Philadelphia Enquirer, Pennsylvania
6 September 1902
(Viewed online at GenealogyBank.)
FELL TO DEATH UNDER TRAIN IN VIEW OF CROWD
Mrs. William B. Robins Victim of an Accident at Wayne Junction
SEIZED WITH VERTIGO
Collapse Was So sudden That Bystanders Had No Time to Save Her
MEMBER OF NOTED FAMILY
Was Daughter of Professor Henry Reed and Sister of Former Judge
In full view of a hundred persons and within two blocks of her home, which she had left but a few minutes before, Mrs. William B. Robins, aged 34 years, of 4517 Pulaski avenue, Germantown, met a horrible death yesterday morning at Wayne Junction, on the Reading Railway. She was walking along the platform when she was seized with an attack of vertigo, from which she had long been a sufferer. She fell in front of a Chestnut Hill accommodation train, for which she had been waiting. The pilot box of the engine struck her with terrific force, crushing her skull, breaking most of the bones of her body and limbs and hurling her fifteen feet across the station platform. Dr. Henry Addis, of Germantown, who saw the accident, hastened to her side, and upon examination said that she had been instantly killed.
Mrs. Robins left home about half-past 9 o'clock with the intention of visiting some friends in Chestnut Hill. Although she had been in ill health for several years she cheerfully remarked as she bade her daughter-in-law, Mrs. William B. Robins, Jr., good bye that she was feeling unusually well. She walked to Wayne Junction, two blocks away, to take the train for Chestnut Hill, which was due at the station at 9:34 o'clock. The platform was crowded, every seat being occupied, and Mrs. Robins walked up and down as she waited for the arrival of the train. She smilingly returned the greeting of several acquaintances and was apparently enjoying the best of health and spirits.
Bystanders Were Powerless
She suddenly paused in her walk along the platform as the Chestnut Hill accommodation train came into view. She was seen to turn pale, stagger and then fall from the platform upon the track over which the approaching train was speeding. A cry of horror escaped from the crowd of persons who saw the stricken woman fall, and there was a simultaneous rush on the part of the men toward her. A dozen men reached the edge of the platform just as the train swept by, the pilot striking Mrs. Robins with terrific force.
She was lifted from the track by the impact and hurled through the air, falling upon the platform at the head of the stairway leading down to Germantown avenue, a distance of fifteen feet. Policemen Magee and Ireland, of the Fourteenth district, and Dr. Henry Addis, of Germantown, who witnessed the accident, ran to Mrs. Robins' side. The physician found that death has been instantaneous.
There was great excitement among the persons congregated upon the platform, and the two policemen experienced considerable difficulty in handling the crowd.
Clutched in Mrs. Robins' right hand was a little purse if unadorned leather and in this were found cards bearing her name and address, which led to her identification. News of the accident was carried to her home, and Mrs. William B. Robins, Jr., hastened to the station and identified the body. It was taken home in the patrol of the Fourteenth district.
Engineer Not Blamed
Those who saw the accident exonerate Joseph Finder, engineer of the train, from all responsibility for Mrs. Robins' death. They say she fell in front of the engine when it was only a short distance away, and that it was impossible for Finder to have stopped that train in time to have saved Mrs. Robins from being struck, although he made every effort to do so.
Mrs. Robins had long been a sufferer from heart trouble, and she had had several attacks of vertigo before the one which resulted so fatally yesterday. Dr. Robert L. Pitfield, under whose care she had been for several years, was summoned after the body was taken home, and he expressed the opinion that the woman had been attacked by vertigo.
Mrs. Robins is survived by four sons and three daughters, the latter residing at Johnstown, Pa., and Buffalo, N.Y. The sons are Arthur DeB., George B., Henry R. and William B. Robins, Jr., all of whom resided with their mother at 4547 Pulaski avenue. The family is an old and well known one, and at one time owned considerable land in Western Pennsylvania. Mrs. Robins was the daughter of Henry Reed, who for nearly twenty years was professor of rhetoric and English literature at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Reed was a prominent member of the Philadelphia bar and an author of note. He retired from the legal profession to accept a professorship at the University, of which he was a graduate. He was drowned at sea in 1854 while returning from Europe. Mrs. Robins was a sister of the late Judge Henry Reed, of this city. She was a lineal descendant of Joseph Reed, the noted American statesman, who took a prominent part in municipal affairs in Philadelphia as well as in national affairs. Mrs. Robins' mother was Elizabeth White Reed, a daughter of Enos Bronson, of this city.
