On a rainy night last week, the Lake Shore Limited highballed west from Albany, N. Y., Chicago-bound. By old Engineer Jesse Earl's watch he was 15 minutes behind schedule. Near Little Falls, N. Y. the Limited shot into a sharp curve. As the engine leaned round the bend, it teetered, jumped its track, ripped across two other tracks, whammed into a stone embankment and exploded.
A survivor, Thomas H. Jones, said later: "I thought the world was coming to an end. . . ." Said Dr. Harold Thompson: "There was a terrible smash, bang and roar, followed by a queer grinding. ... I was tossed along the aisle of the car. There was utter darkness. The most remarkable thing was the great silence that followed."
Into the darkness and silence streamed rescuers. From twisted cars, one of which had had its roof stripped off, they extracted the injured, the dead and the dying. Telescoped into the tender was the Limited's baggage car. Six sleepers, the diner and a day coach of the 15-car train were jerked off the track, rolled helter-skelter in grinding wreckage. Of 208 passengers, few escaped some injury. Thirty died, one of them P. O. Becker, toy train maker of Moline, Ill. Among the uninjured: Sports Broadcaster Bill Stern; a score or more Chinese in the custody of a U. S. marshal. Dead was veteran Engineer Earl, after 41 years' service. On him the New York Central line placed the blame, said the speed tape in his cab showed he had driven the Limited at a speed of 59 m.p.h. into the sharpest curve on the main line of the Central system. Maximum speed for the curve, by company regulation: 45 m.p.h.