INTERURBAN CAR CRASH KILLS 5; SCORE INJURED.

CROWDED PASSENGER COACH TELESCOPED BY SPEEDING FREIGHT CAR.

Springfield, O., Aug. 10 (AP) -- Helplessly trapped in a telescoped interurban passenger car, five persons were killed today and a score injured, several critically.
A northbound work car of the Cincinnati & Lake Erie Traction Co. collided headon with the southbound passenger coach near here.
The two cars came together on a curve during a rain storm. The old-fashioned, high built work car enveloped the passenger car a third of its length.
The dead:
CHARLES MURRAY of Urbana.
ROY ZIMMERMAN of Springfield, motorman of the passenger car.
MISS RUTH GIBSON, 25, of Westerville, identified by a teacher's certificate.
MISS HELEN WINGFIELD of Belefontaine, who died several hours later of a fractured spine.
MRS. EVELYN SULLIVAN KEMP of Russell's Point.
Truman Curtiss of Dayton, general superintendent of the C. & L. E. Line, said ZIMMERMAN ran past switch No. 61 and that the motorman had orders to take the switch to let the line car pass.
He said ZIMMERMAN was "an old and trusted employe" of the company and he could not understand his apparent disregard of dispatcher's orders.
A. N. ALLEN, of Bellefontaine, motorman of the work car, told an ambulance driver that he had the right-of-way and that the passenger coach should have taken a side track.
He later told Curtiss his car was moving about 20 miles an hour when the accident occurred. He said he could not judge the speed of the other car.
Curtiss said the passenger probably was moving between 50 and 55 miles an hour.
Every ambulance in Springfield and Urbana responded to the calls for help. Doctors and nurses fought their was to the scene through a traffic blockade that extended a mile in either direction.
Volunteer rescue workers and traction company employes dug into the wreckage quickly with axes and brought out the dead and injured.
Eye-witnesses described the scene as "horrible."
They said the two cars came together with a thunderous crash, and that an instant later the screams of the injured resounded from the wreckage.
Seven unidentified persons lay in hospitals.
The City Hospital cared for 15 injured. Some were not expected to recover.

The Syracuse Herald New York 1935-08-11
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!