The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-08-01

been identified. The gasoline tank
OF the doodle bug exploded at the
instant of impact, spraying the
wreckaee and its cargo Of dead and
dying men, women and children
with flaming gasoline. In conse-
quence, most Of the bodies were
burned, some so badly that they
never may be identified.
o. M. Lodge, chief engineer of
the "double-header freight train,
saw the doodle-bug rushing down
the rails toward him at more than
20 miles an hour. He slammed on
his brakes, and at the instant OF
impact his 74-car train, so heavy
that two locomotives were needed
to haul it, was travelling at approx
Inately IS miles an hour.
Engineer in Hospital
Thomas Murtough, 40, Of Orr
Vile, O., engineer of the doodle-bug,
was in q local hospital with a pos
sible fractured skull and could not
be interviewed. Witnesses believed
that he applied his brakes before
he Jumped from his cab, just pre-
ceding the collision.
H. B. Shafer, ST, of Mount Yer
non, O., the Doodle-Bug's conduc-
tor, and Tom Wonn, "a, railroad
ernploye, jumped from the baggage
compartment. Skaters right hand
and right foot were amputated at
the hospital later. Wonn received
only scalp decorations and sprain-
ed foot.
"Shafer looked ahead and said to
me: Were going to hit. Jump And
we both did"
The passengers. unable to see the
freight train, never knew what hit
them. County officials who were the
first in the debris after the gasoline
fire had burned itself out, said they
found children smashed under the
seats in which they had been sit
ting, men and women crammed
back in their seats under the twisted
steel of the front part of the coach
which had been pushed back upon
them.
Thrown Back 400 Feet
The self-propelled coach was
thrown 400 feet back from the huge
freight locomotives and bits of It
were scattered along the track. 1t
was crumpIed, like wadded paper,
for almost half its length. The lead
ing freight locomotive was not
greatly damaged by comparison. The
freight train was not even derailed.
The freight train was en- route
from Columbus to Cleveland and
was running three hours late.
Charles Howard, Pennsylvania Rail-
road chief clerk at Cleveland, said
the Doodle-Bug had been ordered
to take the sing at switch three,
just north of Cuyahoga Falls sta
ton. It had overrun this switch by
a quarter of mile.
E. r. Collier, conductor of the
freight train, tapped his pocket and
said it contained a written order
notifying him that the doodle-bug
was taking the siding switch three.
w. j. Payne, As, of Akron, a
salesman, had stopped his automo-
bile there to wait for the freight
train to pass. A piece of debris
smashed through his car and hit
his knee.
AEabulances gathered at the scene
from neighboring communities
within an hour, along with a vast
fleet of private automobiles. But,
with the exception of three railroad
employees and Payne, there was no
one to take to hospital. The ambu-
lances were used instead to take the
charred bodies to funeral homes.
Resident Describes 1t
Louise Stinass, a local resident,
was sitting on her front porch read
ing q newspaper, $50 yards from
the scene.
st heard a blast of whistles" she
said, and looked up to see two
trains bearing down on each other
with brakes screeching. Then there
was tremendous crash and explos-
ion. I was stunned. A sheet of flame
completely enveloped the Doodle
bug and the freight train pushed it
300 feet back along the track"
Her father, F. w. Stinass, an old
railroader, called police, the fire de-
partment, and the railroad dispatch
er's tower at Akron. The Doodle
Bugs gasoline tank had capacity
of 600 gallons and it was believed
to have contained at least 300 gal
ions.
Engineer Lodge of the freight
train described the collision thus:
eve had just come around the bend
when I saw the Doodle-Bug loom
rlp in front of us. We jammed on
the brakes. When we hit there was
a terrific explosion. The fireman,
(B. E. Reynolds) and stayed with
her through the fire and explosion
until she came to a stop. Then we
jumped through wall of flame.
L. P. Seller, fire chief of Cuyahoga
Falls, arrived at the scene two
minutes after the collision.
Flames Shoot Out
FLAMES shot out of the windows
darted high in the air." he said
'The fire was like a screen and II
was almost impossible to see what
it was like inside the car.
'"Then, for just a second, the
wind parted the flames and caught
a glimpse of the interior. was sure
everybody in there was dead. They
must have died almost instantly
7 heard no screams at all.
Some of the victims were hang
ing partly out of the windows and
they were on fire. The freight train
couldn't seem to stop and it kept
pushing back the Doodle. Some OF
the burning bodies fell out of the
windows and were strung out along
the right of way. They were all
shattered and bleeding and burnt.
1--WE couldn't do anything at first
Everything was so hot it was i'm
possible to get near the car. We
finally played three lines of water
on the fire for 20 minutes before we