Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-09-09
A TERRIBLE WRECK.
Collision Of Express Trains On Ins
Santa Ps Railroad.
TWELVE or FIFTEEN KILLED.
As Many More Persons Injured More or
Less Seriously.
vuv.x on ONE OF THE TRAINS.
y. 7. ynhurt, and Hears Himself
xobIy fn the Work Of Rescue
only Eight bodies 30 Far Taken
From the Debris.
pnYAx on ONE OF THE TRAINS

KANSAS CITY. MO. September g.
A special 10 the Times from Emporia'
Kan. says: One Of the worst wrecks
4, tho history OF the Santa Fe railroad
occurred three miles east OF here al
about 7:3o O'Clock tonight. Twelve OF
fifteen persons were killed, and as many
more badly hurt. The fast mali tfa'h
going east and the Mexico and Cali
fornia Express. bound west, coihoed
beod-on. The Mexico and California Ex-
press was pulled by two locomotives
and when they struck the engine ara"
ing the fast-mail the boilers OF al
three engines exploded and tore hoie
an tho ground so deep that the smoking
car of the west-bound train ran on Top
of the three engines and two maii-cars'
and balanced there. without turning
over. The passengers In the smoIing-
car escaped. but by the windows. me
front end of this car was enveloped IN
n volume Of sitting smoke and steam.
boiling up from the wreck below, ana
the rear door was damned tight In the
wreck of the car behind il. The wreck
caught fire from the engines. The cars
In the hole and the smoking-car burned
10 ashes In a short time.
In climbing out OF the smoking-car
several men fell through the riffs into
the wreck. and it is impossible to tell
whether they escaped or were burned
10 death.
The west-bound train carried seven or
eight coaches. and It's passengers in
cluded many excursionsts who had been
10 hear Hon. w. J. Bryan speak at the
county fair at Burlingame. Mr.. Bryan
himself was on the train. but was riding
I'm the rear Pullman. some 400 feet from
the cars which were wrecked. He states
that nothing but heavy jolt was ex-
perienced by the passengers IN MS
coach.
Mr.. Bryan was one Of the noblest men
in the crowd OF TescuerS. he helped 20
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 ana said: II went
TO hear you to-day. l am now dying.
God bless you. II you possibly can.
Mr. Bryan, get me a drink OF water
Mr. Bryan went into one OF the fast-mail
cars. one end Of which was burning, and
came out with the water, which he gave
TO the suffering passenger. He brought
out cushions for others OF the injured,
and was everywhere present TO minister
TO the wants of the suffering.
EIGHT BODIES RECOVERED.
1t IS feared that nearly all of the seven
mail clerks persisted in the disaster, but
so far only eight bodies have been taken
from the wreck. Those dead are:
JIM BRENNAN, engineer Topeka.
NAT HOLLISTER, fireman, Topeka.
V. j. II. SOUDERS, Kansas City, ex-
press messenger; body almost consumed
by fire.
WILLIAM f. RISBY. engineer. -
II. A. DORIAN, Emporia, postal clerk.
- GONZALES, fireman, west-bound
train.
Unknown man, tramp. Topeka.
- BRAGMAN.
Among those seriously Injured are
Claude Holiday. Lawrence, express mes
senger. both legs broken; ID. c. Erie,
Kansas City, express messenger legs
broken: John Dagan. Topeka, face mash
j IL.
county hip broken-may die; William +.
Jones. Kansas city. leg and arms broken;
b. =. Metik, Atchison. badly bruised;
Phil. Schuer. Kansas City, hip crushed;
c. A. Van Vlet, brakeman, Kansas CITY,
badly bruised William Patrick. Kansas
city, leg and arm broken; c. ID. Adams
city OF Mexico, painfully bruised; Mike
Sweeney. Gainesville, Tex, back hurt.
Ben. Walters, St Joseph, Mo-. hre-
man on the west-bound train, is missing.
THE TRAINS WERE FAST ONES.
The engineer of the west-bound train
had received orders to meet the fast mail
at Emporia, and was making up lost
time. The two trains that collided are
the fastest trains on the Santa Fe system
and the vest-bound train must have been
running at a speed OF at least forty miles
an hour. The west-bound express was
going around a slight curve, and met the
fast mail probably within two hundred
feet.
OF the seven or eight cars making up
the Mexico and California express. only
the mall. baggage. and express-cars
and smoking-cars were destroyed. The
coach following the smoker was badly
splintered.
There were not more than dozen
passengers on the fast mail-all IN the
trst class 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
blanks came up with the seats. One
man. John Sweeney. was thrown over
three seats and through window, but
escaped with only one scratch anu Some
bruises.
II is stated that the wreck was caused
by a miscarriage Of orders from the
trainmaster. At Emporia the east-bound
fast-mail train received orders 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 trainmen expecting to
pass the fast mail at Emporia.
The F0rest-Hill show.