SCENES OF WRECK IN WHICH 82 WERE KILLED.

CRACKUP INJURES 500 PASSENGERS.

Woodbridge, N. J. (AP) -- A crowded commuter train plunged off a newly erected trestle last night, killing 82 persons and injuring about 500. It was the nation's worst train wreck in 32 years.
Throughout the night and far into today, rescue workers hacked through the twisted mass of wreckage. They said other bodies still may be found in the crumpled 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 a 20-foot embankment.
The new, temporary overpass had been put into service only a few hours before the crash.
In Newark, the FBI said it was investigating to determine whether sabotage was involved.
The railroad, conducting its own probe, said it could offer no immediate explanation for the cause of the wreck.
The dead included bankers, lawyers and business men, prominent in their localities and civic life, most of them homebound from New York City offices.
In mid-morning, the list of known dead stood at 79, with three bodies still unidentified.
The rush-hour crackup was the worst in the nation since 1918 when 115 were killed in a Nashville, Tenn., wreck, and more disastrous than a 1943 accident outside Philadelphia that took 80 lives.
It was the third major train wreck in the metropoliten area in 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 pen tomorrow.
On orders of New Jersey Gov. ALFRED E. DRISCOLL, the state's attorney general, THRODORE PARSONS, also began an investigation. He reached the scene early today, and sent an assistant to a hospital to question the critically injured engineer 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 Jersey's wealthy north shore.
Engineer JOSEPH H. FITZSIMMONS, a veteran of 33 accident-free years on the road, blamed the over-crowded coaches and the new trestle for the tragedy.
The 52-year-old FITZSIMMONS said from a hospital cot:
"The moment my engine passed over the trestle and lurched sharply, I felt the rest of the cars would never make it."
"I hit the trestle at about 25 miles an hour and the speed of the train certainly couldn't be blamed for the crash. When I started to sway, I applied the brakes, but it apparently was too late."
Passengers and at least one railroad detective -- who did not give his name -- disagreed with the engineer 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 a 25-mile-an-hour speed limit was in effect on the new track, opened to traffic less than five hours before "The Broker" cracked up at 5:43 P. M.
The new track was swung about 50 feet from the old one to clear the way for the Jersey turnpike, big cross-state highway under construction.
The Pennsylvania said six trains passed over the new trestle safely before "The Broker."
The railroad said the trestle itself was not a factor in the accident -- despite the engineer's statement.
Mayor AUGUST GREINER of Woodbridge said he thought the trestle buckled beneath the train's weight. But the trestle did not collapse.
PARSONS asked for a signed statement from one passenger, ROBERT THALER, of Fair Haven. THALER said he saw a burning journal box on the fourth car of the train before it left Newark -- its last stop before the wreck.
THALER told PARSONS by telephone this car's undercarriage may have collapsed as it whipped across the trestle.
The train pulled out of Jersey City at 5:10 P. M. Commuters from New York board it there after coming under the Hudson River by tube train.
It was more crowded than usual because another commuter line, the Jersey Central, was knocked out by the switchmen's "sick call" strike. Many Central commuters elbowed in with the estimated 900 passengers who daily ride "The Broker."
The train snaked its way from Newark across suburban North Jersey in the darkness of early evening. The lights of busy industrial areas along the tracks flicked by its windows.
Then it hit the trestle, the engineer fighting the brakes to try and control it.
"I heard him throw on the air brakes three times as she came down a grade and onto the temporary tracks," said Attorney IRVING W. TEEPLE, on his way home to Leonardo, N. J., from his Newark law office.
"He was doing his level best to hold her back."
But the steam engine rolled on across the trestle for about three car lengths.
"It just went bounce, bounce, bounce -- and then there was a terrible noise," said another passenger, NORMAN MERZ.
The big engine left the tracks and plunged in an arc to the pavement of a street below, in this city of 27,000 persons 30 miles south of New York.
Behind it, the first five cars of the train went this way and that in a jumble of jagged steel. Some of them turned over in the thick mud of the embankment. Others stayed upright, grotesquely twisted across the rails or along the embankment.
Passengers were tossed about inside the coaches like dice in a cup. Many were mangled to bits under the grinding weight of sharp, broken metal.
Others survived or died in tomblike crevasses of steel, as some of the cars were bent into a U-shape by the terrible force of the crash. It took about seven hours -- until after midnight -- to dig and saw the last one clear.
The moans of trapped men and women rose on the night air. One man pinned under a heavy coach wheel begged feebly:
"Help, help me."
Ambulances hurried to the scene from all over North Jersey. Blood plasma was sent from New York and Jersey City.
A morgue was set up in a garage. Blood-splattered rescue workers tenderly placed the dead in long rows, then pulled brown sheets of paper over their still forms. The feet of the dead sprawled limp, uncovered by the paper shrouds.
Acetylene torches sputtered beneath the eerie rays of big spotlights, the torches biting first this way and then that around trapped passengers.
Small ladders were laid against the slime of the embankment. And other big fire department ladders also were moved up to get at the coaches. The dead and injured, pulled free, were placed on the stretchers and handed down the ladders.
Many of the passengers, as they groped for freedom in the darkness that followed the crash, thought the wreck had occurred over a river. The tracks cross rivers at several points in the area.
Their impression was gained from the glazed look of streets below. Melted snow had wet them and the water reflected the dull glare of street lights beside the tracks.
"All I wanted to do was get out," said passenger WILLIAM M. HALL of Red Bank. "But I thought I was over water and wanted to dive out."
There was panic in some of the coaches, calm heroism in others.
A vast crowd of thousands quickly pressed on the scene, getting in the way of rescue workers. Finally, National Guardsmen joined state police to push the crowd back from streets beneath the trestle.
Ashen-pale relatives of passengers kept a pitiful, grim vigil around buildings used as morgues. It took hours to identify some of the badly torn bodies.
The last big rail disaster in the metropolitan New York area occurred Thanksgiving Eve at Kew Gardens, N. Y., when 79 persons died in a Long Island Rail Road train wreck. Thirty-two Long Island passengers were killed at Rockville Centre last Feb. 17.
The Pennsylvania once owned and operated the Long Island. However, the Long Island went into bankruptcy before the wrecks and since has been operated under the supervision of a New York federal court.

HERE'S LIST OF DEAD IN TRAIN WRECK
Woodbridge, N. J. (AP) -- The list of known dead in last night's Pennsylvania Railroad train wreck:
AUMACK, NORMAN (card of Dickson Jewelry Co. in his possession).
BAKER, BERTHOLD W., 67, of 601 Sixth av., Asbury Park.
BARANOWSKI, WANDA, South River.
BARNES, FRANK, Little Silver.
BENDER, HENRY M., of 79 Norwood av., Irvington.
BENNETT, MYRON, 45, of 263 Lawrence av., Elberon.
BERNIUS, J., Laurence Harbor.
BOHRMAN, BEVERLY, 18, of Spring Lake.
BOROS, FRANK, 38, of 103 Silverton av., Little Silver.
BOTEL, JOHN, JR., 42, of 75 S. Woodland dr., Fair Haven.
CAMPBELL, WILLIAM, 42, of 301 Ninth av., Belmar.
CAMPBELL, MRS. WILLIAM, of 301 Ninth av., Belmar.
CRAWFORD, RULIFF E., of 1207 1/2 Sunset av., Asbury Park.
COYLE, JOHN J., 4 Alston ct., Red Bank.
CRIMMENS, RUTH, of Cleveland av., Laurence Harbor.
CUTLER, PRATT, 62, of 1315 River Plaza, Belmar.
DenELEYKER, IRENE JAEGER (no address).
DICK, ROBERT D., of 54 Commanche dr., Port au Peck.
DOUGHERTY, GEORGE A., 30, of 1 Clifton av., Long Branch.
DRONSBOUGH, GEORGE, 43, of Buenavista av., Rumson.
DUNLAP, ALBERT, 43, of 100 Manor av., Red Bank.
DUNN, ALBERT M., Point Pleasant.
ENDERLIN, EDWIN F., of 654 Westwood av., West End.
FERGUSON, JOHN, 55, of 713 Hilltop blvd., Cliffwood.
FISCHER, ELMER J., 39, of 1309 Salem av., Belmar.
FLEMING, THOMAS, 56, of 629 Grove st., Jersey City.
FRANK, KATHRINE, Ocean Grove.
FRENCH, LARRY, Brielle.
FULMER, MICHAEL, of 115 Second av., Bradley Beach.
GRADE, GEORGE, 46, of 112 Morningside av., Laurence Harbor.
HEIDRICH, J. CARL, 54 Liberty av., Belleville.
HEMBRIDGE, J. C., Belleville.
HOEN (or HOIN) EMIL B., of 810 Atlantic av., Point Pleasant.
HOLMES, CLARENCE, of 223 Ninth st., Essex.
HUBBARD, RUSSELL B., of 360 Cedar av., Manasquan.
JAMES, JOHN, of Fair Haven.
JOHNSON, WILLIAM, (no address).
JONES, THOMAS S., 66, of 104 Jersey av., Long Branch.
KAPPEL, JEROME, 34, of 355 Bourne av., Long Branch.
LONGSTREET, C., of 70 Wooley av., Long Branch.
MacMULLEN, MRS. I. W., Fair Haven.
MARROW, DAVID W., of 1005 Grand av., Asbury Park.
McCARTER, GEORGE, 62, of 43 Commerce st., Newark and Ridge rd., Rumson.
McDONOUGH, EDWARD T., of 27 Madison av., Red Bank.
McGLINCHEY, THOMAS J., 52, of 241 Van Vorst st., Jersey City.
McKNELT, THOMAS, Sholl Manufacturing Co., 60 W. 14th st., New York City.
McLAUGHLIN, JAMES L., of 127 White st., Shrewsbury.
MOLECKI, WALTER, 30, of 151 Parker st., South Amboy.
MULLEN, LEO, 28, of 411 Jefferson av., Laurence Harbor.
NORDLUND, JOHAN A., 69, of 127 Laurence pkwy., Laurence Harbor.
PHYFE, WALTER, of 25 Molly Pitcher ct., Red Bank.
PINTARK, WILLIAM, 57, of 177 Broad st., Red Bank.
POTTER, MRS. HELEN, 26, of 809 Ridge av., Neptune City.
ROBINSON, WILLIAM, 44, of 45 Union st., Red Bank.
SAKOVICH, WILLLIAM, (no address).
SCACCIO, FRANK, 45, of 15 Cross st., Little Silver.
SCHROEDER, J. H., (no address).
SEARS, HENRY, 56, of 1007 Grossmere av., West Interlaken.
SHERMAN, CARL, 61, of 7 Ripley Lane, South Belmar.
SHINE, JOSEPH, 35, of 810 Bevon st., Arlington.
SIEFFERT, W., of 11 Catherine st., Red Bank.
STEVENS, FLORENCE, Fourth av., Asbury Park.
SOURS, ALVIN, of 157 Wayne st., Jersey City.
STOKES, EVERARD, of Sea Girt.
SUMMERS, HENRY, of 1216 Fifth av., Asbury Park.
VAN EXTER, WALTER, of 85 Franklin av., Ocean Grove.
VAN EXTER, EDWIN J., of 85 Franklin av., Ocean Grove.
VAN VALIET, STEWART, 30, of Sycamore av., Shrewsbury.
VENTURINO, VICTOR, 19, E. Sunset av., Red Bank.
VIETZ, JULIUS, of 17 Hoyers Lane, Fair Haven.
VOGEL, FRANCIS XAVIER, of 36 Kentucky av., Keansburg.
WARD, JOSEPH, JR., 24, of 76 Manor dr., Red Bank.
WATKINS, JOHN R., of 1784 River blvd., Belmar.
WHITING, HAROLD W., (no address).
WILDER, EDWARD H., of 310 Bendermere, Interlaken.
WOLFE, RUSSELL, 42, of 4 Clarence av., Elberon.
WYNN, MRS. RUTH, 33, of 1400 Burnt Tavern rd., Point Pleasant.
YOUNG, ROBERT, Conover Lane, Rumson.
BERNHARD, HENRIETTA, 22, Long Branch.

Syracuse Herald Jounal New York 1951-02-07
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!