Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-12-05
TWELVE KILLED.
SCORE ARE HURT
Continued from page /.

Of the 35 foot rockbound "cut" in the
hillside.
The engineer of the northbound
train according 10 reports. had been
told 10 wnit at Huntington Valley TO
allow the southbound express to get
out Of the block between Woodmont
and Paper Mil. He waited ton min
utes and then moved on.
Shrill blasts of both locomotive
whistles@were tho first Intination the
passengers had Of their peril. a few
seconds later there was n terrific
crash, n grinding roar and the hiss Of
escaping steam.
Hot Goals from the fire box shower
cd down on the forward coaches Of
both trains and In an instant n sheet
OF flame had enveloped the coaches.
the fire running swiftly back as fear
maddened men and women leaped
| from windows and doors.
Some of the passengers, hurled 10
the floor by the impact could not rise
before the fire reached them. Splinter
ed woodwork and broken glass were
hurled through the cars. gashing the
! heads and bodies of other passengers
as they struggled out of the twisted
mass.
! About twenty passengers in the
rear coach of the northbound train
were hurt in that manner. Calls for
help were sent to hospitals within %
mile radius and physicians from near
/ by communities sped over the snowy
roads to the wreck.
| The Abingdon Hospital ambulance
Twas one of the first relief vehicles 10
! reach the scene. Within an hour
after the collision fourteen injured
) persons had been removed TO the hos
pital and beds were prepared for eight
more.
James Rook, engineer of one of the
trains, was reported to have remained
at his throttle until the two heavy
masses of metal rushed together. HI
was flung from his cab. window an'
both legs We're broken.
Doctor James Grove, Of Hunting
! don Valley. was one of the FIRST ply
/ sicians at the scene. He told graph
: ic story of horror. witnessed by hin
in the first hour after the wreck. Ii
= treated many persons hurt in tn
= wreck and saw one body.
THE only body l saw" said Docto
; Grove. was that of one OF. the trail
| lcrew, l think a fireman. The bod
I llay along the bank of the Pennypac
! Creek. l examined it. The man ha
!. teen dead for about an hour when
q saw him. Death had resulted from
i. fractured skull.
: 81 was too busy attending the in
jured TO stop to look at the dead. NJ
chauffeur told me he had seen black
ened bodies. charred all over.
"The first coaches on both train
= took fire when the engines met hea
= on and reared up, falling back on. tn
coaches"
e Forrest Bellman, of Southampton
u Pa, n passenger, describing fhe wrec
q said the locomotives were piled tC
o gether with the first coach of II
It southbound train lying on toI of
= tender, and the first coach of Il
l. norlhhound train almost in the SAN
position. Fire started almost in
= mediately and burned tlercely. Son
d Of the uninjured in the first coaC
IT Of the southhourd train c~aNlt
= through windows, he said
l. AT 100 u. m., the Reading Railros
>, announced its information at tn;
( hour was that ten to twelve persol
10 We're dead and thirteen or mere /,
jured. The injured are in tho Abini
ton Hospital
Walter Yeakel. engineer OF Il
northbound train, died i'll the hospit;