The Springfield herald., 1897-09-17
HEAD END COLLISION.
TWO osANTAFETRAlNsw WRECKED
Ten Persons Thought to Have Been Killed
and Many lnjured-w. J. Bryan on ons
of the Trains but Not Hart

of the Trains but Not Hart
| Kansas City,, Sept. s.-A special to
the Times from Emporia, Kansas,
says:
4 One of the worst wrecks in the his
tory of the Santa Fe railroad occurred
three miles east of here at about 30
o'clock tonight. Ten to twelve persons
We're killed, and as many more were
badly hurt.
I The known dead are:
Jim Brennan, engineer, Topeka.
; Nate Hollister, fireman, Topeka.
I ]. F. Sours, Kansas City, express
messenger; body almost consumed by
fire.
, William Frisbey, engineer. ...
r. A. Doran, Emporia, postal clerk.
- Gonzales, fireman, west-bound
train. -s. rf
Unknown man, tramp.
- Bragman, first name unknown,
Topeka. .- r
Ben Walters, ST. Joe, Missouri, a
fireman on the west-bound train, is
missing. $50 I.l. u-HrH
The fast mail train going east and
\ the Mexico and California express,
/ west-bound, 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-
! gines exploded, and tore Il 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 from, end of this car was
enveloped in n volume of sitting
smoke and steam belching up from the
wreck below. and the rear door was
! jammed tight in the wreck of the car
| behind The wreck caught fire from
the engines. The cars in the hole and
the smoking car burned TO ashes in nc
time. In climbing from the smoking
car several men fell through the riffs
, in the wreck below, and it is impos-
sible 10 tell whether they escaped or
were burned to death.
1 The west-bound train carried eight
coaches and its passengers Included
many eXcursionists who had been TO
hear Hon. w. j. Bryan speak at the
county fair at Burlingame. Mr.. Bryan
himself was on the train, but was rid
ing in the rear Pullman, some 400 feet
! from the ears which We're wrecked.
! He states that nothing but heavy
/ jolt was experienced by the passen-
gers in his coach.
Mr.. Bryan was one of the busiest
men in the crowd of rescuers. He
helped to carry out the dead and
wounded and gave the greatest atten-
| ton to their care. One poor fellow who
was badly MANNED called to Mr.. Bryan
and said: 81 went to hear you to-day;
am dying now, and want to shake
your hand and say. God bless you. II
you possibly can, Mr.. Bryan, get me a
drink Of water" .H.t.
Mr.. Bryan went into the fast mail
car, one end of which wns burning,
and came out with the drink OF water,
which he gave to the suffering passen-
ger. He brought out cushions for Others
present to minister to the wants Of the
suffering.
! The engineers of the west-bound
train had received orders to meet the
| fast mail at Emporia, and were max
! ing up lost time. These two are the
| fastest trains on the Santa Fe system,
and the west-bound train must have
been running at n speed of at least
forty miles an hour.
The west-bound express was going
around 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 were destroyed. The
coach following the smoker was badly
splintered. .-
There were not more than a dozen
passengers on the fast mail, all in one
coach, and while none of them Were
seriously injured, their shaking up was
terrible. Every seat in the coach was
torn from the floor and many floor
planks came up with the seats.
One man, John Sweeney. was thrown
over three seats and through window,
but escaped with only scratches and
bruises. The other cars of the fastmail
train, a baggage and an express, Were
totally wrecked.
1t is stated that the wreck was
caused by miscarriage of orders
from the trainmaster AT Emporia the
east-bound fast mail train received Or
ders to pass the California express at
Lang, seven miles east. Another order
was sent to Lang for the California
express to take the siding there, but
this order was not delivered and the
west-bound train passed on, the train
men expecting to pass the fnst mail at
Emporia
AT midnight it becomes apparent that
the early estimates of the number OF
dead 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 1t was
reported that nearly all of the seven
postal clerks on the two trains We're
killed. All of the others, save one, are
more or less seriously injured. r.l..
The mall clerks who are hurt are w.
+. Jones. Il. O.McGee and Claude Hol-
liday. The latter may die. as both his
legs are broken and he is otherwise
badly hurt. Clerk Il. @. Fletcher es-
capped serious injury. er
The dead We're brought to Emporia.
At midnight a special train left Elm
poria bearing seventeen injured to To
peka, where they will be cared for in
the hospital.