New Britain herald., 1923-08-10
one DEAD, IS HURT
IN AUTO WRECKAGE.
Bus Hits Steam Roller and People
Are SCalded

Nyack, N. Y, Aug. 10.--one young
woman was scalded to death, two
more are dying and eleven others, all
employees of The Christian Herald of
New York, were injured here last
night in one of the strangest automo-
bile accidents of recent years, when a
sightseeing bus in which they had
driven from New York collided with
a steam roller. All the injured were
enveloped In clouds of steam when
I the impact burst pipe on the roller.
and before they could be dragged
away were SO badly burnt that 1t is
feared the death list will number
, three more.
The dead girl was Miss Jean Roda,
Is years old, of 1858 Flatbush avenue,
Brooklyn. Her body was taken to
the Nyack hospital, where the twelve
injured were carried in ambulances
and passing automobiles.
The bust was loaded with women
who had spent the day here visiting
the Christian Herald's children's
home in Upper Nyack, which was eel
ebrating the thirtieth anniversary of
its founding. The festivities to which
little children enjoying two weeks
vacation had added their gayety, had
passed off happily, and the visitors
we're on the way back to their New
York homes when disaster befell
them.
The engineer of the steam roller,
powerless to shut off steam from the
broken line could do nothing but wait
until the boiler was empty OF ,apor
BY then Miss Reda and two others
had been burned so badly that they
we're unconscious
The journey had been made in two
buses. One of them had passed the
steam roller safely, about a half mile
from the home on Highland avenue,
a state road which is under repair, SO
that only half the roadway is passa Bile.
The driver of the second bus, seeing
the first safely negotiate the narrow
passage, though he, too could slip by.
swiped the heavy roller ripping away
the main steam supply line from the
boiler to the engine.
The crippled bus, locked fast in the
heavy, immovable roller, came to an
instant stop so that those of its pas
sengers on the side of the road ma
chine were exposed to the full force
of the scalding vapor that Kissed in
great clouds from the broken pipe.
In ALL about 40 women and girls
were in the bus. The jar of the COL !
lision threw them into tangled heap. |
making it all the more difficult for
those wrapped in the burning clouds |
to extricate themselves. Broken glass
and splintered timbers added to their
difficulties. and for a moment there |
was the widest confusion, as bus and
roller were blotted from view, and |
only the screams of the injured told |
those nearby that something terrible
had happened. $780,.
After that first instant, there was
wild scramble to escape. the passen-
gers tumbling out. shreiking and yell
ing. Some, oblivious of their own
hurts, plunged back into the steam
10 save others from the death that
awaited them if they were allowed to
lie where they had fallen. A few
'ainted, and some, too badly hurt to
ssist in the rescue work. staggered
o the side of the road and fell. = q.
Passing automobiles. drawn by the
loise of the crash or the screams of
he injured. Joined Nyack people who
anne pouring from nearby houses,
nd as fast as possible first aid was
administered to those most severely
urned. Meanwhile the alarm had
een sent to police headquarters and