Mexico weekly ledger., 1897-10-21
Costly Head End Collision.
TWO FREIGHT TRAINS RUN TO.
aETHER ON THE CHICAGO
AND ALTON ROAD.
A Negro Who Lived in Laddonia Was
Killed Engineers and Firemen all
Escape Injury-Both Engines
and Several Cars are a
Complete Wreck.

At 12:45 O'Clock Sunday morning
two G. & A. freight trainsame in q
head end collision ~ miles east of
Mexico. Anderson Perkins, (col.) of
Laddonia, was instantly killed.
The east bound train, second section
Of No. 73, in charge Of Conductor
Eldred, Engineer Frank Mead and
Fireman Chas. Davis, was under or
ders to take the siding at this place
and leave a clear track for extra car
rying st. Louis merchandise under
charge of Conductor Sharits, Engineer
Gray and Fireman J. @. Wheeler. For
some reason the crew on IS disregard
ed their orders to take the Mexico
siding and pulled out of town. None
OF the crew on this train could be
seen, buG Fireman Wheeler on west
bound engine No. 1852, told a LEDGER
reporter of the collision in this way:
"The extra was made up at Rood
house and pulled out at $3.50. At
Bowling Green VI got orders giving
us the right of way to Mexico and
when we came around the curve on
the east side of the wreck was the
first to notice the advancing headlight
of engine 226 pulling train 70. 1 yelled
to Engineer Gray and ne threw the
engine over and we jumped. I rolled
clear to the fence on the side of the
right of way.
"When we frat sighted the other
train We were travelling As miles an
hour, but when they came together /
guess our train was going 80 miles an
hour. I thought my time had come.
The engineer and fireman on 70 also
jumped"
West bound engine No. 1872 was a
small engine and when she hit No. 256,
which was a Mogul engine and one of
the largest on the east end, her boiler
ran into the vitals of the Mogul 6 or 8
feet. The crash was a horrible one
and was heard by a number of people
up town.
The west bound train consisted of 8
loads and 8 empty cars. OF these two
cars of beer, M car of venitian red
and 3 cars of merchandise YER made
kindling wood of and the contents
scattered all over the right of way,the
rest of the cars remaining OIL the
track.
1t was on this train that the negro
was killed, He was riding the bump
ers between the tender and a car of
beer. When found Sunday afternoon
he was horribly mangled and covered
with beer kegs and debris. The engine
was but q mass of twisted iron and
splintered wood.
The east bound train was much the
heavier of the two, having q loaded
cars and when, with the large engine
at her head, she hit the west bound
train she did great damage to herself.
The first 2 Ears were wheat cars ex-
cept one, which was a car of p horses
en- route from Kansas City to Boston.
This a was the third from the front
and was the least injured Of the 7.
The front end of this car was smashed
In and not one of the p horses were
? injured beyond a few scratches. The
six cars Of wheat were completely de-
molished and three thousand bushels
of whert weae strewn along the track
Probably what saved the horses was
. the fact that the grain cars were car
! rying 500 bushels each and 1t took but
little strain to break them down.
> thereby not jamming the horse a al
hard as would have been the case hao
> the loads been more solid.
A very odd occurrence was thai
neither engine was thrown com
pletely from the track. 1t SEEM
that the boiler of the smaller en-
gine entering the boiler of thu
!, Mogul, acted as q kind of vice, hold
ing all the wheels of the smaller engin'
: to the rails. The tender was thrown
i, to one side. The larger engine ha'
one set of drive wheels and the from
=. trucks remainen on the track. Tn
tender to this engine was telescope
and forced the cab over the boiler.
!, The engineers and firemen on bot
!, trains were skinned up considerable
by jumping but no bones were broker
The remainder of the crews wer
. shaken up some. The head brakema
: of the west bound train was on top
= the center of the train and when b
saw the other train coming it was to
late to prepare for a jump and he iai
down and grasped the running boar
ON top of the car. He was not inJure
" but severely jolted.
Conductor Eldred, who disobeye
orders, sent in his resignation as SOC
as he reached town.
al The wreckers from Roodhouse an
>. Slater reached the scene of the wree
as about 4 O'Clock Sunday morning al
- had the track cleared for traffic by
O'Clock Sunday afternoon.