The most horrible wreck in the history of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, in this county, occurred at Hatfield, a small station on the North Penn Railroad on Sunday morning. Thirteen were killed and forty injured, this in brief is the gruesome story of the collision.
The first section of a train loaded with excursionists for Atlantic City plunged into the rear end of a milk train. The smoking car of the excursion train was telescoped and it was from this car that the dead and most of the mangled living were taken. A dense fog prevailed and to this, coupled with the absence of the block signal system, is attributed the frightful slaughter. Cars were promptly transformed into hospitals and morgues and while the dead were being taken to Lansdale, the mangled, some of them perhaps, dying, were conveyed to hospitals and their homes.
Conflicting stories are told as to the cause of the horrible tragedy. One story places the blame upon the engineer of one of the trains, the other upon the train dispatchers office in Philadelphia. Suddenly and with scarcely an instant of warning, the excursion train drawn by one the Reading's most powerful engines, going at the rate of forty miles an hour crashed the rear end of the milk train with a crash that was heard miles away. This awful crash was followed by a moment of awful silence. Then there arose upon the air such a series of heart rendering shrieks and piteous cries for help as is fortunately given to but few persons to hear.
The great locomotive of the excursion train, pushed onward by the momentum of the ten passenger-crowded cars it was hauling, had ploughed its way through the rear car of the milk train and the car immediately in front of it. In these two cars were a dozen persons, bound for Lansdale, the first station below Hatfield.
A revised list of the killed in the collision of trains Sunday on the Reading Railway at Hatfield fixes the number at fourteen. Three of the injured are reported as probably beyond recovery. They are John Davis, aged 28, of Philadelphia, engineer of the excursion train; Miss Gertrude Bachman, of South Bethlehem, and Mrs. William Burkhart, aged 32, of South Bethlehem. The dead are:
Annie Sherry, aged 21, of South Bethlehem
Robert B.J. Miller, aged 20, South Bethlehem
Richard Bachman, aged 40, South Bethlehem
Ira Ehret, aged 20, South Bethlehem
William Ehret, aged 22, South Bethlehem
Joseph Mordaunt, aged 22, South Bethlehem
Thomas Day, aged 29, Allentown
William McGonigle, aged 20, Allentown
Gottfried Kaelen, aged 42, Telford
Mamie Kaelen, aged 14, Telford
Harvey Landis, aged 28, Hatfield
William C. Blackburn, aged 60, Tylersport
Florian Waldspurger, aged 55, Tylersport
Harry S. Eckman, an extra operator, usually stationed at Wayne Junction, was one of those reported dead on Sunday afternoon, but it has been learned that his injuries - a crushed foot and hand were not fatal. Beckman was sent to Perkasie, several stations above Hatfield, on Saturday, and was returning home on Sunday morning on the milk train when the excursion train collided with it. He was taken to his boarding house, at 4442 Germantown avenue, and on Monday morning was removed by his brother-in-law to the family home in Lancaster county.
An emergency call was telegraphed to Norristown shortly after the disaster and the following doctors immediately responded: H.H. Drake, J.R. Umstead, S.N. Wiley, J.K. Weaver, L.T. Trumbower and C.Z. Weber. The physicians were taken to Lansdale at eight o'clock in a train made up of a passenger coach and shifting engine at Main street station. This train had a clear track and made the trip in a twinkle. Five trained nurses from Charity Hospital accompanied the physicians and according to one of the doctors, the nurses rendered valuable services. They accompanied the injured to Bethlehem on a special train with improvised beds and did what they could to alleviate the suffering.
A place at the station had been carefully roped off and the crowds standing there for the most part entered into the spirit of the occasion and were very orderly. This made access to the awaiting vehicles an easy matter. The forty injured excursionists were tenderly carried to St. Luke's Hospital and their own homes, the greater part going to the hospital wards. On the road from Hatfield to Bethlehem one of the injured persons died, and according to Dr. J.K. Weaver's figures, there are fourteen fatalities.
The scenes during the time the rescuers were at work taking out the dead or lifting the injured from the masses of twisted iron and broken woodwork, were pathetic in the extreme. Not since the awful disaster on the Reading at Exeter last year have they been equalled. Fathers sought frantically for sons and daughters, husbands searched with quaking hearts for wives and wives for husbands. One father, pinned beneath the wreck of the milk train, saw his twelve-year-old daughter die almost within his reach. An hour later, he too, breathed his last.
There were many narrow excapes. Christopher Hunsberger, of Souderton, was loading milk into one of the cars on the milk train. He happened to glance around in time to see the excursion train rushing down upon the milk train. Shouting out a warning he leaped from the car just before the train was struck. Harvey Landis, who was within three feet of Hunsberger, failed to heed the latter's warning and was killed. William Durn, baggagemaster of the milk train, miraculously escaped with a crushed leg.
Twenty-five hundred passengers were on the four sections. Six hundred of them loaded the first section, the one which crashed into the milk train. Superintendent Tomlinson, of the New York division, who was in charge of the operations at the wreck Monday, was asked to explain the accident. His answer was:
"If the train dispatcher's office at Philadelphia had done its duty it would not have happened."
Superintendent Tomlinson averred that orders which would have caused the excursion train to be held at Souderton, the first station north of Hatfield, until the milk train was out of Lansdale were not transmitted to the operator at Souderton.
Employees of the road and others say that a red flag was displayed at Souderton and that engineer Davis, of the excursion train, as he ran by the station, signified to the flagman there that he saw it. If this be true, the necessity for an explanation on the part of the engineer is apparent.
While the wreckers were removing some of the debris on Monday morning part of the back of a child's skull containing two curls was found in the wreckage. It is supposed to belong to the head of little Mamie Kaelin.
Miss Sherry, of South Bethlehem, who was killed, was sitting in the same seat with her lover, John McHugh, a stalwart young constable, to whom she was shortly to be married. In the crush the girl was wedged in between two heavy timbers. Her lover was caught by his feet and could scarcely reach her. He exerted every effort to pull her free and yelled for help in vain. She died in his arms, her chest being crushed.
Wellington Rosenberry received his injuries while seated in the single passenger coach attached to the rear of the milk train. He is believed to be injured internally. The passengers on this car were not on their way to Atlantic City.
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Cressman of Keelysville, who were also seated in the coach attached to the milk train with Mr. Rosenberry had a miraculous escape from death. This coach was cut in two by the locomotive of the special. The sides of the car were hurled on each side of the track. Mr. and Mrs. Cressman were picked up from the debris of the car with but a few cuts on their body. Friends of Mr. Rosenberry say that his escape from instant death was also miraculous.
A passenger on the ill-fated excursion train said: "When we were nearing Hatfield our train was running very fast. Each of the eleven cars were crowded to their utmost capacity. No one thought of such a thing as danger. Everybody was happy. Some were singing and others were talking and joking. Suddenly and without an instant's warning there was a shrill cry of alarm from somewhere, then a few seconds of silence and a terrific crash followed. I found myself lying upon my back on the roadway. About me were lying men and women, crying and groaning. Parts of the broken car lay all about us. When I arose to my feet I noticed that the ground was white for many feet about us. It was the milk that had been spilled from the cars of the train ahead."
When the first flush of excitement wore off the second section of the ill-fated train was allowed down the road from Quakertown, where it was held awaiting orders on account of the wreck. Just above Hatfield station, where the few cars remained which escaped injury the second section stopped and three cars were added to it. The passengers who were fortunate enough to escape the calamity boarded the train and started for Atlantic City. It was found necessary on account of the large number of passengers and cars to divide this augmented second section into two parts. At one o'clock these sections started southward for the city by the sea, with hundreds of persons doubtlessly thankful of their exceedingly fortunate escape. Many however, be it said to their credit, who were on the first section, refused to continue the journey of pleasure which had such a direful interruption. These people declared themselves so shocked by the appalling nature of the disaster that their sympathies revolted at the prospect of disipating its memories by a sudden return to enjoyment of which many of their fellow participants had been snatched by death.
Undertaker Conover has prepared a list of articles found on each body. He says there are many valuables missing, according to the statements made by relatives and friends. Mrs. Harvey Landis, whose husband lost his life while assiting in the loading of milk, says her husband had $50 and a watch on his person when he left home in the morning. Neither the watch nor the money has been found.
Richard Bachman, of South Bethlehem took a $5000 accident insurance policy before he left home Sunday morning. The policy was found in his jacket, and is in possession of the undertaker.
Coroner McGlathery, in company with District Attorney Hendricks, of Norristown, visited the scene of the wreck and made a survey of the surroundings. In their search for witnesses they visited Bethlehem and Allentown.
Doctor S.P. Reese announced that Wellington H. Rosenberry, a Democratic member of the Assembly, would recover from the injuries which he sustained in the wreck. Mr. Rosenberry was renomination at the Democratic convention on Tuesday.
The rules under which the employees of the philadelphia and Reading Railway Company operate are contained in a manual which every employee must carry with him while on duty. The following are rules which apply to the conditions surrounding the accident:
Rule 83 - A train of inferior class must in all cases keep out of the way of a train of superior class.
Rule 87 - A train must not leave a station to follow a passenger train until five minutes after the departure of such passenger train, unless some form of block signal is used.
Rule 88 - Passenger trains running in the same direction must keep not less than five minutes apart, unless some form of block signal is used.
Rule 121 - In all cases of doubt or uncertainty take the safe course and run no risks.
Rule 145 - Special attention must be paid to information furnished by notice of trains ahead.
Rule 151 - Enginemen, conductors and signalmen are required to exercise the greatest care to secure their own trains as well as other trains against accident. They must constantly keep in mind that nothing will justify a collision between trains, and that the prompt use of signals will prevent it.
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