Evening star., 1933-08-24
BRIDGE COL[APSES,
WRECK|NG TRAIN
Two Killed When Crescent
+ Limited PIoWs Through
.TrestIe Near Here.
Continued From First Page.)

under the partially submerged Pullman
car.
These men had volunteered their
services to search for the body. They
are H. D. Smith, 1923 Fifteenth street
northeast Clark H. Thomas, 1910
Seventeenth street northeast; Samuel
F. Hall, 144 North Carolina avenue
southeast. and Joseph Gums, colored,
OF New Orleans.
Police and railroad officials expect
to have considerable difficulty in re-
moving the body because it was pinneo
under the truck OF the heavy steel car.
The position Of the body indicated the
engineer had leaped from his cab when
he discovered the locomotive was about
to turn on its side The body was
found about 20 yards from the point
where the body Of Bryde's fireman was
found earlier in the day.
There were five mail clerks in the
forward mail car, which lost its wheels
and skidded along for hundred feet,
tearing up steel rails and wooden ties
on its side. When rescuers arrived at
this car they found the clerks still in
side, trying to pull the mail bags to
safety. They we're ordered out.
Interstate Commerce Commission Of
flcials and railroad inspectors were
making separate inquiries at the scene
OF the tragedy.
George M. Smith. superintendent of
the Baltimore division of the PennSyl-
vania Railroad, said after personal
investigation, during which he talked
with members of the train crew, that
the train could not have been proceed
ing faster than 30 or 35 miles an hour.
THE train, 1 am informed, had
slowed up at Tuxedo because OF water
tapping over the tracks, and the train
was Just drifting along when 1t came to
the bridge" he said. THE position OF
the cars indicates speed OF about 80
or 35 miles an hour.
Smith attributed the wreck to under
mining of the central bridge abutment,
which collapsed as the heavy drivers OF
the engine pounded across the trestle
AS the bridge sank he said, the engine
apparently rolled up and over the south
abutment, losing its front trucks ana
turning over down the bank.
INSPECTORS See Wreckage.
Interstate Commerce Inspectors G:
Y Lowering and ]. B. Ford conferred
with Smith and examined the wreck
age. They said they would make
formal report to the commission later
They indicated agreement with Smith
as to the estimated speed OF the train
]. Thompson, colored porter In the
Pullman which sank into the water,
told a graphic story Of his experiences.
Il was just getting up" he SAID.
"when I thought something hit me
felt an awful shock and was thrown
from my feet as the car rolieo over oai
its side.
water began pouring into the car
from windows and doors. All the win
dows on the right side were under water
I had eight passengers, one OF them a
lady. They didn't seem to be hurt as
they tumbled or we're tossed out Of their
hunks into the water, which rose waist
high; o.. ..,oa .u
Of them had been asleep, and l guess
they thought 1t was nightmare. so
did I. at first, boss. punched the glass
out Of q window overhead-that is, on
the side Of the car above water-and
began helping the lady and the men
through the window. Nobody was yell
ing or carrying on much, as I guess
everybody was struck dumb by the
shock.
1--WE all got out safely through the
window and felt our way tn the dark
ness along the side OF the car until we
managed to reach what was lett OF the
bridge Then we climbed up the sloplng
trestle to shore"
Porter Remembers Little.
Another porter, Joseph Walker, had
lust left the club car with its four
"seat passengers" when the bridge gave
way.
IAN remember about It," he said,
"is that I went upside down all OF q
sudden and then I didn't remember
any more until some one pulled me out
of the wreckage" He displayed deep
cash on his forehead and cut on his
back as souvenirs OF the accident.
Mail bags some Of them torn ana
muddy, were salvaged from the two
mail cars and carried to Union Station
on a special train. Some one heard
''cheeping" in the baggage car about
the same time and rescued crate OF
turkey chicks, consigned from Mount
Airy to Bethesda. Md.
Benjamin w. johnson, travelling en-
gineer, told his wife he was seated on
the f1remans seat on the left side OF
the cab when the accident occurred. He
said he had told Bryde only few min
utes before to cut of the steam and let
the train drift" into the yards here,
and that the engineer had complied.
There was no steam being applied to
the drivers at the time Of the crash.
1T seemed like the bottom just
dropped out OF everything, the injured
man explained. He said he must have
become unconscious momentarily. for
the next thing he remembers is being
buried in the mud under the tender.
His face, eyes and body were covered
with mud he said, and he was barely
able to move until aided by a paSsen-
ger. who helped pull him from his
position.
Besides cuts and abrasions all over
his face he has brush burns about the
entire body and a seriously injured left
hip.
The train conductor was the first to
flash news of the wreck to officials here.
He ran to a nearby signal station tele-
phone box, lifted the receiver and yelled
to the startled stationmaster' here:
"One-forty- seven is in the ditch"
The conductor was SO out Of breath
1t was with difficulty that station Of
ficials learned the location Of the wreck.
The conductor said he was not sure Of
the exact location, but thought it was
near Cheverly" Station authorities
Immediately organized a rescue and
relief train and notified police, who
called hospital and rescue squad am
balances.
Brown on Scene Early.
Major Ernest w. Brown, superintend-
ent of police, was on the scene early
and took personal charge Of the police
detail.
While salvage work was under way
a large cabin cruiser with two men
aboard drifted helplessly down the