Sterling Station, NY Excursion Train Derails, June 1913

50 HURT AS EXCURSION TRAIN GOES IN DITCH.

COUNTY OFFICIALS PROTEST AGAINST BURNING OF TIES AND WRECKED COACHES.

Rochester, N.Y., June 22. -- Fifty persons were injured, some of them seriously, when a Pennsylvania Railroad excursion train was derailed near Sterling Station at 9:30 o'clock this morning.
The train was filled with excursionists bound for Olean, Rock City and Bradford, Pa.
While the train was running at about forty miles an hour three of the five coaches left the track, rolling down an embankment.
As it rounded a curve the smoking car left the track, followed by all but two rear coaches. The locomotive also remained on the track, breaking away from the train after dragging the coaches about 200 feet.
Physicians and nurses were rushed to the scene from Rochester and other nearby towns and the most seriously injured were hurried to hospitals at sonyea and in this city.
Practically all the injured were residents of this city. It is not believed any of them is fatally hurt.
It was said that District Attorney Frank K. Cook was refused permission to examine the wreck when he arrived at the scene. Railroad officials had thrown a cordon of employes about it and Mr. Cook could not get within twenty feet of the nearest car.
Mr. Cook said he had every reason to believe that bad ties were directly responsible for the wreck. The track construction was very faulty, he declared.
After the District Attorney had returned home, a messenger brought him word that the railroad men were going to burn the ties for 100 yards on both sides of the wreck. Mr. Cook accompanied by Sheriff Acond, rushed back to the spot in an automobile.
They found that the ties had been thrown together in an adjoining field, but a railroad man said this was done to get them out of the way. Sheriff Acond demanded that the officials refrain from burning any ties or cars.
District Attorney Cook has requested the Public Service Commission to conduct an immediate investigation.

Indianapolis Star Indiana 1913-06-23
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!