Saratoga Springs, NY Train Wreck, Mar 1906

TWO KILLED IN CRASH OF MONTREAL EXPRESS

George Foster Peabody One of the Injured in Train Wreck.

HIS HURTS NOT SERIOUS

Sharp Curve Cut Off Signal That Brakeman Used In Effort to Avoid Disaster.

Special to The New York Times.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, March 7.----Two persons were killed, another will probably die before morning, and several were injured in an accident this afternoon on the Delaware & Hudson Railway. George Foster Peabody was hurt.

Soon after 5 o'clock a freight train in the yard at the bottom of Church Street ran off the track at the switch. The engine and three cars left the rails and effectually blocked the track. The passenger train from Rutland, due at Saratoga at 5:30 o'clock, was unable to pass and came to a halt.

The Montreal express was due in five minutes on a sharp curve, and a brakeman, according to the regulations, was hurried back along the line to flag it. The engineer of the express could not see the flag at any distance, but, as soon as he did, put on the brakes.

The speed was reduced, but it was impossible to stop the train before the engine of the Montreal train hit the rear car of the Rutland, driving it into the one just ahead and telescoping it.

The floor of one car was driven over that of the other for about fifteen feet. Between them Gertrude Esmond, 16 years of age, the daughter of a farmer of Gansevoort, was caught and killed instantly. Her mother was also on the train, and was so badly crushed that at a late hour to-night it was stated at the hospital that she can hardly live till morning.

Frank Sindecuse of Buffalo, a travelling salesman, was taken out alive from the wreck. His arm was badly crushed and he suffered so severely from shock that he died in the hospital at 9:30 o'clock. Frank Cardes of Albany, an Italian, is also in the hospital with a crushed foot. He is expected to recover. Nelson M. Varney of Sandy Hill had his right hand and arm crushed and received internal injuries. He was taken to the home of his brother, Dr. Varney.

About a dozen other passengers were badly shaken. They were treated by the doctors of the town at the wreck, and did not go to the hospital. One man, whose name could not be learned, had a narrow escape. He was standing on the rear platform of the Rutland train when he saw the Montreal Express round the corner and make for his car. He jumped just in time.

Mr. Peabody was in the car that was telescoped, and was only a seat or two from those that were destroyed. He received a few bruises on the legs, but was otherwise uninjured. He remained over night in Saratoga Springs in accordance with the plans he had already formed.

The New York Times, New York, NY 8 Mar 1906
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Transcribed by Linda Horton. Thank you, Linda!