The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1894-06-07
DEATH IN THE DARK,
HORRIBLE WRECK OF A VISION.
SIN CENTRAL TRAIN.
SIX Persons Are Mangled and Burned to
Death and q Much Larger Number Seri-
ously 1njured-Fire Adds Its Terrors to
the Struggling Survivors.
Switch Was Tempered With.

Switch was With.
The st. Paul limited southbounG
train on the Wisconsin Central Rail-
road, which passed Marshfeld at los
a. IN. met with a horrible accident
which has never Teen equaled in
Northern Wisconsin, and adds another
long list of victims through disasters
OF this kind. Six persons are dead, and
from fifteen to twenty are injured,
some o. them fatally. Following is a
list OF those killed outright.
BIGELow. %JUDsoN. brakeman. Stevens,
Point. Wis
BosLEE. OLIVER. newsboy, Stevens Point.
Wis.
GEBHAKDr, george, fireman. Stevens
HUBBARD, JAMES, engineer, Stevens
Point. Wis.
RUSSELL, WILLIAM B., railroad surveyor,
Milwaukee.
. WAGNER. MRS. JOHN. Butte, Mont.
The train, which was in charge of
Conductor Gavin and was made up of
seven coaches and sleepers, left Alb
bolts Ford behind time. and while
running at fifty miles an hour struck q
defective split switch at Meanwhile, a
deserted station, derailing the entire
train and piling engine and cars in a
heap of broken timbers. 10 add to
the horror, the entire mass was soon
in a sheet of flames, which. mingled
with the groans and cries of the in
iured. made a scene that terrified the
hearts of the bravest.
Number OF Killed Not known.
According to the dispatches about
Hftt- q y-o,A IN ~ - f,aip T'n-
der direction of Division Su%per4nten.
dent Horn, who happened to be on the
nOrth-bound passenger, q special train
at I o'clock bearing the remains of
Engineer Hubbard, Fireman Gebhardt
and Russell and a passenger. When
the body of Bigelow, the he'd brake-
man, was recovered it had q watch in
one hand and a lantern on an arm.
Meanwhile, the scene of the accident.
was once a lively sawmill town, but of
late years has gradually sunk to Moth
ing, until NV all that remains is a few
scattered buildings. During the forest
fires last fall the depot burned, and
about all that is left t. mark the place
is a heap If burned ruins and anumber
Of side tracks. The accident occurred
at the first switch. where a supposed
broken bar caused a switch to open
sufficiently to derail the train.
After leaving the tack the train
plowed along over the ties for a dis
lance Of ten rods and then toppled and
rolled over, the engine and tender 60
ing into the ditch and the cars piling
on top of each other. Ali were soon
set on fire from the stoves. From out
of this tangled mass men and wOmen
who were lucky not to be pinned down
crawled, many making wonderful es-
capeS.
Receiver Howard Morris and Sidney
Hirsch, a business man from lrOnwood,
occupied the cOmpany's business car,
which did not get into the heap and
escaped destruction by burning. The
rear sleeper and the business cav alone
came out practically unframed.
Cause of the Terrible Disaster.
General Manager Whitcomb said Of
the accident and the possible eau. e:
THE split switch of the passenger
track has evidently been tempered
with, allowing the wheels of the loco
motive t. catch tho point" De-
scribing the catastrophe Mr.. Hirsch
said: sour train was running at
the rate of about fifty or sixty
miles an hour when the crash came,
and the train seemed to go into
a heap within a few seconds. | was
asleep in the next to the rear sleeper
at the time and was thrown from my
berth, as were all the other pas
sengers. AS soon as we could scramble
out we found q terrible state Of affairs.
The baggage, express, smoker, day
coach, a business car, and q sleeper
were piled on top of each other, and
,n;+b;o :, ,.au,, foyU niputnc tha , lilo WAC