Evening star., 1945-12-17
Death Toll Revised;
6 Killed, so Injured
In Seaboard Wreck
Hy the Associated Press.

KOLLOCK, s. c., Dec. 1.-THE
death toll in the wreck Of two
OF the Seaboard Air Lines luxury
trains packed with many holiday
travellers and homeward -bound
soldiers was revised downward
today.
The division headquarters of the
railroad at Norfolk, Va, said a re-
check disclosed that only six persons
lost their lives when the Florida
bound Silver Meteor ploughed into
the northbound Sun Queen near
here early yesterday.
Previously, the Seaboard had re-
ported seven killed, but a duplica-
ton was discovered in the names of
q serviceman. One soldier and two
Navy men were killed, the railroad
said, but authorities are withholding
their names pending notification of
kin.
More Than so Hurt.
More than go persons were hospi-
taltzed at half dozen towns. Many
OF them were released later, how
ever. Scores Of others received first
aid treatment. The trains were
loaded to capacity and carried about
400 passengers each.
The wreck occurred as the Sun
Queen was pulling into a siding. All
the cars had not cleared the main
track as the Silver Meteor sped out
Of the frigid darkness, slicing the
northbound train In two.
The dining car and four coaches
OF the Sun Queen were wrecked as
were the locomotive, one coach and
four sleepers Of the Florida bound
train.
List Of Dead.
The dead were:
w. w. Shoemaker, Raleigh, N. c..
engineer on the Silver Meteor.
James Ferrell. Richmond, Va,
porter on the Sun Queen.
Perry Clayton Reese. formerly OF
2509 Duke street, Alexandria, Va.
Frank G. Turner, discharged Army
staff sergeant, Gibsonia. Pa.
Two servicemen whose names
were withheld by military author
tiles pending notification of the next
of kin.
j. C. Wroton of Norfolk, Seaboard
official said that Mr.. Shoemaker
apparently lost his life be-
cause he failed to see that the
northbound train was not clear of
the main tracks"
Investigation Launched.
He said fun investigation Of the
accident was under way.
Aid was sent to the scene By Cor
oner L r. Redfearn Of nearby Cher
sE, who was attracted by flares as
he drove an empty ambulance past
the site soon after the wreck oc-I
CURED at 3:45 am.
Ar. Redfearn notified all physi-
clans IN Cherav and then called
smbulances from towns in the vi
cinity. Twenty-three ambulances
eventually reached the scene.
Rescuers formed a human chain
and lifted the dead and injured up
the 12-foot embankment along the
tracks. Passing motorists were
halted and asked to play their head
lights on the wreckage.
In was in the light of these head.
lights and emergency flares that the
rescuers treated the injured and
searched the wreckage.
Red Cross Aids.
Servicemen among the injured
were taken to the nearby Lauren
burg -Maxtons Army air. field in
North Carolina. Other injured were
taken to hospitals in various towns
in the area, where Red Cross repre-
sentatives were sent to aid in car
ing for the hospitahzed cases.
One OF the injured, Abe Weisman,
Cleveland, was pinned in the wreck
age for two hours.
"One of the men just above me
was dead" he related. "It was an
enormous relief when help came"
Mr.. Weisman was on the north
bound train. He was treated for
facial burns and shock at the Marl-
boro County Hospital at Bennetts-
vile, S. c.
Il don't know how the porter got
over me-" he said, but he was
lying on my arm. - remember
a couple of women getting up on
their knees and blood from one kept
running off onto me-"
Thrown on Floor.
William H. Robinson, Rochester,
N. Y, said the impact threw every
one to the floor in the car in which
he was riding on the northbound
train.
There was a glare and sparks
and women screaming. Then every
thing was at standstill," he said.
Somebody said Nobody seems to
be killed"
Mr.. Robinson, also hospitalized
at Bennettsville, was not critically
injured.
The Silver Meteor left New York
at 1:45 pm. Saturday for st. Peters,
burg, Fla. The Sun Queen starts
out as two sections and merges into
one at Wildwood, Fla. One section
left Miami at $50 am. Saturday
and the other left st. Petersburg
at 10 am.
approximately 200 survivors of the
wreck went on to New York, arriv-
ing there at 5 am. today aboard un-
damaged cars of the Sun Queen.
Among them was Mrs. Hanford A.
Gillis of Coral Gables, Fla, wife of
q Miami newspaperman, who said
she and her two children, Barrie,
2, and Kent, l, were seated in a
drawing room three cars behind the
one in which there was the heaviest
loss of life.
She said she felt the car jounce
and sway before the train came to
a halt with a tremendous bump.
The shock threw the boy from his
bed. .-..a
List of Injured.
The Seaboard Offices at Norfolk