Evening star., 1953-03-28

we couldn't get any help at first
from the passengers. In one car.
a coach, found two dead. Then
I walked around the car in the
mud and I heard some people
crying in another car"
1T was the damndest mess of
wreckage I ever saw" said a
truck driver from Wayne, Ind,
o. D. Watson. "It makes our
highway accidents look like
nothing"
Frank Aleksandrowitz, staff
photographer for the Erie Dis
patch, said:
II saw II bodies stretched out.
In addition there are five per-
sons who are dead in one of the
compartments in a car which is
so badly damaged that rescue
workers are going to have to use
torches to clear away the wreck
age and eXtricate the bodies.
II saw another man lying dead
under the tracks. It was an
awful sight"
One impression every unin-
jured passenger seemingly car
ried away with him was that
there was no panic among the
passengers.
Frederick Peckman of the
Bronx. N. Y, said: mo one was
hurt much in our car, but I could
see some of the injured walking
by outside or being carried by
the rescue workers.
I'VE were in the car several
hours before they got us out-I
think it was about four hours.
Instead of lot of fuss, it seemed
almost like everything was too
quiet.
"It kinda got on my nerves
after a while"
Jolt Didn't Seem Hard.
Earl B. Mitchell Of Garwood,
N. j., passenger on one of the
passenger trains, described his
first reaction after the wreck.
"We were just riding along
and then 1 felt a JOLT" he said.
'"The jolt didn't seem too hard
at the time. But the next thing
I knew I was laying on the floor
and my whole left side felt numb.
Just as I was going down I saw
my bag, which was filled with
machinery, fly off the rack and
go soaring about 10 feet up. It
just missed a woman.
"Some of the people hit the
backs of the seats so hard that
a lot of the seats were all lop-
side. But everything was very
quiet. It's funny, but instead
of saying much everybody start
ed looking for their luggage"
Moses White. Ct. of Hogans-
burg, N. Y, said his wife. Lydia,
81, was lying down asleep in
the rest room.
"When I got to her." he said.
"she was lying on the floor and
told me the back of ner head
hurt. They took her away and
that's all I know. / don't even
know what hospital she's in"
Mrs. White was taken to Ash
tabula General Hospital. Her
condition was reported good.
Help Came After an Hour.
w. r. Jones of Chicago, a
travelling auditor for the Associ-
alton Of American Railroads, an
other passenger, told this story:
Zone seriously injured fellow
was caught between two cars
for IS minutes before they could
pry him out with crowbars
he didn't make a sound, although
he was conscious.
II was in my roomette when
it came and didn't really feel
much I picked myself up
and got out it was almost
an hour before help came and
until then nobody could do much.
"I've got a weak heart so ]
had to be careful We took
sheets and blankets off the
berths and some people covered
up the dead who were lying along
the tracks >. there were screams
from all along the line of de-
rallied cars ). the woman across
from my room screamed par
ticularly a man across the
way was killed-it must have
been a sideswipe," he continued
| Mr.. Jones was on train No. 8
as were Mr.. and Mrs. Stephen
RaStina of Cleveland.
Mrs. RaStina recalled how blow
torches were used to get one mar
out of a car. "But it was no use
he was dead"
| After a while," she continued