Last days in Georgia runoffs that will decide Senate control

IRS says executors undervalued Prince's estate by 50%

A Lehigh Valley train consisting of 15 empty coal gondolas being moved in the train yard crashed into a Wilkes-Barre Railway Co. street trolley on its way to Ashley on Jan. 20, 1913.
				There were no fatalities, but many were injured.
				&ldquo;An Ashley trolley car, outward bound from Public Square at 9:15 last evening, with forty passengers on board, was struck on the Hazle Street crossing of the Lehigh Valley Railroad at 9:25 by a coal train. A dozen persons badly injured, many others received minor hurts and every one of the two score passengers had a terrifying experience,&rdquo; reported the Wilkes-Barre Record on Jan. 21, 1913.
				The newspaper reported the trolley car was heaviest and biggest within the Wilkes-Barre Railway Co. fleet.
				&ldquo;Had one of the company&rsquo;s smaller and lighter cars been in its place, it would have been telescoped and torn to splinters,&rdquo; the Record reported.
				Passengers were thrown from their seats by the first impact and hurled to the left side of the trolley car when it flipped onto its side and pinned against utility poles. Many of those on board were trapped in the wreckage for more than 30 minutes before policemen and firefighters were able to extricate them.
				The Wilkes-Barre Record reported the trolley car started over the Hazle Street crossing before the motorman, Hugh Kenahan, realized he was running into danger.
				Kenahan placed the trolley at full speed but the sudden application of power tripped the circuit breaker causing the trolley to slack in momentum as it reached the last of seven tracks.
				The Lehigh Valley train of empty coal gondolas was backing up to be placed on another rail line within the rail yard when it struck the trolley car.
				&ldquo;The trolley car was pushed sideways for 10 feet or more before it was blocked by a telegraph pole. The pole snalled and the car was slowly lifted up the incline offered by the yielding lower section of the pole. The car climbed up twenty feet after it had been turned over on its side by the pressure and then dropped back. On top of it was a heavy gondola,&rdquo; the Record reported.
				Electrical wires were ripped from poles creating a hazard for policemen and firemen who rushed to the scene. Crowds of onlookers gathered interrupting rescue efforts.
				The Wilkes-Barre Record reported crossing gates at the Hazle Street crossing were lifted minutes earlier after a passenger train passed by. The trolley conductor walked over about half the crossing and claimed he did not give the trolley motorman a signal to cross over.
				&ldquo;A young man who was walking over the crossing just before the accident stated he walked across the crossing after a Lehigh Valley passenger train, No. 29, had passed. He saw a coal train backing up on the siding, nearest Wideman&rsquo;s meat market, and noticed one of the trainmen walking along the rear of the coal train swinging a lantern and yelling at the trolley conductor who was walking over the crossing ahead of his trolley car,&rdquo; the Record reported.
				The Lehigh Valley passenger train No. 29 was an express train from New York City.
				A report by state marshal J.P. Dohoney who investigated the accident was published in the Evening News on March 14, 1913.
				&ldquo;When cars are pushed by an engine, a white light must be displayed on the front of the leading car by night. The Hazle Street crossing is within the yard limits of the Lehigh Valley Railroad and therefore a light on the head end of the train was not required,&rdquo; the Evening News reported.
				The report continued, &ldquo;The tower-man, who had charge of the crossing gates, testified it was so dark he could not see the cars coming and he knew the shifting had begun only from the bumping of the cars and the sound of the locomotive whistle before he had time to lower the gates with the trolley car within them.&rdquo;
				A trolley car crossed over the Hazle Street crossing every five minutes.
				The report suggested that a white light be displayed on the head end of rains whenever being shifted over public crossings.
				Most of those injured with serious injuries were from Ashley and taken to Mercy Hospital in Wilkes-Barre.
				&ldquo;The greatest confusion prevailed for the first 10 minutes. The screams of the injured and the excited calls of the rescuers led many to believe that the accident had resulted much more disastrously than later proved to be the case and the wildest reports were soon circulated throughout the valley,&rdquo; the Record reported.

Look Back: Trolley accident with train injured 40 people in 1913