Ligonier Valley Rail Road Newspaper Articles
We have compiled over 1,400 newspaper articles that mention the Ligonier Valley Railroad, or related subjects. The articles were originally published starting in 1873 and our collection runs through 1995. Enjoy!
Latrobe Bulletin
Saturday, July 6, 1912
Nineteen Are Dead As Result of Wreck On Wilpen Branch, While Several of the More Than Thirty Injured Are In A Serious Condition
Rhoddy Family Loses Two Little Girls
While Overton Family Is
Almost Wiped Out
"And my Billie," screamed Mrs. Samuel Brownfield.
"And my Bernadetta," cried Mrs. John Andrews.
And rushing from the house the frantic guests were hurried into a waiting hotel bus and carried to the station, toward which men, women and children, with whitened faces, were running by the hundreds.
Quickly, automobiles were secured, and the only physician to be found in the town was rushed to the scene, together with anxious fathers and scores of men bent upon rescue.
Their faces paled still more as they arrived at the scene, and viewed the havoc which had been wrought. The trainmen had carried some of the dead and injured from the wreckage, and had placed them along the bank, where those who still lived, tossed and moaned, while beneath the litter which was strewn upon the track, other victims were crying for help.
James F. Peters was one of the first upon the ground. Rushing to a little girl who he thought might be his baby daughter, he found it necessary to pick her up and to look closely into her face in order to ascertain whether she was his child or another's so blackened and bloody were her features. A careful scrutiny convinced him that she was not the one he sought, and he rushed on to the rest. Finally, he located his child in an automobile, some one having wrapped her in a robe and having placed her upon the seat. Her leg was broken in two places, her arm was fractured, and a great scalp would shed blood upon her face, but when she heard he father's voice she smiled up at him weakly, and said, "Hear I am, Daddy."
That was but one of numerous heart breaking incidents. Samuel Brownfield, the engineer, whose Billy had been among the party of children, could find no trace of his boy, thought he searched upon every side for him, and it was not until two hours later, after having driven to the Latrobe Hospital, in following up a rumor that his child had been taken there, that he learned the boy was living, he having been hurried to the hospital, a bad scalp would having been dressed, and the little patient then having been taken to his mother.
Leaving the dead for a later hour, the rescuers busied themselves with the living, hurrying them to Ligonier in automobiles. The Hotel Brenizer was converted into an emergency hospital, the four physicians who had been summoned from Latrobe, joining with the Ligonier physician in applying bandages and in administering to the hurts of the victims.
Broken limbs were found in numerous instances, while blood covered nearly all of the injured, their faces, arms and hands having been cut by the flying glass. Cinders, ground deep into the flesh added to the horror of the sight presented by the victims.
Some died as they were being hurried into Ligonier. Others died as the surgeons sought to ascertain the extent of their injuries, while a few were able to be taken to their homes, after their cuts and bruises had been bandaged.
Assembled around the Hotel Brenizer and around the station in Ligonier, were great crowds, tense with excitement and with horror. Many women cried aloud, while tears willed up into the eyes of many of the men, as the forms of little children all covered with blood and dirt were carried from the automobile. Many willing hands were found, among the throngs, there being men eager to help carry the stretchers, and anxious to follow doctors' directions.
A special train was made up at Ligonier, and following the temporary dressing of their wounds, the injured were placed on board and brought to Latrobe, twenty of them being taken to the Latrobe Hospital, and six being rushed to Pittsburgh hospitals, upon a special train made up of a coach and engine, which had been sent out from Pittsburgh, Dr. Moran being placed in charge on the main line special.
The same feeling of horror was manifested in Latrobe, a great crown having gathered at the station to see the train bearing the injured arrive, while each passing automobile, as it bore some victim to the hospital, was viewed by hundreds as it sped upon its way.
Women gave way to their emotions, as they saw the train, filled with blood-drenched victims come to a stop, and the work of lifting the injured from the car was undertaken. One of those who had begun the journey from Ligonier did not live to reach Latrobe, John Ankney having passed away as the train neared the town, and it was a lifeless form that his aged father viewed when the stretcher was lifted from the car.
Automobiles and ambulances were used in which to carry the injured the remainder of the way to the hospital, while Drs. Thomas, Nealon, Blair, St. Clair, Pile, Lemmon, Metzger, Mullen, Ober, Abbaticchio, Peebles, Blackburn and Custer ministered to the suffering, reducing fractures, binding up cuts, and rendering every relief possible. Miss Sophie Beuton, Miss Mary McDyre and Mrs. Bruner arrived at the hospital as quickly as they heard of the wreck, and they joined with the regular hospital nurses in looking after the injured.
The Reverends Father McCullough and Father Lawless administered the last rites of the church to several who, it was feared, were dying, while many citizens did what they could.
It was after midnight before the surgeons finished with their tasks, they having dressed the injuries of twenty or more, while two of the more seriously hurt, Elizabeth Rhoddy and Mat Nieport, died having baffled the efforts made to save them. The several amputations, deemed necessary, were put off until today.
The wreck crew worked far into the night, clearing away the debris, and searching for more victims. The body of a little child was the last to be found, it having been uncovered at 10:30 o'clock last night.
Another Body Believed Located
Coroner McMurray returned from Ligonier at 4:00 o'clock, this morning. He said that he was almost certain that a body was under the tender of one of the wrecked engines, but as yet the wrecking crew had been unable to raise it from its resting place alongside the track.
But one physician was in Ligonier when word of the wreck was received, the senior Dr. Barkley being the one whose services were available. Dr. McAdoo was at Stahlstown, Dr. Ambrose in Pittsburgh, and Dr. Barkley, Jr., at Mount Gretna, with the National Guard, while Drs. Johnston and Hamill were injured in the wreck, they having been on their way to Wilpen to look after their practice there, when the collision occurred.
Physicians Rushed Over From Latrobe
An appeal was sent at once, to Latrobe, for physicians, and an automobile load, made up of Drs. Barron, Custer, Blackburn and St. Clair, hurried to Ligonier.
Overton Family Suffered Heavily
The family of John Overton, yard boss at the Shenandoah (sic) plant, Wilpen, came near being wiped out, the wife, Mrs. Maud Overton, and the nine year old son, Franklin, having died from their injuries, and John, Jr., the seven year old son, having had his left leg broken, the injury being likely to necessitate amputation. Mrs. Overton and her two sons were on their way home from Blairsville Intersection where they had been visiting with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Halley. Mrs. Overton died at Wilmerding while being taken to the Allegheny General Hospital. She soon would have become a mother again.
Baggage Man Saved Life By Jumping
Edward Rathmel, the baggageman, escaped practically uninjured, he having been the only one of all the fifty or more upon the coach to get off without bruises or fracture.