The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1893-10-21
ANOTHER HORRIBLE WRECK
Two Passenger Trains Crash Full
Speed into Each Other.
TWINTY-sIX WERE KILLED
a Stupid BIunder of an Engineer Brings
about an Appalling Calamity and
Fearful Holocaust.

Battle Creek, Mich, Oct. 20.-A frigh
, full wreck and holocaust occurred earl,
this morning ON the Grand Trunk roat
q mile and a half from this place, il
which twenty-five to forty persons los
their lives, and scores were MANNED
An east-bound special train loaded with
} returning Worlds Fair passengers col
llded with west bound passenger
train. The wreck took fire and many
of the wounded were pinned beneath
the broken timbers and twisted iron
and burned to death. The responsible
ity for the accident is said to rest with
Conductor Scott and Engineer Wooley,
OF the east bound train, who disobeyed
orders by not stopping at Nichols to
let the west bound train pass. Twenty
four dead bodies have already been
taken from the ruins, and are terribly
| burned and unrecogniZable. The killed
as far as known, are all eastern people.
Three coaches of the east bound train
were burned completely up. 1t is sup
| posed that fully as many are still In
the wreck as have been taken out.
Fully forty are severely, if not fatally
Injured. The east bound train, in which
ACS'
Raymond and Whitcomb excursion
returning from Chicago, loaded with
passengers for New York and Boston.
Nater)-So far 26 bodies have been
recovered from the wreck The bod
les are all so charred that it is i'm
possible to recognize them. The fol-
lowing dead are identified:
@. Van Dusen and wife, Fort Plain,
N. Y.
Miss Warren, Garland, N.
Harry Archbell, and j. f. Archbell,
of New York
L. Writ.
The list of wounded as far as is OBJ |
tainable at present numbers twenty
eight. Most of the deaths occurred |
IN one car, which was telescoped in |
such way as to pen the passengers |
in like rats in a trap. Twenty-Five |
bodies were taken from this car alone |
as soon as the fire was out Nearly all |
had their heads, arms, or legs burned |
Off and were unrecognizable. A hor-
rible sight was that of Mrs. Charles |
Van Dusen, of Fort Plain, N. Y, who
got half way out of the window, but |
her limbs were so fastened that those
who ran to her assistance could not |
rescue her, and she was burned to |
death before their eyes.
Qater)-The error of one human be-
ing, of man who crouches nffrighted
in his prison cell tonight, led to the
greatest railroad holocaust in the his
tory of Michigan today and twenty
six human lives paid the penalty of a
moments negligence. Two trains, both
laden with passengers, met in a directl
head-on collision on the Grand Trunk
railroad at 3:45 this morning in the
suburbs of this city, and that the num-
her of dead and injured is not four
fold greater is due to the circumstance
that the collision occurred in the SUI
burbs of the city where the trains
slackeHed speed. Twenty-six charred,
and unrecognizable bodies
lie in the morgue tonight and twenty
seven marred and bleeding victims are
in agony in the Charity Hos
pital. How many of these wounded
may be on the death list tomorrow
none can tell, for the injuries in many
cases are quite unfathomable to med
cal examination. All that surgical sci
ence can do is being done and the
officials of the railroad are doing all
that is possible to alleviate the suf-
'erings of the victims of this dread
disaster.
The two trains met face to face |
Both were regular trains, although
'ach was considerably behind time.
)ne was q Raymond and Whitcomb
Ipeclal train returning from the !
Worlds Fair, and the other the reg
liar Pacific Express, west bound. The
engineer of the Raymond and Whit '
,omb train had positive orders to side
rack for the express at the siding a [
nile east Of this city. He ignored his
'rders and six hundred feet beyond
he siding he met the east bound train
l II on. Both trains were wrecked and
lalf the Pacific Express was demolisl-
d and burned. The Raymond and
Nhitcomb train being composed al
most entirely of heavy sleepers, es- 9
aped serious injury, and none of the !
xcursionists lost their lives The en-
'ineers and firemen of both trains {
engers of the Pacific Express met al Q
most instant death. The day coaches q
n the front part of this train were
elescoped and burned, and of twenty t
TX human remains at the morgue to- c
light conjectures can only be made +.
s to the identity Of six, twenty re-
laining entirely unidentified. The cor
ner has numbered each body now in
he morgue consecutively, and has {
oted the articles found on each body y
nat might lead to Identification. u
The Raymond and Whitcomb train !,
'as in charge of Conductor Scott, OF .
mis- city. Engineer Henry Wooley was y
ulling it, and there appears TO be no i
oubt that Wooley's neglect was the !.
luse Of the accident The conductor y
nd engineer received orders here to u
leet the Pacific express at Nichols. e
ngineer Wocley got his orders at Bat ,
e Creek, and getting beyond the
reich of double track, kept right
head at a rafting pace. He met the !,
acific Express half a mile or less be- :.
w the meeting point made for him -
he Pacific Express was coming at a :.
tie of 30 miles an hour. From Mich :,
S a curve begins, so that II is inn =.
1ssible for either engineer to see the -
her until the headlights appeared. a.
hey had scarcely time to reverse and %
Dply the air brakes and save them
Ives as best they could, when, head
]. the engines came together. The
aymond and Whitcomb train stood h.
Ie shock without more than a shud- CT
II, excepting the baggage car. at the OF