TUNNEL DISASTER IN NEW YORK.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 45, 22 February 1902, Page 5 (Supplement)

TUNNEL DISASTER IN NEW YORK.

FIFTEEN PEOPLE MEET A

TERRIBLE DEATH.

Fifteen persons were killed and some 50 injured as the result of a collision which occurred in the New York Central railroad tunnel on Wednesday, January 3. One woman was amongst the killed. The accident took place a few hundred yards outside the Grand Central Station, which is situated at Forty-second-street, in the heart of the city, and Is approached by a tunnel used by both <tha New York Central and the New York, Newhaven, and Hartford companies. The tunnel has been exposed to attack because of its inadequate ventilation, and plans were under consideration for the opening up of the outside walls and the substitution of electric traction. The; disaster occurred at 8.20 a.m. An express from South Norwalk had stopped in the tunnel at Fifty-sixth-street, when a local train crashed into the rear end of it, the locomotive telescoping the last car. Hardly one of the 60 odd piassengera in that car escaped death or injury. The locomotive came to a stop near the middle of the car, and the clouds of escaping steam par-boiTed the dead and injured. Dozens of people were pinned down In / the heavy wreckage, and many of them remained prisouers an hour. The noise of the coaiisjon and the shrieks of the maimed were heard by persons In the street overhead, and the fire alarm wa9 rung up at once. To reach the imprisoned passengers ladders were lowered through the tunnel opening at .Fiftysixth street, and with their axes the tiremen CUT A WAY THROUGH THE ROOF OF THIS COACH. A rare degree of heroism was exhibited by many oi those injured. A notable in- , stance was that of two young women beionging to Mew Koeueiie, Miss .Sadie ocott 'and Miss Minnie .Rice, whose tirst concern was for their relatives, both asking that the latter should c<e appraised mat they were still alive. Th» body of a. dead man had to be removed before they could be extricated. Tw<* of the1 chaplains of the Fire Department, Mr Smith and MX Walkley, were present, an a administered whisky to the young rt.omcn, and wiSth reassuring words., Sided hi keeping up .their spirits. Lledt Wilaiim Clarke, of Hook and Ladder Oom« y.my No. 2, noted for gallantry on .previous occasion^, distinguished himself* iicre. All the wMle the steajta was playing around him and scalding one of his legs,, and in this painful position he stood fcxr half-anhhour tor more, and, making a fan out of a newspaper, he fanned the girls, thus keeping the steam off their faces. Acttfig-Battalion Chief Friel, speaking later on of Miss Scott, said she showed wonderful nerve. "The woman," he said, "was pinned fast, and the dead bofly of a man was lying over her legs. 'Madam,' I said to her, 'I will handle you as gently as I can, but you must not mind if I violate some of the conventionalities.' The woman replied, 'I won't mind that if you try to release me. I'm not thinking of conventional

ties now.' "

Dr. O. Gillette, of the Bellevue Hospital, who was among the first to arrive at th,e tunnel, went down into it in company with Dr. William Darragh, of the Presbyterian Hospital. "It was so dark," said Dr. Gillette, "that we could not see anything, and had to feel our way.

ONE OF THE ENGINES WAS PILED UP ON THE WRECK, and to get to the car whence we heard cries for help proceeding we1 had to slide down the side of the hot boiler of the engine. When we got into the car we found the, dead bodies of three men hanging half out of the window. The seats were smashed and scattered all over the car. Cries of 'My God! Save me!' cams front near us, and we found two women pinned! down. These we managed to extricate, and passed them to the fire chief, who sent them up to the street. This kind oi work was constantly repeated.",' Mr Cornelius Vanderbilt, the millionaire, who is president of the New YorK! Central Railway Company, on hearing of the accident rushed from his house, Vhieh is not far away, and attempted td climb a fireman's ladder, with the avow* ed intention of helping1 the ambulance man. On seeing the dead and dying ha vras stricken with horror and sympathy, and in a voice broken with emotion, he cried out, "Oh, this is awful." He was persuaded to return to the street, where he remained for some time watching the removal of the injured, in the midsi of si blinding fall of snow. Among the killed were several wellknown business men, including Mfl E. F. Walton, member of the Stock Fixchange; Mr Frank Washburner, president of the National Paper Bag Company; and Mr Oscar Meyrowitz, one of the best known opticians in New York. The officials of the railroad company after making an investigation, announced that the engine driver of the looal train was entirely to blame, as he had disregarded the danger signal at mty-ninth-street. and .also a fog signal on the rail The engine driver was accordingly detained in custody. The fireman waa admitted to £1000 ball. This is the third accident that has occurred in the tunnel. The first was lit November, ISS2, when 20 were killod. and the second in February, 1891, when si* were killed and many vrsra injured.