The Washington times., 1926-12-24
Continued from Page -

WCOnIluuSQ 1TOkm ES8S LJ
fen heavily, adding to the terror
Of the night.
Passengers and crew Of the south.
bound train escaped injury. The en-.
Rineer and fireman OF the Royal
Palm saw the onrushing engine OF
the Ponce de Leon. hurriedly shut
of their steam, adjusted their
brakes and leaped for safety. Twelve
Of the dead lie in Cochran's under
taking establishment at Rockmart;
four are in Patterson's morgue, At
lanta.
Southern Railway officials. in q
preliminary investigation or the
wreck. declared the disaster Nas
caused by the failure of Robert M.
Pearce. a travelling engineer, or ROAD
FOREMAN, to slow down when near.
Ing the switch.
The switch is OF the old i1and.
thrown type, but whether it was ad
austed properly was not known.
However. it is customary for the
Ponce de Leon to take the Rockmaft
switch at low speed. officials said,
and they are unable to account Ior
the high speed at which Pearce Vas
going at the time OF the wreck.
Accused Man Dying
Pearce today is reported dying III
the Rome. Ga. hospital. :, His fire.
man, II. r. Moss, was killed in.
stantly, while the regular engineer,
s. o. Keith. was in the cab, Ge Il
ously injured.
A complete story of the wreck
was told by John Gillespie. former
police commissioner Of Detroit, Mich.
He escaped uninjured. having
stepped from the diner just before
the crash.
sit was the most horrible and
pitiful sight / ever witnessed" he
said. THE groans and hystericaI
screams of men. women and chill
dren, who we're injured. made the
scene nightmare.
Lack of lights hindered the
rescue work for some time. Finally
red flares from brakemen were
brought. and this terrified many Of
the imprisoned passengers who
feared the train was on fire
1.-Two persons were thrown
through the roof Of the dining car
by the high pressure Of the air As
the day coach telescoped through.
"The sights in the dining car,
sickening as to make any one faint.
that they probably will never be
Decapitated at Dinner
zone woman was decapitated as
she sat waiting for her evening meal.
A man who had just begun his
supper had the lower part OF his
body severed. Two walters were
killed and parts OF their bodies were
hanging outside the car windows as
the rescue work began.
r. L. Bateman, of Macon, Ga,
said:
1.-THE scene was one of awful con
fusion and horror. Piercing screams
were heard in the gathering dusk
and shouts OF those assisting in ex-
Treating the bodies mingled with
the means Of the injured.
Rescue work progressed very
slowly. Those who were pinned I'M
der the coaches screamed to be re-
leased. and those who were not so
seriously injured were crying for
attention"
A special relief train dispatched to
Rockmart returned to Atlanta at 2
a. m. today, carrying 20 injured and
bodies.
Over and over again, a woman
whose crushed and pain wracked
body lay on a stretcher cried out
in anguish at the death of her two
babies.
She was Mrs. Georgia Hardy, who
was en- route from Miami, Fla, to
Toronto, Canada, on the Ponce de
Leon.
At Cochran's undertaking rarlor
In Rockmart lay the lifeless bodice
of a little boy and a little girl
mangled and spattered with bloc,
and rain and dirt.
Among the dead was DIR. B. 4.