The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1943-09-07
Wreck
in Past Is
Years
At Least 81 Lose
Lives; Defect
Blamed

cars OF the pennsylvania Railroads
crack Congressional Limited, split
in the middle by a burned journal
in an old-type day coach, we're de-
railed last night in the nations
greatest railroad tragedy in %
years.
Hundreds OF rescue workers were
still pulling bodies rom tne-tSiSt-
ed wreckage today as the death toll
mounted TO 81. Many OF the dead,
some OF them women and children.
were mangled in the twisted wreck
age as the seventh car OF the speedy
train hurtled into a steel signal
girder and was split along its full
length like ripe melon.
Lose Limbs
At least 100 others were injured,
many OF them so critically they re-
CURED immediate multiple amputa-
ton of limbs. Blood plasma, sped
to the wreck by the Red Cross and
other agencies was administered
as surgeons operated at the scene.
Doctors worked side by side with
railroad crews. giving first aid in
the eerie light of acetylene torches.
reaching victims as the workmen
sought to release them from the
bent and twisted steel wreckage.
A loudspeaker system directed
both mechanics and surgeons as the
Navy. railroad officials and city
police directed a battery Of 20
highpowered searchlights over the
three most badly wrecked cars
the old-type coach, streamlined
coach and a new streamlined Pull
man. All the dead were removed
from the two coaches-the seventh
and eighth cars of the limited.
Hot Journal
The railroad placed the blame for
the wreck on hot journal in the
front truck OF the seventh car. W.
G. Higginbottom, eastern general
manager of the railroad. said the
heat apparently caused the axle
to snap. dropping the car on the
spinning wheels. A split-second
later the coach twisted on its side
and plunged into the upright grid
er. Its top was sheared off like the
top OF sardine can. All its occu.
pants were either killed or knocked
unconscious.
Lillian Risstte. q. (646 f. 1s1 ST.
Bronx, n. Y, said from her bed at
Northeastern Hospital"
Il felt a sudden tearing lurch.
My mother went Spinning across
the aisle. A man fell right on her
face. Then a huge chunk OF metal
fell on the man-and I tainted.
Her mother, Julia, So. was in a
critical condition in another room
at the hospital.
Among the known dead were 10
railroad workers who we're speared
and felled by flying ties and steel
as they trudged the right-of-way on
their way home from work at sos
p. m.
The first six cars Of the train
the first section OF the limited
which was expressing from Wash
ington to New York continued a
half-mile up the track with the rear
truck OF the sixth car bouncing over
the ties. Some were injured in that
section but none seriously.
Escapes Injury
Among the well-known persons
who escaped injury in the trains
first half we're Mrs Myron c. Tay-
lor. vile of President Roosevelts
special representative to the Vati-
can. Roy W. Howard. editor OF the
New York World Telegram: Mrs.
Howard. and Lin Yutang, Chinese
writer.
The railroad said the Labor Day
train carried 5i1 passengers. 40 in
the day coaches and 131 in the
Pullmans. Two OF the coaches and
one Of the trains two dining cars
were squeezed into a tight W.shape
across all four OF the main tracks.
Traffic between the Capitol and
New York was dead-ended for sew
eral hours until rerouting sent
through trains over Reading Rail
read Tracks and the Pennsylvania
Chestnut Hill line. Four wrecking