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It was about 7:02 o'clock when train No. 58 of the Myrtle avenue branch pulled out of the Navy street station on the way downtown. Engineer Williard Williams was in charge, and he, seeing that the Hudson avenue line was clear, and having, as he says, got the signal from the men on duty at the crossing to go ahead, did so, supposing that every thing was right. His engine was about twenty-five feet from Hudson avenue when he saw a train comming [sic.] at about half speed on the crossline, and making up his mind that a collision could not be avoided, he reversed his engine and jumped to the narrow platform running along side the track. He was followed by his fireman and this action on the part of the two men undoubtedly saved their lives.

Mr. James M. Wood of Cleveland street who was on the Myrtle avenue train, said today: "I was talking to a friend in a cross seat when suddenly he and I were pitched into each others arms. Then there came a second shock, but slighter, and then a sort of grinding of the wheels. That something was wrong was apparent but of the nature of the accident, of course no one had any idea. There were a

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good many ladies on board the car in which I had a seat and several of them fainted. The gentlemen went to their assistance and in a comparatively short space of time the cars were emptied, the passengers making their way to the Navy street station along the platforms."

The two engines lay mixed up in each other, their wheels spinning and the steam escaping from the safety valves with a noise that could be heard for a couple of blocks. The Myrtle avenue engine had been thrown some distance and over hung the track on the upper side of Hudson avenue by more than four feet. It looked at first as if it might fall at any moment into the streets, and the efforts of the police were mainly directed toward keeping the crowd, which now numbered many hundreds, out of the reach of danger. An ax dropped by a fireman missed the head of a man named Matthew O'Connor who was standing on the southwest corner of Hudson and Myrtle avenues, by about two inches.

The rumors incident to such occasions were flying wildly for an hour after the accident and people who heard that from five to twenty passengers had been killed were continually hurrying to the scene of the