The herald., 1897-05-28
Freight and Passenger in
Collision
NINE MEN KILLED OUTRIGHT
WHILE EIGHT MORE SUFFER
SERIOUS HURT
An Indescibable Ruin Composed Of
Engines, Cars, Station and Bodies
Of Mangled Men
Associated Press Special Wire.

Associated Press Special Wire.
BOISE. Idaho. May 277.-A special to
the Statesman from Pocatello says: The
most disastrous wreck in the history OF
the Short Line railroad occurred at
American Falls at 4:3O o'clock this morn
ing. A runaway freight crashed into
the westbound passenger. Nine men
were killed outright, and eight others
seriously injured. Both engines were
demolished, the station buildings shat
tered to pieces and IS or 20 cars smashed.
The dead are:
C. w. Shields, residence unkonwn.
d. L. Thompson Of Dayton, Wash.
John r. Cooper OF Wellsville, Utah.
J. Stefan of Dillon, Mont.
Five unknown men.
Excepting Cooper, these men were
beating their way on the train. Most
of them were sheep shearers Cooper
was just about to take the passenger
going west. The seriously injured are !:
G. w. Brennan of Pearl, Idaho, leg
broken and scalp wound.
F. d. Springer. Of Dayton, Wash, leg
-. and ribs broken.
John Began, Of Brigham, Utah, leg
broken.
w. Connolly of Great Darlington,
Mass, frightfully crushed about the
lower part Of the stomach.
John Peters, residence unknown, leg
broken.
George Moore, engineer Of freight,
froo ,f iob
necessitate amputation.
r. ]. Cosgrove, fireman Of the freight,
leg broken.
e. C. Hickman. engineer Of the pas
eenger, back injured.
All these were also trespassers on the
train except Brennan and the trainmen.
Brennan was on the passenger, and
had stepped on the platform for breath
of fresh air. Connolly was 80 seriously
injured that the doctors did not think he
would live to get to the hospital. There
is no blame attached to anyone for the
wreck. The westbound passenger had
pulled into American Falls and was
standing at its accustomed place, wait
ing for the freight to pass it on the side
track. American Falls station Is situ-
ated in depression, and there is quite
an upgrade in both directions The fret
warning of any danger was when En-
gineer Hickman heard the freight
whistle to back up. He at once reversed
his engine, but the rails were wet and
| the grade heavy, and it was an instant
or two before the train responded, and
in that moment the freight thundered
around the curve and across the bridge,
going at the rate Of sixty miles an hour.
The. passenger train hardly began to
move backward before the freight dash
ed into it.
Both engines were demolished and
the freight cars piled up one on the
other, jamming in the side and demol-
ishing one whole end of the station
building. Just as the engines met, En-
gineer Hickman jumped and came to
the ground in the midst of flying timber
and debris.
John Cooper, Frank Burke and Night
Telegraph Operator Charles Goodwin
had been talking on the platform an in
stant before they saw the wild freight
coming. Cooper ran into the depot and
was killed instantly. Burke and Good
win ran out behind the building and es-
capped. Brennan, who was on the plat
form at the same time, was buried in the
wreck. The station building was demol-
ished to the partition between the depot
and the private rooms where Agent St.
Clair and his wife and three children
were asleep. The dead and mangled
bodies Of two of the killed were hurled
against this partition, beams were
forced through 1t and over the bed oc-
cupied by the children, but miraculous
ly not one of them was injured, although
the room was twisted and shattered al
most to fragments. The freight had
run away on the hill west Of American
Falls. 1t is thought that some of the
sheep-shearers or hobos had cut of the
air. The air brakes would not work.
and on the hill the train was found to
be unmanageable. Conductor Cook and
Brakemen Davis and Westron were on
top setting the brakes and Fireman Cos
grove had climbed back to help set the
brakes, but they proved of no avail. The
train shot down the grade and across
the bride into the passenger train.
The nerve of Engineer Hickman in re-
naming at his post and reversing his
engine saved the lives of dozens Of his
passengers as well as.of the family OF
the station agent sleeping in the build
ing. The wreck presented a scene Of
indescribable destruction. The cut ir
front Of the station ard the spot where
the station stood were piled high with
broken cars, demolished station and the
shattered engines. The ties were torn
up and telegraph poles were down in the
ruins.
The dead were recovered and the in
jured cared for as rapidly az possible,
and at II o'clock q special left the Falls
with the wounded for the hospital at
Salt Lake.
A Welcome Rain
ASHLAND, Wis. May 27.-The North
ern Grain Mercantile Company's mill
and also residences and boat houses ad-
Joining burned this morning. Seven cars.
l.o<l ~~,fA f.-<~ y. =