The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-09-09

Boilers Of the Three Locomotives Drawing
the Cars Explode.
A Number of People Killed and
Many Seriously Injured-The
Wreck Catches Fire, Several Of
the Cars Being Burned To
Ashes

/ Sc
KANSAS CITY OIo), Sept. S.-A
! special to the Times from Emporia,
1 Kas., says
! One of the worst wrecks in the his
! tory Of the Santa Fe Railroad occur
red three miles east of here about 7:3O
o'clock tonight. Twelve or fifteen per-
sons were killed, and as many more
were badly hurt.
The fast mail train from the East
and the Mexico and California express,
westbound, collided head on. The
Mexico and California express was
pulled by two locomotives, and when
they struck the engine drawing the
fast mail the boilers of all three en-
i gines exploded, and tore a hole in the
/ ground SO deep that the smoking car
of the west bound train went in on top
of the three engines and two wrecked
mail cars, and balanced there without
/ turning over. The passengers in the
| smoking car escaped through the win
doWs. The front end of this car was
enveloped in volume of sitting smoke
and steam belching up from the wreck
below, and the rear door was damned
tight in the wreck of the car behind
/ The wreck caught fire from the en-
gines The cars in the hole and the
smoking car burned to ashes in a very
short time
/ In climbing from the smoking car
| several men fell through the riffs in the
! wreck below, and it is impossible to tell
whether they escaped or were burned
to death.
The westbound train carried eight
| coaches, and it's passengers included
many excursionists who had been to
hear Hon. VIM. ]. Bryan speak at the
/ County Fair at Burlingame. Mr.. Bry
an himself was on the train, but was
riding in the rear Pullman, some 400
feet from the cars which were wrecked.
| He states that nothing but a heavy
! jolt was experienced by the passengers
/ in his coach.
Mr.. Bryan was one of the noblest
men in the crowd of rescuers. He help
! ed to carry out the dead and wounded,
and gave the greatest attention to their
care. one poor fellow, who was badly
MANNED, called to Mr.. Bryan and said:
/ Il went to hear you to-day; l am dy
4 ing now, and I want to shake your
hand and say God bless you. If you
+ possibly can, Mr.. Bryan. get me
drink of water
Mr.. Bryan went into the fast mail
/ car one end of which was burning, and
came out with the drink of water,
| which he gave to the suffering passen-
ger. He brought out cushions for 9TH
ers of the injured. and was everywhere
present to minister to the wants of
! the suffering.
! &c faara1 ho+ ,,oa,~Ir-
seven mail clerks persisted in the disas-
/ ter, but SO far only six bodies have
/ been taken from the wreck.
Dead: Jim Brennan. engineer. To-
! peka; Nate HOLSTER fireman. Tope-
/ ka; j. F. Sours, Kansas City, express
! messenger body almost consumed by
fire; VIM Frisbey, engineer; r. A.
! Doran, Emporia, postal clerk: Con-
zales, fireman, westbound train: I'M
/ known man, tramp; - Bragman,
/ Topeka.
Ben Walters. St Joseph, Mo, fire.
man on the westbound train, is miss
/ ing.
Among the seriously injured are:
Claude Holiday, Lawrence. Kas., ex-
I press messenger, both legs broken: d.
c. Erter Kansas City, express messen-
/ ger, legs broken, will die: John Da-
/ gan, Topeka, face mashed; J. 7. But
! Ter County Attorney of Chase County,
may die; VIM. F. Jones, Kansas City.
/ leg and arms broken r p. Metik.
Atchison badly bruised: Phil Schier.
/ Kansas City, hip crushed; c. A. Van
Fleet, brakeman, Kansas City, badly
/ bruised: VIM. Patrick. Kansas City.
! leg and arm broken: c. d. Adams. City
/ of Mexico painfully bruised: Mike
! Sweeney, Gainesville, Tex, back hurt
! The engineers of the westbound train
/ had received orders to meet the fast
mail at Emporia, and were making UP
! lost time. The two are the fastest
trains on the Santa Fe system. and the
westbound train must have been run
/ ming at least forty miles an hour. The
westbound express was going around
/ a slight curve, and met the fast mail
probably within 200 feet
/ OF the seven or eight cars making
up the Mexico and California express
only the mail, baggage and express and
/ smoking cars We're destroyed The
| coach following the smoker was badly
I splintered.
/ There We're not more than a dozen
/ passengers on the mail. all in one coach.
and while none of them We're seriously
| injured, their shaking up was terrible.
i Every seat in the coach was torn from
/ the floor, and many of the floor planks
/ came UP with the seats.
/ One man, John Sweeney. was thrown
over three seats and through a win
dow. but escaped with only scratches
and bruises. The other cars of the fast
mail train, a baggage and an express.
were totally wrecked
Tt is stated that the wreck was
caused by a miscarriage of orders from
| the train master. At Fmporia. the
eastbound fast mail train received or
ders to pass the California express at
Lang. seven miles east An order was
sent to Lang for the California express
| to take the siding there but this or
| der was not delivered. and the west
bound train passed on. the trainmen
| expecting to pass the fast mail at EN-
poria.
AT midnight it becomes apparent that
! the early estimates of the number Of
de.d were exaggerated, and it is now
apparent that the number of dead will
not exceed ten or eleven During the
excitement early in the evening it was
reported that nearly all Of the six postal