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| "Sam Sloan," D. L. & W. Engine No. 6, similar to Engine No. 5. |
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| D. L. & W. train at Cortland, N. Y. station with trolley waiting. |
Cortland
Evening Standard, Thursday, September 2, 1897.
DISASTROUS
WRECK.
VESTIBULE
FLIER DERAILED AND UPSET AT BLODGETT MILLS.
Mrs. J. H. McQuillen of Philadelphia
Killed—Many Others Injured, but Fortunately None Others Will Die—Cause of
Accident Unknown.
There was a terrible wreck on the D., L.
& W. R. R. at Blodgett Mills at 10:08 o'clock this morning and one lady was
killed and a considerable number of others injured, though fortunately it is
believed that none of the others will die.
The southbound vestibule flier leaves
Cortland at 10:02 A. M. and passes the first station south, Blodgett Mills,
five miles away, at 10:08 without stopping. The train was on time this morning
and was approaching the station at the rate of about forty-five miles an hour.
It was drawn by engine No. 5, with Engineer F. G. Townsend of Syracuse, Fireman
Arthur Wellington of Syracuse.
The train was in charge of Conductor Jas. Doyle of Syracuse with Lewis Hammond
and James Foley of Syracuse as brakemen. The train consisted of an express and
mail car, a combination baggage and smoking car, a day coach and a Pullman
palace car. The porter of the Pullman car was H. Hinsley. The day coach was
crowded and there were eighteen passengers in the parlor car.
About 500 feet above the station a gang of
section hands were at work upon the track, putting in new ties and fixing it up
generally. As the train approached the men fell back to let it pass. As the
rear trucks [undercarriage] of the day coach passed the point where the men
were at work they were suddenly pulled out from under the car. They struck in
the way of the trucks of the parlor car and derailed that car. The parlor car
was drawn forward about 150 feet and suddenly turned on its left side. At this
point it came in contact with a wing of the chair and novelty shop of Tanner
& June which extends out to the track for shipping purposes. This was
demolished instantly. One hundred fifty feet further down it struck the corner
of an icehouse and took a piece out of it. And about 150 feet further down it
stopped in the ditch, the coupling with the day coach having broken. The coach
was carried 75 feet further down the track and then its couplings with the
smoking car broke and it stopped.
The breaking of the couplings set the air
brakes and the rest of the train stopped in from 300 to 400 feet more. The forward
trucks of the day coach did not leave the track, but the parlor car pulled off
to the left so hard that the rear of the day coach was drawn far enough that
way to strike the Blodgett Mill's passenger station as the car passed it and
knocked it about eight feet backwards off its foundations. The left side of the
day coach is dreadfully jammed up, several holes being smashed through the
paneling, and all the windows in that side of the car being broken except four.
The moving from its foundations of the
station which is a building about twenty feet square broke the telegraph wires
which run into the office, and at once Blodgett Mills was disconnected from the
world, as there is not a telephone in the place. There was no way to get word to
Cortland for physicians and no way to summon a wrecking train.
Station Agent Dell June took his railroad
tricycle and started for Cortland on the handcar. Ralph Freeman, who lives
about a quarter of a mile this side [north] of the station, happened to be
close at hand when the accident occurred. He ran over to the house, took his
bicycle and hurried to Cortland. He got here before Mr. June and a telephone
call was sent out for all the physicians in town. The work train was here at
the yard and as soon as the physicians arrived it took them down with all
speed, arriving soon after 11 o'clock. A STANDARD man heard of the wreck as
soon as the word was received in town and started at once for the scene of the
accident on his wheel. He was the first newspaper man on the scene, and got
there before many people had arrived.
The cause of this accident is not known. It
was said that a rail broke under the train where ties had been removed, but it
is not certain that the cause of the breaking was the removing of the ties. J.
Morgan, a blacksmith, whose shop is next the railroad station, told a STANDARD
man that he and Garner Bentley and S. Belden Smith were [at] the blacksmith shop
when the accident occurred. They heard the train coming and heard a report like
a cannon before the smash came. They expressed the belief that this was the breaking
of the rail. The section men continued their work immediately after the
accident and in less than fifteen minutes had new rails in and were
straightening the rails which had been drawn from their places, so it was impossible
to know exactly what the condition was at the time of the accident. So great
was the strain upon the rails when the parlor car went over that for a number
of rods the ties and rails in the roadbed were shoved bodily from 4 to 6 inches
to the left.
Superintendent A. H. Schwarz of the S. &
B. division was on the wrecked train and was asked by The STANDARD man what in
his opinion caused the wreck, and he said that he did not know. It might have been
a broken rail or a broken flange to a wheel or a broken bolt in the trucks, or
one of a great many contingencies. It was evident to him though that the
beginning of the accident was with the rear trucks of the day coach, though he
could not say what caused the trouble there.
The parlor car was a perfect wreck. All but
two of the people who were hurt in any way seriously were in this car, and it is
a wonder that every one in the car was not killed. As it was, there was but one
fatality, Mrs. J. H. McQuillen of Philadelphia, who was one of a party of six
who had been at Glen Haven since June 29, was killed and the upper part of her
body was dreadfully bruised and mangled. When the car went over on its side
every one in the car was pitched to the lower side and in the main landed upon
the heavy glass windows. Mrs. McQuillen was thrown partly through a window and
her body from the waist up was dragged over ties, timbers, rubbish and gravel
till the car stopped. She was found partly in and partly out of the car. Her
arm was nearly torn from its socket. She was a lady 68 years old and was in
perfect health. Her traveling companions were her daughter, Mrs. H. S. Carter
of New York and her son's wife, Mrs. D. M. McQuillen of Philadelphia, with
three grandsons, Jack Carter, and Daniel and Price McQuillen. None of the others
were seriously hurt. Mrs. Carter was cut and bruised somewhat and her son Jack
had his left wrist cut and his face and nose cut. Among those who helped to
carry the dead lady from the car were W. M. Blaney of Homer, who had been in
the smoking car, and Jay Morgan of Blodgett Mills.
A. D. Wallace of Cortland had an experience
similar to that of Mrs. McQuillen, and is congratulating himself that he was not
killed outright. As it is, he is one of the most seriously injured of the
trainload. With his niece, Miss Maud Graham,
he was going to the Binghamton fair. The day coach was crowded so full that
they could not get seats and went into the parlor car. They occupied the last
two seats on the left hand side. When the car left the track he says he knew an
accident was coming and sprang to his feet. It bumped along for fractions of
seconds that seemed hours and suddenly like a flash turned over. He was thrown head
and shoulders through a window. His scalp is badly cut by the glass. He felt himself
being carried forward with head bumping on the ground. Every instant he
expected to be killed, that his head would strike something that would dash his
brains out. He contrived to get his left arm up under his head, and from that
time till they stopped the arm took the brunt of the jamming. It is fearfully
scraped and as yet it has not been determined whether bones are broken or not,
and how badly the muscles are mangled.
Miss Graham clutched at the chair in which
she was sitting when she felt the car off the track, and when it went over she
clung to it for dear life. The result is that she received only a few bruises
and scratches. Both Mr. Wallace and Miss Graham made their escape from the car
through a big hole that was torn out of the roof.
Among the others in the parlor car were Mr.
and Mrs. H. A. Connell, daughters Helen and Louise and son Harold and George
Jay of Scranton, Pa.. Mrs. Connell had the left side of her face cut and
bruised and her left hand was scraped down to the bones. Her little daughter
Louise, five years old, was badly cut about the face and head. The crying of
the little girl was piteous indeed. The daughter Helen had her right shoulder
dislocated.
Mrs. R. F. Downing of New York was bruised
about the head and face.
Superintendent Schwarz had his left arm
lamed and was badly cut with glass.
Rev. J. J. Higgins of Binghamton was bruised
and cut some.
The porter of the car was also cut with glass.
Others sustained slight bruises and scratches.
In the day coach Mrs. J. J. Rogers of
Wilkes-Barre had a bad scalp wound. Her daughter, Miss M. Louise Rogers, was
not hurt. The two ladies had been visiting Mr. and Mrs. N. H. Gillette at
Cortland, Mrs. Rogers being Mrs. Gillette's aunt. Mrs. Rogers was sitting on
the short sent at the rear end of the day coach and her daughter two seats
ahead. The two could not get seats together. When the accident occurred Miss
Rogers found her mother lying on the floor in the aisle next her seat.
Miss M. Spellman of Oswego was in the coach
and was cut by glass over the left eye.
In the day coach was Mrs. Theron E. Barnum,
of 609 Park-ave., Syracuse with her sons Charles and Jerome. Charles had just gone forward to the smoker,
and was unhurt. His mother had just asked him to go back into the parlor car
and visit with some friends of theirs who were there, and he had replied that
he would as soon as he smoked a cigar in the smoking car.
In the smoking car were C. L. Kinney and W.
J. Greenman of Cortland, and W. M. Blaney and Richard Klock of Homer. All felt
a decided shock as the air brakes were set, but received no harm.
In the day coach were Mr. and Mrs. William
Lumbard, who were married in Cortland this morning. They were not injured in
the least.
Hon. L. J. Fitzgerald had expected to go to
New York on that train, had engaged his seat in the parlor car, but at the last
minute a man came to see him with whom he wanted to do some business and he
decided not to go. Fortunate indeed.
Mr. and Mrs. M. H. McGraw of Cortland were
on the wrecked train. They occupied a seat at about the middle of the left side
of the day coach and escaped without the slightest injury. Mr. McGraw says that
he felt the side of the car go down as though the rail had given way and
suddenly right itself again. It seemed as though the car would tip over, but the
forward trucks remained on the track and the car remained right side up. A
large hole was broken in the side of [the] car near where they sat and a piece
of wood was in Mrs. McGraw's lap when the train stopped. There was also a slight
cut in her dress evidently made by a piece of glass.
After getting out of the car Mr. McGraw went
back to where the accident occurred. He found a large hole in the ground under
the track and the left rail was broken.
The son of Mrs. McQuillen, who was killed,
sailed yesterday for home having spent the summer in Europe, and the family
expected to have a reunion next week in Philadelphia.
The wrecking train arrived from Syracuse at
1 o'clock and at the same time a train arrived from Binghamton with cars to
take the place of the wrecked cars. The train proceeded at 1:10 to Binghamton,
taking along the belated passengers.
All of the people in the vicinity of the
station opened their houses and the injured were cared for with all tenderness.
A large number of physicians went down from Cortland.
Dell June was in the Blodgett Mills station
when the day coach struck and knocked it from its foundations. The shock was
terrific and he thought his time had come. It was thought by the people on the
day coach that if this had not struck the passenger station it would have
upset. The collision with the station righted it up.
Hundreds of teams and wheelmen from Cortland
and all over the surrounding country collected as soon as the news spread and
Blodgett Mills was black with the crowds.
 |
| Sanford Ballard Dole. |
FAVORS
ANNEXATION.
Hawaii
Wishes to Come Under the Wing of the United States.
SAN FRANCISCO. Sept. 2.—The steamer Australia
from Honolulu direct arrived with the following Hawaiin advices:
Francis M. Hatch, minister to Washington,
arrived Aug. 20 with special information which will require the attention of
both government and senate, and a secret notice has already been issued to the
members of the latter body calling upon them to meet in extra session, Sept. 6,
to consider the question. Meanwhile, Minister Hatch is in almost constant
consultation with President Dole and his cabinet.
The law makers will be asked to ratify the annexation
treaty recently signed in Washington, and as a majority of the members favor
annexation the matter will be rushed through.
The reason for an extra session of the senate
is a matter of conjecture and much curiosity is evinced. One senator is authority
for the statement that Minister Hatch brought word from President McKinley that
he had resolved to call congress two months earlier than usual for the purpose
of disposing of the treaty before the regular session, and this theory appears
to find favor with other senators.
Another matter to be considered by the
Hawaiian senate is that of rendering assistance to the executive in unraveling the
Japanese muddle, as it is said that Japan's
acceptance of the offer of arbitration is so vague that the president and his cabinet
are in a quandary.
WOMAN'S
RIVERSIDE HOME.
Fast
Nearing Completion—Opening Reception Next Week.
The Woman's Riverside Home at 240 Port Watson-st.
is rapidly nearing completion and will be opened next week under the management
of Mrs. E. M. Moore. As is well known, this house since its purchase has been
undergoing extensive repairs and enlargement and is now admirably adapted in every
particular to its purpose. A broad piazza with second floor balcony has been
built upon the front. Partitions have been rearranged making the rooms more
convenient. The roof of the rear part has been raised up giving five large sleepingrooms
and a bathroom on the second floor in a part which was before a low attic. There
are now fifteen sleepingrooms in the house exclusive of the apartments of the
family of the matron. Storerooms and closets which are so important in any
family are numerous in this house. For the present the house will be heated by
stoves, but a furnace will probably be put in later. All modern improvements
are being added. Paint and paper are now being applied at the hands of
experienced hands and the appearance of the house is being rapidly changed.
It is expected that the Home will be opened
next week for the reception of its patrons. Five ladies have already spoken for
rooms there, and others have the matter under consideration. The house will
some day next week, of which due notice will be given, be thrown open to the
public, and people generally will be invited to call and look it over. It is
also hoped that those benevolently disposed will at this time take note of some
of the things which are so much needed in the way of furnishings and can
perhaps from their own surplus stock of goods at their homes make selections of
articles that they can spare and which will be very helpful at the Home.
Mrs. Moore wishes it to be distinctly
understood that this Home is not exclusively for old ladies. It is not intended
that it shall intrude in any respect upon the province and work of the Old
Ladles' Home at Homer. It will have a distinct and separate sphere of its own.
The name "Woman's Riverside Home'' has been chosen, and as this implies it
is for women young and old. The price of board will be fixed at as low a figure
as will cover the cost and it is intended that the place shall become a home
indeed for any one who desires to make use of it. Further details will be given
later.
CANVASS
BOOKS AND MONDAY CONVENTION.
To the Editor of the STANDARD:
SIR—The detailed account of the proceedings of
the county committee in last evening's STANDARD reminds the reader of the Troy
methods. There can be no doubt that some members of the committee who voted
with the majority were misled and that their opinions had been previously fixed
by misstatements. The worst feature is that the statement of the proceedings
which appeared in The STANDARD is
true, and that there was an approval of the acts of a few to hinder investigation
by putting out of the way the canvass books—the best evidence of the
qualifications of voters. About one-half of the committee is also read out of
the organization, and the power of the committee placed in the hands of the chairman,
and those who object to such a proceeding are called "anti-organization."
What respect can there be for a convention organized in such a manner? Let the committee come together again and
deliberate and perform its duty.
The convention is supposed also to be a
deliberative body, yet it is called to meet on Monday, so as to compel
delegates to come from their homes and go directly into the
convention without any time for consultation or deliberation. Evidently
the persons interested in having the convention on Monday do not wish the
delegates to have an opportunity to hear the views of Republicans in Cortland
or to be informed of the true state of affairs. When many Republicans last
spring wished the convention to be held in June and before haying, upon at least
three weeks' notice, the same men who have been instrumental in getting it
called on less than a week's notice said it was an attempt to have a "snap"
convention, though it was really an effort to prevent the calling of a "snap"
convention, as has now been done.
There can be only one week's publication of
the notice of this convention for next Monday. Who ever heard of a convention being
held on a Monday before? Delegates must drive here from distant towns like
Willet, Cincinnatus, Taylor and Scott on that day, and can barely get here in
time for the opening of the convention. It has been usual for a great number of
the delegates to come the day or evening before, that they might meet each
other and inform themselves of the situation so that they could act
intelligently and understandingly. But now the day before the convention is
Sunday, no trains run to bring delegates here, neither can they come or open
the convention preliminaries Sunday or Sunday evening. The element which is
responsible for this arrangement will no doubt be in session Sunday night,
concocting new schemes or rejoicing over their success in keeping the delegates
from other towns from getting here and canvassing the situation. It seems as if
everything were being done to discredit the convention in advance, by the
reckless and unscrupulous individuals who are seeking to control its action. Willet, too, is added to the list of towns
wherein the number of votes polled in the caucus is in excess of the Republican
vote at the last election, though many Republicans did not vote in the caucus.
But our county committee has been made to say that the canvass books must not
be produced.
Yours truly,
REPUBLICAN.
BREVITIES.
—The public schools of Cortland open Tuesday,
Sept. 7.
—H. C. Hemenway, the candy man, has rented
the vacant store next to Graham's drug store and has taken possession.
—The Fair store received an order this morning
from Moravia to furnish 300 window shades for the new school building.
—New display advertisements to-day are—Warren,
Tanner & Co., Dress Goods, page 7; Alex. Mahan, Conservatory of Music, page
6.
—Mr. Allen Potter of Blodgett Mills to-day
while at work cutting lumber with a buzz saw accidentally had one of his
fingers badly cut by running it against the saw.
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