Indianapolis, Indiana Train Wreck
October 28, 1908
CAR CLIMBS BUILDING
NINE PERSONS NEAR DEATH
JUMPS TRACK AND CRASHES INTO DRUG STORE,
TERRYFYING PASSENGERS AND WAKING EVERY ONE IN
NEIGHBORHOOD.
Nine persons escaped death in a manner little
short of miraculous at 11 00 o’clock last night,
when Garfield car No. 438 left the tracks at
Lincoln lane and East street and crashed into
the building occupied by John G. Pantzer’s drug
store and Dr. M.O. DeVaney’s office. The entire
front of the building was wrecked and the car
was turned over on its side. Not one of the
passengers or the crew of the car was injured.
Roy Martin, motorman of the car, bore two small
cuts upon his face, which he received by
sticking to his post while the car ran for two
lengths off the track. The front end, where he
was standing at the controller, climbed the side
of the building a distance of about twelve feet.
Martin said after the accident that the brakes
did not take hold when he threw on the air upon
approaching the curve where the Garfield cars
turn to South East street.
Every one of the passengers and Ralph Hall,
conductor, were thrown to the floor of the car
in a heap, and four young men standing on the
rear platform saved themselves from being
injured by hanging to the rail. Among the
passengers were three girls, Lillie Lay, who
lives a short distance from the scene of the
accident, and Emma and Margurite Brown of 1879
South East street. The girls were thrown from
their seats, but were not injured.
An incomplete list of the other passengers
follows: A. Wichman, 256 Iowa street, F.G.
Bertels, 2112 Applegate street and Jacob Petee,
1829 Orleans street.
At the time the care crashed into the front of
the Pantzer drug store, Mr. Pantzer and his wife
were asleep above the store. Rushing to the
window to see what had caused such a noise, Mrs.
Pantzer saw the car lying propped against the
building. The noise of the crash awoke every one
who was asleep in the neighborhood and within
twenty minutes after the accident a crowd of
more than 200 people had gathered to see the
result of the wreck.
A call was sent to the police, and the City
Dispensary ambulance, followed by the automobile
police patrol, went to the place. Bicyclemen
Hall and Simon were the first to reach the
wreck. The passengers had all been helped out of
the car, and were beginning to recover from the
fright caused by the accident. Men were set to
work pulling the car out of the drug store and
the doctor’s office with the aid of the wreck
train. The damage to the building was
considerable on account of the peculiar manner
in which the side of it was torn away. The south
outer wall was ripped away from the front wall
by the force with which the car struck it.
The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, IN 29
Oct 1908
Transcribed by
Loraine Jordan. Thank you, Loraine!
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