Bronx, NY Electric Train Wreck, Feb 1907

ELECTRIC TRAIN WRECK.

Twenty Killed and Over Fifty Injured in New York City.

New York. --- Sixteen passengers were killed outright, four others had died of their injuries in the wreck of the White Plains & Brewster express on the Harlem division of the New York Central & Hudson River railroad near Woodlawn road in the Bronx borough of Greater New York Saturday night.

A sheet of electric flame that signaled the disaster enveloped the rear car and for a moment threatened to roast the victims pinioned in the debris. The flames did not, however, spread, and the horror of a holocaust was averted. As the cars fell they smashed the third rail, breaking the current and ending danger from this source. In the crash, however, there was death for many, while practically everyone in the four coaches received injuries of some sort. Many were ground to pieces and for hours identification was almost hopeless. As the cars went over, many of the passengers were thrown into or through the windows and cur or maimed.

After stopping at One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street the train was scheduled to run express to White Plains. At Woodlawn road the four tracks run through a rocky cut and take a sharp curve.

When the train reached the curve it was running at a speed estimated by some at sixty miles an hour.

Both motors and the smoking car swung safely around the curve. But the other cars left the rails, plunging over on their sides with a terrific crash and tearing up the tracks for 100 yards before they collapsed. Of those instantly killed by far the greater number were women. Many were mangled beyond recognition.

Summit County Journal Colorado 1907-02-23
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!