Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-10-29
THE NATION.
A Horrible Holocaust III
Wisconsin.
LIBERTY DAY CEREMONiEe'
Funeral of Mrs. Stewart-lhe Con-
ference of Arch-Bishops.
General News.

MILWAUKEE, Wis, october 2s.-The Even
ing wisconsin's special from Portage. Wis
consin, says: Last night, soon after mid
night, the west bound limited express was
ditched at East Rio Siding, small sta
ton about thirteen miles east of this city,
on the main line OF the Chicago, Milwaukee
and st. Paul Railroad. There are t side
tracks at the place. and at the time the train
was due there last night both were occupied
by freights; one by wild train and the
other by train No. IA, Conductor H. P.
Hankey, of this city, which had Just pulled
in from the west to allow
THE LIMITED EXPRESS TO PASS.
No, IA was verv long and the conductor
was at the head of the train, relying upon
a brakeman to attend to the switch. One
report says the rear brakeman, whose busi-
ness 1t was to close the switch after the train
for some reason neglected altoge her to do
SO. Another and more probable story is
that he started back to close the switch, but
before he could reach 1t the limited, which
does not stop at any except large places,
came
TEARING DOWN THE GRADE
At fifty miles an hour and left the rails at
the open switch. Tue siding is in cut
where the road curves so that the sWltch
light cannot be seen fro n the east until the
train is within few rods. So the engineer
W
turned the wrong way until too late to stop.
The engine left the track, ran short dis.
tance and brought up against the side OF
the cut, topping over. The baggage car
the four sleepers kept the rails The en-
gine aud cars that went OFF
WERE BADLY SMASHED
And soon took fire from the stoves. En-
gineer Little and Fireman Egan crawled
out from under The locomotive, badly
11Al
had leg broken. All the passengers in the
sleepers got ont uninjured, except by slight
bruises; but in one day coach thiIteen were
pinned in and literally burned to death
Many others were injured by the severe
sinking up. The names of the victims are
not yet known here. The whole of the
limited. excepting one sleeper which they
were able to uncouple and draw away
BURNED UP.
General Superintendent Collins was on
the east bound passenger No. 2 which was
waiting at a station q fe y miles this side of
the wreck OF the limited, and was soon on
the scene. A wrecking train with surgeons
went from this city and did all possible to
alleviate the suffering and save life. Con
ductor Hankey, OF the freight train, was so
demoralized by the accident, the response
bility of which rests on his crew, and thus
also on him, that he
TOOK TO THE WOODS
In despair, leaving his train. He has al
ways beeu a most careful and efficient man,
much trusted by the company. 1t was
most horrible and sickening spectacle-the
burning people making night hideous with
their screams, while the bystanders were
unable to render assistance. 1T was the
worst wreck ever known in the Northwest,
From the most reliable accounts obtain
able tonight the number who perished
does not exceed ten, and those were all in
the passenger coach next to the baggage
car. The only occupants who escaped were
nl.sV a
Scherer OF Winona, handed them out to
brakeman. As far as learned up to tonight
those who perished are Mrs. c. X. Scherer.
of Winona. MINI Mrs. Rosina Johns. WI
OF Chicago. (Her identity, however,
is very uncertainty Emil VOTERS
dorf residence unknown, five or
more unknown persons. two Sisters OF Char
ity one believed to be Mother Alexia, Su-
perior OF the convent at Winona, who was
in Milwaukee to establish a new convent.
The injured include Conductor Lucius
Seaile, OF Milwaukee, badly hurt about the
the chest, but probably not fatally; Wade
Clarke, Oconomowoc, baggageman, leg brok-
en;Chas. F. Smith, sic " abash avenue, Chi
cago. broken arm and wrist, face cut badly
by broken spectqcles; Jas. Phillips, brake
man, cut badly about the head No passen-
gers in any of the sleepers were killed.
st. Paul. The Globe has the following
statement from Bishop Whipp!e In relation
to the railway accide"t: "a freight train
reacnSQ hlD ABOUT JWGhty inluulcS DclOIt
the limited train which was wrecked. ard
the switch had been left open. Our train
was going at the rate OF a miles an hour SO
train officials said, and the
GOODNESS AND BRAVERY
OF the engineer cannot be praised too high
ly He stayed with the engine, and never
knew an air brake to be as quickly
and strongly applied as that one
an %aS' engine. @ mail mail aud aud baggage car
day coach and three sleepers. And all ex
took fire Immediately. I was in the first
sleeper and had berth next the day coach
Mr.. McGinnis, of Morris, was in the next
berth opposite. At the instant of the shock
he sprang from the berth and ran to the
front end of the car but it was impossible
to ct out at that end, for that end had tele-
scoped. He rushed back and cried out, come
and help me save these people who are being
BURNED TO DEATH.
had been awake but few minutes
before, aud had looked at my watch. II was
stockings. He ran faster than l, and when
came to the burned coach he had taken
two children of a woman near the rear of
ths coach Wsons hs said and der assea S
TO save her children for their
father was living. We both tried to
lift the woman from the car, but we could
not for she was wedged in beneath broken
"A
dress took fire and before we could speak to
nor She had faIuted and was burned to
death before our eyes. There was compara-
lively little screaming coming from the car
but there was rather a
Low MOAN OF SUFFERING
And believe most of those who perished
were killed outright. The car was tele-
scoped at both ends. Mr.. Ames, VINO was
on the train. saw the passengers In that
coach and so did my wife, and they think
there were seventeen. There were TWO SIS
tiers of charity who had boarded the train
and were bound for Winona. There were
mother and daughter whose names are un,
known. three young men, miouie aseo
man. Mrs. Scherer, her mother ana TWO
children aud Il young man."
From all accounts there must have been
frightful scene in the car wherein the fata.-
tiles occurred. The pressure caused the
coach to assume the position OF the letter
A. The lamps were broken and the stove
overturned, scattering fire and flames in all
directions through the coach. The
MANGLED AND BLEEDING PASSENGERS
Were pinned securely by the broken seats,
many heaped one upon the other, their
agonized shrieks told the story of fractured
cremation. II is positive that only three es-
capped. Charles L. Smith is a med
ical student, of Chicago. His par
ents live In cdarles City, Iowa
reached out of window as the flames sur
ronnded her, are 4 years and months old,
respectiyely. The hero OF the catastrophe
was the engineer, who in the face OF seem
ing death, held his hand on the throttle and
thus gaved the lives of all the passengers in
tbe sleeper. Then when the train stopped
he crawled out from beneath his engine.
LATER ESTIMATE.
A late dispatch to the Sentinel estimates
the number of people burned at twenty six.
A foreman has bet n engagedlto- night IN rak-
ing over the ruins and the coaches. Az II
O'Clock the charred remains Of eleven vic
tins had been taken out In the pocket OF
one man was an envelope addressed,
al Tourin, Fourty-ninth street, Chi