El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1896-12-09
THAT HEAD END COLLISION
Extracts from the Long Account Of the
San Antonio Express,

SdH AHtOHlO IN press
The train was one of those east bound
through freights with a variety of
freight, much of it the product OF the
west and pershable goods. 1t required
fast moving, as do all of the Southern
Pacific fast freights. The crew was
com posed of some OF the best men in
the service OF the company. Their
friends say that hard runs and frequent
calls to go on the road on account OF
the heavy winter business, had induced
irregularIty as well as loss of sleep,
and thus paved the way for the alleged
neglect that resulted in the fatalities.
On the other hand, the company says
that there was not man in the crew
who did not have fully fourteen hours
rest before being called for the
run of No. %.
1t was gloomy morning. In the
dense fog. day was slow in dawning.
The men sought protected spots. some
in the cab by the open fire box, and
| some in the ca abOoSe, out of the way of
| shifting fog. The time for the arrival
of the west bound seemed never to end
and the drowsiness that pervaded the
cab and the caboose was irresistible.
At last there was whistle, and then
a rum bling noise. A few eyes looked
up drearily as the freight flew past.
1t was the first section of No. "a The
rumble soon died away and the crew
of the fatal No. % were wrapped in
slumber some sitting and some reclin-
ing. 1t a violation of the COM
pany's order, but the temptation for a
short nap had Overma tered them.
The scene at the wreck was beyond
description, and old railroad men
stated it was the worst they had ever
seen. The worst part of the wreck
age, consisting Of five cars and the two
engines, is piled high in space OF
sixty feet and is available only for
kindling aud scrap iron.
The boiler of the engine No. 5S1 was
thrown several feet from the track and
the escaping steam killed all vegetation
within hundred feet. The boiler of
No Cos was standing on one end, with
all the five cars wedged around it, and
it was here where the bodies were
found pinioned by immense masses of
wreckage, from which they were ex-
tracted with great difficulty.
Great masses of iron and twisted
bolts wore found scattered all around
for 200 feet. The Express correspon-
dent picked up one piece Of iron weigh
ing over ten pounds, imbeded in the
soil several inches and over one hun
dred feet from the wreck.
One engine, hot and steamlng, strip
ped of every vestige of its covering,
lay there, plowed partially into the
ground and partially into the locomO-
tive and wreckage of the other train.
Not strip of iron, neither smokestack
or cab was there: nothing
but the bare boiler as it came
out of the shop and was put on the
trucks.
The second engine stood on its side
at an angle of about 10 degrees. 1t
was in but little better shape than the
other one. Its cab, or at least a
portion OF the metal framework. was
left attached to the engine. All around
this was strewn the splinters of few
broken cars with their diverse
And under all this lay the bodies of
the five men who went to their death |
through the carelessness of the crew |
that slept. So great was the shock |
that fragments of the bodies were |
hurled ten and twenty yards. One of !
the unfortunates had his lower limbs |
wed ged tight and the entire body from |
the groin up torn loose and hurled forty |
feet through the air. The fragment of |
a corpse was hanging on piece of iron |
fastening of one of the cabs, and the !
foot of the victim was sent up on the |
special train while the mangled body |
was brought up several hours later on |
the first passenge train that came up |
from the east.
There were three heavily loaded cars
in the east bound train, and the one |
next to the engine was filed with cotfins.
These were scattered over the ground |
and wreckage and presented most |
sight. There were twelve
cars in the west bound train. Two of
these were filled with cotton seed and a
third with molasses. The cotton seed
was scattered over everything. The bar
rels of molaasses bursted and that was
sprinkled over the cotton seed. The
bodies were mangled il horrible shape
and cut to pieces, some of the parts
being found in one place and others in
another.
Lawrence Gaffney, the conductor of
the crew who are alleged to have slept
and thus became responsible for the
accident, Immediately went to Waelder
and reported the affair to Division
superintendent McQueeny. In his
report he comes out squarely aud takes
the responsibility of the awful affair
upon himself.
myself and crew were all asleep,
and l made a mistake in reading the
register,' is what he is said to have
in his report.