Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-07-04

July 3.-Six persons were killed, and
thirty-two holiday seekers were Sc
riously injured when the Midnight
Flyer, a Philadelphia mad Reading
express, plunged from the rails
while travelling at high speed on q
sharp curve here early today ni,ss
Bodies of the dead were dug out
of the wreckage and removed to the
Camden morgue.
The known dead are:
Walter Nescott, Gloucester, N. T.,
engineer of the train.
VIM. T. Sautter. Atlantic City, N.
j., fireman.
Joseph Dilasuo. Pleasantville.
N. j.
Sol Worth, Cape May, N. j., rail-
road telegrapher.
Unidentified man, carrying gold
watch bearing initials ~. F. L"
Unidentified man.
The known injured include:
J. K. Miller, % student in Uni
versity of Pennsylvania, Lebanon,
N. j., decorations on back.
Roy Cope, 26, Philadelphia, scalp
decorations.
Switch Caused Wreck
The accident was caused by the
improper setting of a switch, &C.
cording to reports. here. 1t threw
the flyer into a curve leading into
branch line to Wildwood and Cape
May. The curve was set for slow
freight train. The flyer was trav-
cling at a speed of 70 miles an hour.
The engineer did not slow down as
he reached the junction, expecting
clear, straight track.
The train was made up OF two
Pullman cars, one club car and four
coaches.
The speeding train took the switch
at leap, ploughed sixty feet across
the ground and curled up into q
heap Of wreckage.
Relief trains were rushed from At
lantic City and Camden. They car
ried Red Cross nurses and several
corps Of physicians. The trains, and
wrecking trains carrying railroad
workmen, were given the right OF
way.
The work trains carried powerful
cranes with which they could lift
the wrecked coaches and afford the
searchers a better opportunity to as
sist the suffering.
Screams Heard Above Noise Z
When the "flyer" hit the curve,
the emergency brakes were damned
on. The cars swayed over but held
the rails for moment.
Then the engine leaped from the
tracks and dashed into Il muddy bank
followed by the coaches.
The noise was deafening as the
coaches piled up on each other.
carrying with them the 100 or more
sleeping passengers.
The screams of the injured and
frightened passengers could be
heard above the roaring Of the
steam from the wrecked engine. The
cars had been ripped open and were
twisted as they piled high up on
one another. ga
Volunteer Workers
Working in the Pickering lights
Of the oil flares in the midst of a
drizzling rain, volunteer rescuers at
tackled the pile of wreckage in b
desperate effort to remove the dead
and wounded.
Improvised stretchers from car
seats were hurriedly thrown togeth-
err and the injured were carried to Q
hospital, which had been hurriedly
contrived beneath the trees several
hundred feet from the scene of the
disaster.
AS crowds from nearly towns be-
gan to arrive in automobiles, the )
cars were grouped together and the
were utilized for additional illumina- /,
ton. II
While the turmoil in the rain and
darkness was gradually assuming or
der, congestion on the tracks at the
junction became severe.
The Pennsylvania tracks were
completely blocked. Several trains
were halted over the New Jersey
route. Freights and local passenger
trains accumulated.
John DeWalt, the 68-year-old tow
er man, who flashed a historical
message to Atlantic City, could not
be found at daylight.
Irene Fanywerler, of Atlantic City,
a passenger in the fourth coach, told
of her experience.
Everything was going smoothly
when suddenly there came a pecu-
liar dizzy sensation. The next I
knew we were fighting in the dark
at the bottom of the embankment.
I tainted. The next thing I knew
I was being carried to an automo-,
bile