St. Paul daily globe., 1886-10-29
THAT OPEN SWITCH.
Report of Another Passenger ON
the IL. fated Train.

KepOre OF AnOfheF FaSSenger Oh
the Ill Fated Train.
J. r. Ames, of Mortified, was in the
last of the sleeping cars. the one that was
attached to the train in Milwaukee. He
came to st. Paul last night and his
story of the disaster has some points not
mentioned by the others who came to st.
Paul. Mr.. Ames is One-armed man,
and when he found he could do nothing at
the spot where Bishop Whipple and MIR.
Magnnis were, he said, he ran around the
car to the other side, thinking there might
be some wounded whom he might help even
in his crippled condition. AS he went
around the train he could find none who
were calling for help from any of the win
dows and he is of the opinion that
many of those who lost their lives
were killed outright. While at Rio he
heard conversation concerning the cause
of the open switch. A gentleman there
said in his hearing that in the caboose of
freight train on side track there just be-
fore the passenger train arrived, one OF the
men who were in charge of the station,
said to another,
Ibid you close that swtchY'
''No you closed ii didn't you?" replied the
other.
mo- thought you did, was the reply.
It's about time for thatnext train said the
other. and just then. and before they could
leave the caboose. they heard the roar OF
the train and the fatal crash.
FIGHT FOfs LIFE.
How the Conductor and His Conn
paniOns Escaped From the Burn.
ing Baggage Car.
MILWAUKEE, Oct. 2S.-At a late hour
tonight Conductor Dearle was resting COM
formtably and it is believed he will recover.
He said:
We were running at speed of between
forty and fOrty-five miles an hour. had
gone through the cars for tickets and was
seated in the baggage car at the time the ac-
cident occurred. James Phillips, the brake
man, Wade Clark. the baggageman, and l
were seated in the car, talking geIher, when
there came sudden shock and then knew
we were On the ties. Istarted to get up on my
feet, when there was terrific jar and 1 was
thrown to the floor along with Phillips and
Clark with great force and all the trunks in
the car were thrown around on top of US and
we were all three penned down to the floor.
There was
TERRIALE NOISE
all kinds of sounds mingled at once and to
ute after the crash that the flames COM
menced their work of destruction l tell you
I thought my time had come, and pinned be-
meath pile of heavy sample trunks couldn't
make in any direction. When | saw the
flames at the other end of the car thought
we /, is this going to be my end after all, and
am going to be burned to death!'
1t was ckening thought, l can tell you.
James Phillips, the brakeman, was lying be-
side me, and at last he said that if l could
give him little more room he believed he
could get out. l accordingly squeezed myself
into as small space as possible, and by a
desperate effort he managed to get out be-
tween the trunks.
1 THEN ESCAPED
through the same aperture by working my
self under the trunks to the space by which
he had escaped The brakeman at once
climbed out through the window and | fol-
lowed him. Clark, the baggageman, had a leg
broken, but he managed to extricate
himself and dragged himself over the
trunks and escaped with the rest of us. The
fire started at the east end of the baggage
car and the west end of the coach where they
came together. When l got out which must
have been IN less than five minutes, although
it seemed an age, the women were yelling in
siGe the coach, and the fire had enveoped
the whole car. The coach was right side up.
but the seats seemed to be broken up inside
and the passengers seeme1 to be pinned to
the seats. There was light load in the
coach. I can't remember more than about
ten persons. The loss by the wreck is esti-