Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-07-01
CALIFORNIA BOUND EXCURSIONS
MEET WITH DISASTER.
BOTH ACCIDENTS IN ILLINOIS.
TWO SECTIONS OF A SPECIAL COME
TOGETHER NEAR CHICAGO.
Three Persons Hurt and Twenty-three
InjuFed-Enst and West Bound
Trains on the NnndaIia
COIIide-TwO Killed,
Two Fatally Hurt.

Chicago. June "a rear end collision
between two sections Of a Chicago * North
western EHdCavorers' special train. which
left Chicago in nine sections, occurred at
West Chicago, thirty miles out, at l2:ij
this morning. Two women. Mrs. X. Ship
man. Of Appleton, Wis. and Mrs. John
GocdinE. Of Austin. New. and a tramp
named Rode. We're killed. and twenty-three
persons were injured. Nearly all Of the
injured are women. and all OF them live in
Wisconsin. most OF them I'm Appleton.
The colliding trains were sections Nos. !
and .. section No. ; running into section
No. T. which left Chicago fifteen minutes
ahead Of ii. Section No. carried the Wis
consin delegates. nearly 80 strong. and in
the rear sleeper were people from Fond du
Lac. Green Bay. Appleton and other Wis
ccnsin cities. Section No. had come to
stop just ou- of West Chicago where
the FreepOrt line diverges from the main
line, when section No. > ran Up behind
at great speed ard struck the rear coach.
The engine of section No. ) was totally
wrecked, but, strange to say, the rear
sleeper of section No. 4 was not the one
TO suffer most. Il was driven with ter
rife force upon the second sleeper, and
such was its impetus that 1t crushed
through 1t as if il had been "a card box
and reduced it to a mass OF wreckage. The
passengers in the second sleeper were.
lhtItAOlt. llt OltS 10 SulltE HltSA. anu II
was in that most of the victims were
hurt. 80
The passengers in the two reat sleepers
of section No were all in. their berths
and most of them were asleep. They. re-
ceived no warning and those not killed out
right awoke TO find themselves fast in the
wreckage.
Passengers on both trains hastened TO
the spot and began the work of rescue.
One of the first of the injured taken cut
was Engineer Charles Courtney. of section
No. >. He had stuck 10 his post like "a
hero and is so seriously injured that ne
A pathetic scene attended the rescue Of
the two daughters Of Mrs Shipman. The
cries. They were unable TO extricate them
selves, but. though badly hurt. refused as
sistance. begging that their motheFl.e first
rescued. Mrs. Shipman was found crushed
under a part OF the roof and life2was ex-
tinct when she was taken out.
Mrs. Gooding was probablyS airstantly
killed The force of the COLLISION crushed
together the partitions Of her berth. and
she had no possible chance of escape.
The sections following those which met
disasters. :. S and 9-Carrying 2.500 people,
were delayed upward Of three hours.
Section was made up of a baggage car.
day coach and seven sleepers, containing
Assistant General Superintendent William
a. Gardner said this morning that he could
give no tangible reason yet as to the cause
of the accident THE road is run on sem
aphore block system all the way TO Turner
every 1900 feet, and in addition we were
using last night what we call the positive
block system. This consisted in the opera
tors at haywood. Wheaton and Turner
running the trains by wire and keepingsa
close tab with the dispatchers as to the
time each passed a station. Then the dis
patCher regulated the speed and distance
between the trains. OF course. he was com
PEELED TO rely entirely upon the accuracy or
the time checking done by the operators at
the stations named and unless one of these
made mistake and transmitted the wrong |
Check time. either to the next station or TO |
The dispatcher. ] cannot imagine what |
could have caused the wreck. We had
taken every possible precaution to guard |
against delay and accident and. as ! said. |
worked the positive block as well as our |
Tegular semaphore system" .f.s.r
The investigation indicates that the |
wreck was caused by Engineer Courtney,
of section No. >. running by the station this I
side Of West Chicago without having been |
released.
Engineer Courtney declares that the sig
nal displayed denoted a clear track He /
also says that he was running carefully,
and that there was ample time to stop his /
train after he had sighted the train in /
front but for some reason the air brakes /
refused TO work. As they were in good |
order at Dixon five miles back. he believes /
tramps Intentionally or accidentally |
tampered with them