St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-07-04
AN OFFICIAL VIEW.
A Sinking Trainman Is Appar-
emily the Culprit.

emily the Culpr1t.
CLEVELAND, July S.-General Super
intendent Tucker. of the Erie railroad,
nervously paced back and forth in his
office all the morning, waiting anxiously
for each dispatch from Ravenna. He
said: "There is nothing to conceal about
the wreck. 1t was caused by an en-
plOye's negligence. Train No. S, fast
night express going East, left Kent all
right with long line OF coaches and
sleepers. A few minutes later fast
freight No. 50 followed, the regulation
distance behind. At Ravenna, the next
stop, the engineer found something
wrong with his machine and delayed
few moments to fix it. Knowing that
the freight was following, flagman
was sent back to stop It. The
failure of this man to properly perform
his duty caused the disaster. | am not
yet exactly informed what he did or did
not do, but suppose that he failed to go
back far enough. He evidently thought
that the passenger would go on before
the freight came along, and so Shirked
his work. The express train had been
at Ravenna just eight minutes when
the freight dashed up too close to be
stopped by the tlagman."
MIR. Tucker kept the wires busy to-
day endeavOring to obtain full accounts
of the disaster. He learned that in the
rear car, which was a day coach, were
thir:y-eight glass blowers from Findlay
Oh their way east. The last sleeper is
what is called a deadhead, an empty
car carried along for some special
point. 1t was completely smashed and
burned up. Had there been any per-
sons i'll it, they would have suffered the
same fate as the unfOrtunateS in tile
last car. The second sleeper from the
rear was wrecked and partially burned.
A few minutes after the crash the train
with the sound cars proceeded on its
way. taking the injured passengers to
Meadville. Capt. Wallace, one of War
ren'S best known citizens, was in the
third coach from the rear of the train,
asleep in his berth, when the shock
came. His story of the awful affair is
as follows:
"The train was composed of vesti-
buled sleepers. Itwas, as near as can
tell. about a. m. when crash unlike
anything | ever before experienced
came. l was thrown from my berth.
and nearly knocked senseleSS, but
finally crawled from under a pile of
debris, and found myself comparatively
uninjured. | looked about me, and the
sight that met my gaze l will never for
get. The three rear coaches, including
the one l was in, were piled up in an in
describable mass, and flames shot up
from two of them like a huge bonfire.
The air was filled with the means and
shriekS of the imprisoned passengers,
and strong men stood helpless, with the
knowledge that before their eyes human
beings were being slowly burned or
crushed to DEATH"
my first thought was for the people
in the rear coach. When L boarded the
train my attention was called to them
by some one remarking that there was
party of fifty-three men in the rear
car. When the freight crashed into us
it crushed this car into thousand
pieces, and the flames broke out almost
Immediately. How any of the passen-
gers in that car escaped, if they did, is
mystery. l saw them take eighteen
or twenty bodies from the wreck, but l
do not think that that is half of those
who will be found to be missing when
the last reports are in. l am of the Opin-
ion that every man in the rear coach
was killed. The sight of the corpses as
they were taken from under the debris
was sickening. Pieces of IieSh, an arm
or leg were found, and every piece
that was taken out was burned to
crisp, so that Identification was impos-
sible. When l left the scene the wreck
was still smouldering and the air was
fairly thick with the odOr of burning
bodies"
WARREN, O.. July 8. = Engineer
George Holman, of Freight Train No.
3S, passed through here OH the mixed
train this morning en route to his home
at Meadville, Pa. Interviewed as to the
cause of the wreck at Ravenna this
morning, he said: "When Ravenna,
which is six and two-tenths miles dis
tant, was reached by the passenger nine
minutes after departure, my time was
eleven minutes. Supposing the pas
senger was eight miles in the lead, l
doubled the curve at Ravenna at full
speed. My fireman jumped with me.
The brakemen were on the train top
and were prevented by the rapid rate of
speed from jumping. With the collision
the cars ignited and three coaches and
Engine No. 67 went up in flame" The
loss of life is estimated at about forty;
eighteen of the lifeless bodies are Tecog-
niZable, but the others are so charIed
that they defy Identification.