Felton, PA Train Collision, Dec 1915

FIVE PERSONS KILLED, ELEVEN HURT IN REAR END COLLISION.

Chester, Pa., Dec. 17. -- Five persons were killed and eleven injured, one probably fatally, in a rear-end collision between an accommodation train bound from Wilmington to Chester and a train of empty express cars on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad tonight at Felton, two miles south of this city. Two of the dead were employes of the railroad and two were negro passengers, whose bodies have not been identified. DANIEL CALLINGER, a passenger, of Philadelphia was the fifth victim. Of the injured OTTO PHILLIPS, also of Philadelphia, was the most seriously injured. His skull was fractured and physicians say that his recovery is doubtful. All the injured live in Philadelphia and Chester or in nearby towns.
The accident occurred about 6 o'clock and was due, according to railroad officials, to dense fog, which made it impossible for the enginemen to see the signals. The accommodation train, consisting of three day coaches and an engine, was standing at Felton Station when the other train crashed into it. All three coaches of the accommodation were telescoped and the engine was hurled down an embankment. The passengers, most of whom were workmen in munition plants at Wilmington, were thrown in all directions and the three wooden coaches were reduced almost to kindling wood. Seats and other parts of them were found in fields several hundred feet from the scene of the wreck.
A moment after the accident an express train from Philadelphia for Baltimore crashed into the wreckage, but little damage resulted. Traffic was completely tied up for several hours, trains to and from the south being run over the Pennsylvania railroad tracks between Edgemore and Wilmington.

Logansport Journal-Tribune Indiana 1915-12-18

Continued on Page 2.