[PRCo] Wheeling runaway

[Daria Phoebe Brashear]

HOUSE STOPS RUNAWAY TROLLEY
Wheeling Register, Friday, October 29, 1926

DRIFTED LEAVES BELIEVED CAUSE OF CRASH
Prevented Functioning of Mozart Car Brakes, Theory Advanced; Motorman Dead,
12 Injured in Wild Dash
     Exact cause of the fatal accident on the Mozart Park traction line in
which one man was killed and 12 injured may never be known.
     Frank E. Eberlein, 68, motorman of the runaway car, who died at his
post, is probably the only man who could have accounted for the wild flight
of his car down the steep Mozart grade which ended when it left the rails
at a curve at 6:25 yesterday morning and crashed into the store of Leo
Pack, plowing halfway through the two-story frame building. And Eberlein's
story will never be told.
     The most likely theory, according to A. C. Spurr, general
superintendent of the Wheeling Traction company, is that drifted leaves may
have temporarily prevented the brakes from holding, permitting the car to
gain momentum which could not be checked. The fact that the car had already
made one trip and had been stopped part way down the hill for a passenger
would support this theory, Mr. Spurr says.
Scene In Car Described
     Motorman Eberlein made heroic efforts to avert the disaster. Applying
both brakes in a futile attempt to check the speed of his car he turned to
his passengers with a despairing look. "She's gone, boys! I can't hold it,"
he cried.
     The car rocked wildly as it rushed ahead, gathering speed. It is said
there was no panic among the passengers. Cooler heads advised against
rushing for the doors.
     Sensing the impending disaster, some of the men threw themselves flat
on the floor with their feet to the front of the car. Others followed their
example.
     Through it all, Motorman Eberlein grimly held to his position. One
hand raised above his crushed and mangled body still grasped a brake handle
when his body was removed from the wrecked car two hours after the crash.
-- 
--
Daria Phoebe Brashear
AuriStor, Inc.
dariaphoebe.com
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