Rochester, New York Train Wreck
April 30, 1899
TRAIN IS DITCHED.
Disastrous Railway Wreck at Rochester, N.
Y.
EXCURSION TRAIN JUMPS TRACK
Three Persons Are Instantly Killed – Fifty
or More of Those on Board Receive Serious
Injuries.
Rochester, N. Y., May 1 – Three persons were
killed, more than a dozen seriously injured and
50 less seriously hurt as a result of a wreck at
2:40 o’clock Sunday afternoon on the Rochester &
Lake Ontario railroad, better known as the Bay
railroad at Rosenbauer’s Corners, about one-half
mile north of the city, when two cars on an
excursion train filled with passengers left the
track while rounding a curve at full speed, and
were completely wrecked. The dead are:
JOHN HELBERG,
aged 20; J. TIERNEY,
24; unknown man.
There is a grade about 100 yards from the corner
of North avenue and Ridge road, and when this
grade was reached the speed of the train
increased perceptibly. Down the grade swept the
train, its speed increasing constantly. When the
far curve was reached the engine rounded it with
startling rapidity. Next to the engine was the
closed carriage, divided into two compartments
and when it reached the curve it veered over to
the north and rode around the curve on the left
wheels. It had gone but a part of the bend in
the track when it left the rails and shot
straight ahead. There was a sudden crash as the
couplings between the engine and coach were
severed, and then the coach again veered over
and plowed through the earth for several feet
before dropping on its side in the front of the
Ridge Road hotel.
When the first coach left the track the engine
sped on, and the other coaches were forced off
the track. The closed coach, which was
overturned, had a partition that divided the
front part from the rear. The front apartment
was a smoking compartment. In it were several
men and, standing in the entrance, were two
women and a little girl. These were thrown into
a jumbled mass over against the roof of the car,
and were pinioned under the seats and the
partition of the car, which was torn to
splinters. JOHN HILBERK
was standing on the platform between
the second and third cars when the crash came,
and was caught between the two cars and crushed
to death. His body was removed with great
difficulty and sent to the morgue.
Daily Iowa State Press, Iowa City, IA 1
May 1899
Transcribed by
Cheryl.
Thank you, Cheryl!
The seriously injured are
J. Tierney, aged 24,
Julia Sullivan, 18, fractured
collarbone, George
Brasser, 36, compound fracture of the
forearm; Emil
Heingraber, 23, back badly injured,
Otto Hahnke,
21, both legs badly bruised and bones of
right hand broken;
William Goodman, 22, severe scalp
wound, Emil Schram,
18, small bones of right foot broken,
John Biershal,
42, compound fracture of right leg;
Emma Tensal [?],
17, nose broken and face terribly
lacerated, James
Lombard, internal injury which may
prove fatal; J. F.
Moore, E. L. A Borle, Oscar Dorsehal, William
Doerrer, C. R. Hinehart, John Sullivan, Charles,
Werner and Joseph Zimmer. The
latter two are very seriously injured and may
die.
The Hopewell Herald, Hopewell, NJ 3 May
1899
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