Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-11-17
A RAILWAY HORROR.
Terrible Fate of Passengers in a
Blazing Car in Iowa.
Four OF Them Are Burned to Death In =
Collision Near Ottumwa-CareIess-. -
ness Was the Cause-Wreck
In wisconsin.
ESCAPE CUT OFF.

0TTUNwA, Ia, Nov. IL. "A fearful
accident occurred on the Chicago, Mil
waulkee & st. Paul road Wednesday
night at Highland Center, a small sta
ton north of ottumwa- A fast freight
train dashed into the caboose of the
local freight, which was standing on
the track, telescoping the caboose and
four cars. The caboose caught fire
and with several cars was burned The
scene was heartrending.
FOUR BURNED ALIVE.
For- people persisted in the flames,
and a number of others had narrow
escapes. The caboose was split in two
by car of grain, wedging in four peo-
pie on the right side. The most pitiful
sight was that of Miss Lizzie Butler of
0ttumwa, who got her head ont of the
window, and piteously pleaded with
those about the wreck to save her, bat
her body was pinioned by the freight car
and it was impossible to extricate her
Mrs. Samuel Jones, also of 0ttumwa,
tried to escape through window, but
she was an unusually large woman
and could not get through. The other
victims were an unknown woman and
Joseph Thornton, butcher at Sig
Quincy.
THE INJURED.
The injured are Mrs. Clyde Millisack
and Mrs. C. d. Hickey, of Ottumwa,
and Miss Lizzie Corey, of Sigourney,
who are badly burned, but not fatally,
A curious incident of the accident was
that one of the passengers was dis
guised and, in the crash, his ]isguise
came off, revealing noted crook.
He quickly disappeared in the excite
ment.
CRIMINAL CARELEssNEss.
The cause of the accident seems to
have been due entirely to criminal
carelessness on the part of the crew of
the fast train. The local train was
standing at the station unloading
freight. For miles away the track is
perfectly level and straight, so that the
danger lights of the standing train
could easily be seen by the engineer
and fireman of the fast train, and
every body saw it approaching, but
never dreamed of a collision. In fact,
the company's rules are SO strict that
when trains enter station yards If
/ they are not ul.ier such absolute con-
| troll as to be brought to a stop
before striking another train, even
| through accident TO switches or any
thing else, heavy penalty attaches To
the employees guilty of violating them.
The conduct of Engineer Richard
I son and Conductor Wood, who
had charge of the fast train in this
/ instance, cannot be accounted for by
the officials of the road. No report has
been made as to whether they were
placed under arrest, but an investiga-
ton is being made In the fire one car
/ load of barley and two carloads Of mer-
chandise were burned.
The responsibility for the accident is
not yet fixed. Before the coroner's
| jury Thursday Engineer Richardson, of
| the fast freight, testified that he could
not see the lights on the caboose until
within IS rods. Two of the lights were
out, ard the third was so badly smoked
that he could not see it farther away,
although he could see the switch lights.
| He called for brakes, reversed his en-
CINE and jumped.
WRECK IN WISCONSIN.
CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis, Nov. ia
collision took place on the Wisconsin
Central road at Summit, IS miles west
of this city, between two freight trains
at o'clock Thursday evening. Will
liam Whiting, fireman, of this city.
was instantly killed and John Lynch
badly scasded. Both engines were
badly smashed and the cars piled up as
high as telegraph poles.