The San Francisco call., 1896-10-14
One Life Lost, Ten Lads Injured
and Their Four Horses
Killed.
TO THE BOTTOM OF A aULcH.
Football Players Returning From
Salinas Lose the Road on the
Toro Grade.

| life was lost, four lads were dangerously
injured and half dozen badly hurt in a
disaster last night on the Toro grade, be-
tween this city and Salinas. A four-horse
wagonette, carrying the Pacific Grove High
| School football team from Salinas, where
| it had played against high school eleven,
| plunged over an enbankment to the bot
| tom of gulch forty feet below. All of the
| horses were killed and the occupants of
| the wagon were pinned down under the
wreckage, or under the bodies OF the ex-
piring animals. Frank Oyer died soon
after being extricated. He was the IT.
year-old son of Pacinc Grove capitalist.
| The seriously injured are:
James Mori, a Japanese, legs badly
crushed and bruised about head and arms.
| Eddie Rich, chest crushed.
Lewis Dangerfeld, nose broken and arm
badly cut.
Frank Hart, hurt about head and
shoulders.
William Johnson, fingers crushed.
Thomas Gordon, cripple, badly bruised
and cut on the body.
Frank Ellis, leg cut badly.
Charles Little, the driver, cut about the
face and head.
| Yesterdays game of football was the
first ever played in Monterey County.
The Pacific Grove boys rode to Salinas in
a large four-in-hand rig. The game began
at 2 o'clock and was over by 4:30. At
o'clock the boys, after having been de-
feated by the Salinas athletes, started on
the homeward trip. It was a beautiful
moonlight night, but when the road ran
through the canyon two miles this side of
the Laguna SEGA ranch the side.lights of
the wagonette were lighted. The dust
along this part of the road at this time Of
the year is frequently from six to eight
inches deep. After proceeding down the
canyon for half-mile the driver finally
drew rein and got down and extinguished
the lights, for the reason that they were a
hindrance rather than a help to him in
showing the roadway. Quite breeze was
blowing up the canyon from Monterey
Bay and this tended to keep the dust in
circulation, so that at times all four horses
were entirely enveloped and the driver
was unable to distinguish his leaders. At
these times he could not see the road az
all, and would stop until the dust blew
away before trying to proceed. Charles
Little was driving the team. He is an old
stagedriver and had been ever this road
probably fifty times without an accident.
In another four-in-hand rig there were
seated twenty of the high school girls.
who went over from this place to "root'
for their school team while it PLAYED foot
ball. They were just ahead of the boys
all the way from Salinas, and were gailv
singing their college songs and giving the
school yell. Sometimes the boys in the
wagonette behind would answer. Thus
they went along. all trying to make the
long ride as pleasant as possible.
Suddenly, as the horses drawing the
boys vehicle were trottihg slowly down
the long grade, the front wheel slipped
over an embankment the wagonette cap
sized and went bling down fully forty
feet into the gulch below. About ten feet
from the top there was large box culvert
projecting out from the bank about three
feet. This hindered the plunge of the rig
downward, and it is believed by all the
boys who escaped without serious injury
that this culvert saved their lives, for as
soon as they struck il they attempted to
climb out of the vehicle and jump.
For only few seconds however did
the wagonette remain in this position.
The four horses were unable to free them
selves from the harness when they went
over the embankment, and they fell on
top OF the large canopy covering. This
extra weight snapped the boxing of the
culvert, and wagon, horses and boys went
crashing through the trees to the gulch
below, landing all in a heap. One boy
was straddled on the brakerod, with an
other one on top of him and large horse
on top of both. The horses kicked and
plunged, driving their hoofs with fury
against the human bodies around them.
All of the occupants OF the vehicle mar
vel that more were not killed. The large
wagonette was completely demolished and
all four horses are dead. The rig was
piled in hopeless wreck, with the boys
lbeneath it.
The accident took place on the Toro
grade, about seven miles from Monterey
and on the county road to Salinas. The
roadbed by neglect has been allowed to
wash and wear away, so that the roadbed
proper at the point of the accident is just
ten and half feet wide, while the other
part of the road on both sides of the gulch
is fully twenty-five feet wide.
The hero of the party was John Wiley,
the l6year-old son of r. H. Wiley, an
attorney of this city. He was the first to
| free himself from the wreckage at the
bottom OF the gulch. Then he imme-
diately jumped in among the struggling
horses and attempted to save his COM
panions. Two horses. although their
|