St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-12-11
CRUSHED TO DEATH,
An Omaha Passenger Train
Kills Father, Mother and
Daughter.
A Shocking Railroad Catas-
trophe in East Minneapolis
Yesterday.
The Council to Indorse Haney
AS the r. and r. Repre-
sentative.
Some Mortuary Statistics
The District Court
Cases.

left the union depot for st. Paul at 80 yes
tcrday morning heard as the train stood at
the University station. several shouts of
warning, the wild shrek of locomotive
whistle, scream of agony. and then a sup
pressed moan, which told that sickening
accident had occurred, and it told the truth.
Three souls had been ushered out of the
world into eternity, their mangled remains
mutely testifying to mans weakness when
opposed To one of his creations, the locomo-
tive. f. Todd and his wife, of Sioux City,
To-, and their daughter Mrs. c. E. Slayton. of
1928 Southeast Fifth street, were the vic
tins. All three were mangled almost be-
yond recognition. The through train on the
Omaha road did the work.
{. E. Slayton, the husband of one of the
killed, is the master mechanic of the Chicago
St. Paul " Kansas City road. and works in
St. Paul, although living in Minneapolis
His wife's parents the Todds, were visiting
them here. Yesterday morning they started
TO ST. Paul, intending TO take the 8 80 short
line train. The short line usually passes The
Omaha on the stone arch bridge or at East
Minneapolis, but yesterday the through train
CHANGED to be n little late. While the short
line train was standing at the University sta
ton the Omaha train came on with rush.
never slackening speed. The west-bOund
track unfortunately is next to the depot plat
form, and i'll consequence the danger to pas
SengerS Iii boarding the Great Northern train
is very great. Yesterday morning there were
five passengers waiting at the depot to
were MIR. and Mrs. Todd and their dauehter
Mrs. Slayton. o. j. Hinton and young lady
whose name is not known. Mr.. Hinton was
the first TO attempt to board the tram. Mr. and
Mrs Todd and their daughter following HIM.
l ne hrst named was about TO mount the steps
of the car, aud the other three had followed
him on to the west-bound track, when the
Omaha train came swt eping By like the wind.
The fifth passenger, the young lady, had seen
the danger just in Time, being the last one of
| the party, aid so did not stir from the plat
form. Her quick apprehension of the dan
| ger occurred about the sans time as IL did
with the engineer and conductor on the short
line train. The latter shouted to her and Mrs.
Todd and daughter to warn them of their
peril, and the engineer blew several whistles
of warning. The warning availed nothing
however. for if the three people heard the
danger signals it was too late for them to
save themselves.
The Omaha engine struck the OLD man and
threw his body under truck of the hind car
of the short line train, so that ii was neces-
sary for the train to back up before the body
could be eXtricated. Mrs. Todd was thrown
several feet, and very badly mangled. Her
remains present the worst appearance OF the
three. IL was her body that struck the win
dows of Il car III the short line train. SKATER
ing several of them. Mr.. Todd, when first
struck, was thrown against Mr.. Hinton with
such violence as to badly bruiSe him. MIR.
hlHlOu WAS aDlc 10 OOufu the train, however
and resume his journey TO ST. Paul. The sad
dest feature of The fatality was the death of
Mrs. Slayton, who was carried on the cow
catcher distance of several feet. and who
was alive for q few moments after she was
taken into the depot.
AL the bodies were taken into the station
and laid out on the bare floor, and the cor
oner summoned. Letters found in the peck
cts of Mr.. Todd identified bin and his wife,
but it was at least half an hour before Mrs
Slayton's identity was established. a neigh
Dor who looked at her face was the first to
|, tell VINO she was and trip to her home near
by established the identity beyond doubt
All the bodies were badly mangled. Mr..
Todd, who was a large gray-haired man of
about fifty-hve years, was crushed abnut the
face and body and limbs. The injuries to
Mrs Todd could not be so well determined
on account of her clothing. Mrs. Todd's
head was mashed in and her bones seemed
broken in many places. One of Mrs. Todd's
feet was ground under the wheels and only
the stump remained. The sight was terrible.
Siren men held their breath as they walked
about TO view the terrible damage. The on
gineers OF both the trains were blanched
with the awfulness of the scenes for which
one of them at least felt in a manner respOu-
sible.
The death of Mrs. slayton and the manner
of her taking off are particularly sad. She
leaves behind family of i've little girls, the
eldest OF whom is only twelve years. She
had been left to play mother to her smaller
sisters while her own mamma and her grand
parents went 10 st. Paul, little dreaming that
the poor child would so suddenly be COM
PEELED to exercise maternal care for the little
orphans. When q neighbor, who thought he
recognized Mrs. SlaytOn in the man led
form taken from the locomotive pilot, called
al the home to inquire after the mother,
little tot of four spoke mp:
1t can't be my mamma who was killed.
cause she's gone to st. Paul."
He could scarcely repress the tears when
the little one spoke so determinedly about
her mothers safety, MIR. Slayton. who has
been away on a business trip, has been iu-
formed by telegraph of the terrible fate
which has overcome his wife, and he will be
home 10 day.
Coroner Towers has started in to make
thorough investigation. be has secured the
names of the witnesses, and an inquest will
be held i'll Gleason IL Byorum's morgue,
probably to-day. Miss Ulmer. the station
agent at the University, two students and
several other people saw the accident. They
will all be summoned to attend the inquest.
As TO the responsibility for the accident, if
indeed any one be really responsible, opin-
ions are divided. The Omaha through train
had never been in the habit of stopping. or
even slackening speed. when passing the
University station, SO the engineer of that
train can scarcely be said to be TO blame.
There is no state law governing this matter,
the only restriction which would apply to
this Case being the ordinance prohibiting
the running of trains within the city
limits at greater speed than six
m 1nn, cl per hour. When viee-Presi
was asked as 10 responsibility for the disaters
he said he could tell nothing about it, but he
called attention TO the following rule on the
schedule for trains and 10 which all trains
using the Great Northern short line are sub
ject:
when trains are approaching each other
on the double track engines will sound the
whistle and cause bell 10 be rung, as III ap-
preaching station. and when q train Is
standing on a double track taking on and
dschargiug passengers trains from the op-
posite direction will come to full stop with
engines opposite each other and proceed
slowly until trains are stopped
This is what George Ketchum, who was
engeneer of the Omaha train, says:
1--WE were few minutes late. Our tram
d,1o Lroe IA