statement of Miss
Sardie that no warning signal was
given of the freight trains approach.
Sardie, with his young New York
guests and members of his own family,
started yesterday afternoon to drive to
Thomaston. The accident took place
half an hour after they had left che
Sardie home here.