The Daily Alaska empire., 1951-02-07
ABOUT 800
 INJURED IN
 R.R. WRECK
Commuter Train Loaded 10 Aisles PIunges Off Trest|e
 and Down Embdnkment

WOODBRIDGE. N. J.. Feb. T --tR A crowded commuter train plung- ed off newly erected trestle last night, killing at least 8l persons and injuring about 500 It was the nations worst train wreck in 32 years.
 Throughout the night and far into today, rescue workers hacked through the twisted mass of wreck age. They said other bodies still may be found in the crump.ed coaches and debris.
 The 11-car Pennsylvania railroad train, "The Broker" swerved wildly and jumped the tracks as it sped onto the midtown overpass. The cars, jack -knifing crazily, hurtled down 20-foot embankment.
 The new, temporary overpass had been put in service only a few hours before the crash.
 In Newark, the FBI said it was Investigating to determine whether sabotage was involved"
 No Explanation
 The railroad, conducting its own probe, said it could offer no inn mediate explanation for the cause of the wreck.
 The dead included bankers, law yers, and businessmen. prominent in their localities and civic life, most of them home-bound from New York City offices.
 In mid-morning, the list of known dead stood at 77, with four bodies still unidentified.
 Rush Hour Crackup The rush-hour crackup was the worst in the nation since 1918 when 115 were killed in Nashville, Tenn. wreck, and more disastrous than a l943 accident outside Philadelphia that took 80 lives. It was the third major train WIcCh III tliC iilCtlopoiitdii ACa IA less than a year A total of nearly 200 died in the three crackups.
 In Washington, the Interstate Commerce Commission ordered an inquiry into the new disaster. with a public hearing to open in New York tomorrow.
 Investigations
 On orders of New Jersey Gov. Alfred E. Driscoll, the states att torney general. Theodore Parsons. also began an investigation. He reached the scene early today. and sent an assistant to a hospital to question the critically injured en- gineer of the wrecked train.
 It was loaded to the aisles with homebound commuters - mostly from New York on their way to Red Bank. Long Branch. Asbury Park and other communities on New Jerseys wealthy north shore. Places Tragedy Cause Engineer Joseph H. Fitzsimmons, a veteran of B accident-free years on the road. blamed the overcrowd- ed coaches and the new trestle for the tragedy.
 Alive but injured. the 57-year-old Fitzsimmons said from hospital cot:
 The moment my engine passed over the trestle and lurched sharply felt the rest of the cars would never make it.
 T hit the trestle at about 25 miles : per hour and the speed of the train i, certainly couldn't be blamed for the crash. When I started to sway, applied the brakes, but it apparent y was too late"
 Disagrees on Speed
 Passengers and at least one rail- road detective who did not give his name = disagreed with the en- yineer on the speed of the train. The detective said it was going at top speed when it hit the trestle.
 The Pennsylvania, in a statement. said 2s mile an hour speed limit vas in effect on the new track.
 The new track was swung about 50 feet from the old one to clear the way for the Jersey turnpike. big cross-state highway now under con- struction.
 TreStle Not Factor
 The Pennsylvania said six trains passed over the new trestle safely , before ''The Broker"
 The railroad said the trestle It. self was not a factor in the acci-
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