Express kills Elm mother, two children.
An Elm mother and two of her five children were killed instantly at 6:10 P.M. Monday when the Blue Comet express train crashed into a light delivery Truck at an unprotected crossing not far from their home. They were Mrs. Antionette Macciocca, 35 of White Horse Pike Elm, and her two daughters, Gloria 13, and Jeanne, 4.
The accident took place as Mrs. Mocciocca was driving back to her home after visiting a neighbor to obtain advice on canning vegetables.
GAS TANK EXPLODES!
Parts of the wrecked truck scattered along the tracks for about a hundred yards. The gasoline tank exploded as the train struck and Gloria's body was badly burned. Alfred Macciolla, 44, the husband and father, collapsed at the scene of the accident. He is a bricklayer for a Hammonton contractor. His wife worked at Kessler's clothing factory here.
The crash occurred a few minutes after the New Jersey Central Railroad's luxury train left Hammonton, bound from Atlantic City to Jersey City. State police said the crossing was marked with a sign, but was without watchman, crossing bells, or signal lights.
The train stopped several hundred yards up the tracks and was delayed for an hour. The crew included A. Feryling, Phillipsburg, engineer, and J.F. Walsh, Somerville. They told police they saw the truck approaching and applied the emergency brakes, but were unable to halt the train before the tracks.
CALL RESCUE SQUAD!
Called to the scene by neighbors, the rescue squad of the Hammonton Volunteer Fire Company confined it's efforts to caring for the distrought father and assisting police and the train crew to clear the tracks.
The other Macciolla children are Gilda, 15, Felicia, 11, and Alfred Jr., 7.
Funeral services will be held at St. Joseph's R.C. church this morning at 12:00 a.m. Burial will be at Holy Cross cemetary, Philadelphia.
The Blue Comet Train will be taken out of service on September 28. Operated since 1929, it was the first train in this country with chairs instead of seats.
********
Sobering. You have just read, verbatim, the article from the Hammonton News, Hammonton N.J. Friday, September 12, 1941.
A little known incident to most and those few of these passed on from Hammonton and Elm. I've the good fortune to have a friend who, like myself listens to the tales of his elders, especially regarding the rails and the Comet. He in turn passes these to me. You'll likely not find this in books on the Comet but you will find it in the archives of the Hammonton News and the tellings of my friend from an oldtimer he knew well. His version, which prompted my search was that the woman had just picked up a load of tomatoes, stopped at a friend's and headed home via Union Road. To this day and all of my youth there was never a single warning of the train's approaching the Union Road intersect. No light, no bell, no brace to fold down to stop you. You take the Fleming Pike North and simply make the right turn on to Union Road as has been done for generations. Now imagine if you will this next twist as told by a person of the era familar with the little known details. A sad and ironic twist. Think of the Comet, cranking up to cruising speed from Hammonton, bound North. Think now of this next little known fact only to friends of the family. The truck's exhaust system/muffler was blown. Antionette never heard the train coming or it's warning horns. The scene was a horror not only of blood and the bodies involved but also strewn with the red of a truckload of tomatoes. Irony at it's best. Who can know? The Comet would see it's end a mere two weeks later but would take these lives in trade for those which would end it's own. A life for a life, a final message, or a sadness simply putting these souls in the wrong place at the wrong time? Whatever the case, it is as sad as any similar incident today.
I bring you this, not to sadden you, but perhaps to enforce that concept I convey in so many posts. Listen. Listen, and take it all in. Joyful or sad, these are the stories, the legacies of the Pine Barrens and that which we strive to preserve.
Thanks for reading.
g.
An Elm mother and two of her five children were killed instantly at 6:10 P.M. Monday when the Blue Comet express train crashed into a light delivery Truck at an unprotected crossing not far from their home. They were Mrs. Antionette Macciocca, 35 of White Horse Pike Elm, and her two daughters, Gloria 13, and Jeanne, 4.
The accident took place as Mrs. Mocciocca was driving back to her home after visiting a neighbor to obtain advice on canning vegetables.
GAS TANK EXPLODES!
Parts of the wrecked truck scattered along the tracks for about a hundred yards. The gasoline tank exploded as the train struck and Gloria's body was badly burned. Alfred Macciolla, 44, the husband and father, collapsed at the scene of the accident. He is a bricklayer for a Hammonton contractor. His wife worked at Kessler's clothing factory here.
The crash occurred a few minutes after the New Jersey Central Railroad's luxury train left Hammonton, bound from Atlantic City to Jersey City. State police said the crossing was marked with a sign, but was without watchman, crossing bells, or signal lights.
The train stopped several hundred yards up the tracks and was delayed for an hour. The crew included A. Feryling, Phillipsburg, engineer, and J.F. Walsh, Somerville. They told police they saw the truck approaching and applied the emergency brakes, but were unable to halt the train before the tracks.
CALL RESCUE SQUAD!
Called to the scene by neighbors, the rescue squad of the Hammonton Volunteer Fire Company confined it's efforts to caring for the distrought father and assisting police and the train crew to clear the tracks.
The other Macciolla children are Gilda, 15, Felicia, 11, and Alfred Jr., 7.
Funeral services will be held at St. Joseph's R.C. church this morning at 12:00 a.m. Burial will be at Holy Cross cemetary, Philadelphia.
The Blue Comet Train will be taken out of service on September 28. Operated since 1929, it was the first train in this country with chairs instead of seats.
********
Sobering. You have just read, verbatim, the article from the Hammonton News, Hammonton N.J. Friday, September 12, 1941.
A little known incident to most and those few of these passed on from Hammonton and Elm. I've the good fortune to have a friend who, like myself listens to the tales of his elders, especially regarding the rails and the Comet. He in turn passes these to me. You'll likely not find this in books on the Comet but you will find it in the archives of the Hammonton News and the tellings of my friend from an oldtimer he knew well. His version, which prompted my search was that the woman had just picked up a load of tomatoes, stopped at a friend's and headed home via Union Road. To this day and all of my youth there was never a single warning of the train's approaching the Union Road intersect. No light, no bell, no brace to fold down to stop you. You take the Fleming Pike North and simply make the right turn on to Union Road as has been done for generations. Now imagine if you will this next twist as told by a person of the era familar with the little known details. A sad and ironic twist. Think of the Comet, cranking up to cruising speed from Hammonton, bound North. Think now of this next little known fact only to friends of the family. The truck's exhaust system/muffler was blown. Antionette never heard the train coming or it's warning horns. The scene was a horror not only of blood and the bodies involved but also strewn with the red of a truckload of tomatoes. Irony at it's best. Who can know? The Comet would see it's end a mere two weeks later but would take these lives in trade for those which would end it's own. A life for a life, a final message, or a sadness simply putting these souls in the wrong place at the wrong time? Whatever the case, it is as sad as any similar incident today.
I bring you this, not to sadden you, but perhaps to enforce that concept I convey in so many posts. Listen. Listen, and take it all in. Joyful or sad, these are the stories, the legacies of the Pine Barrens and that which we strive to preserve.
Thanks for reading.
g.
