New Britain herald., 1926-12-24
Ponce De Leon Express Speeding at 50 Miles an Hour Crashes Into Royal Palm FIer- Half Hundred Injured, Many Seriously and Death List is Expected to Be Increased.
Survivor, Leader in Rescue Work, Describes Scenes of Utmost Horror as Wreckage Is Probed for Dead and Injured.

Atlanta, Ga, Dec. 24 LP - Un- der the red glare of danger fuses placed by railroad men, John Gill lespie, former Detroit police con- missioner, led rescue workers in removing dead and injured from the wrecked cars of the north bound Ponce De Leon, Southern railway passenger train bound from Miami to Chicago, which last night crashed head on into her sister train. the Royal Palm. bound south from Chicago to Florida at Rockmart, Ga.
 MT. Gillespie. who arrived here this morning on that part of the Ponce De Leon which was able to move, gave graphic description of the crash.
 The train on which Mir. Gillespie reached Atlanta brought several of the dead and injured as well as 1 those uninjured who were rerouted here and continued to their original destinations to be there Christmas day.
 Crash at 50 Miles
 "The crash came at $40 p. m.. entirely without warning and while our train was making about 50 miles per hour" said Mr. Gillespie. T was in the second car behind the diner and every person in our car was thrown to the floor. The impact was terrific and the train jerked, groaned and creaked. "There was a great crunching, crashing sound and windows caved | in almost the length of the car. Ii the brakes on our train were ap- piled at all. it was at the very mo- ment of the crash.
 SignaIled Too Late
 "As soon as I realized what had happened I got out and began in vestigating the damage and how it all happened. The fireman of a freight train which was on the sid ing told me that the Ponce De Leon had sped toward his train and the on- coming Royal Palm. which was around a slight bend, and that as the Ponce De Leon approached the freight her engineer saluted and | the freight engineer. realizing that | for some reason the northbound train was unaware of the existence of the other southbound immediate ly signalled to him to make an emergency stop. It was too late, however, and the crash resulted Q few seconds later"
 Wreckage Was Terrible
 Mir. Gillespie then climbed along the 15 foot embankment on which the train rested, and in ankle deep mud gained the cars ahead. "Tho day coach was virtually driven through the dining car, and tele- scoped almost the entire length with its top extending several fec above the top of the diner," Mir Gillespie went on. "The lights in the diner were out and because of the extreme darkness and pouring rain 1t was impossible to see inside but 1t took but one glance to prove that death had stalked heavily. gathered two or three uninjured men and communicated an auto- mobile which had stopped in pass ing and we went into Rockmart for aid"
 Led Volunteers Back 1 At Rockmart MT, Gillespie ob- tained several ladders and lanterns and with doctors and volunteer nurses following, and with relief requested from Rome, Atlanta and other cities, returned to the wreck There bonfres were lighted from wreckage.
 "The uninjured and the people of Rockmart soon cooperated in the work of rescue and went at Il coolly and in determined manner As fast as bodies were removed they were laid aside in nearby field and we did not take time tc try to identify those we knew were dead. Lives had to be saved, and Il was the injured that we worked after" ..-.
 Scenes of Horror
 l As light was made available scenes of horror greeted the eye said Mir. Gillespie. From two win dows of the wrecked diner, saw terribly torn parts of two negro walters bodies hanging, their white coats smeared with blood. From another window we dragged the decapitated body of an apparently middle aged white woman. Two tots who expected to greet Santa Claus tomorrow no doubt, were SC badly crushed that Identification will be almost impossible. Through one window of the diner we saw a man still seated at his chair al the table. Apparently he was only dazed. We got him out somehow and found his body had been sev. cred just below the waist"
 Details Rescue Work
 Detailing the rescue work, MT Gillespie said men stood on eacl others shoulders to talk to thu voices in the dark car of death ant to obtain directions as to how bes to extricate them. Ladders wer' ] (Continued on Page 13y