The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1897-12-09
CARS COLLIDE,
Three Men Killed and Several Per-
sons Hurt Near Detroit.

Three Men Killed and Several Per-
sons Hurt Near Detroit.
Detroit, Mich, Dec. 6.-Three men
were killed and II persons injured. II
seriously, in collision on the Detroit
& Oakland electric railroad at one
o'clock Saturday afternoon. The collid-
ing cars were running at speed of Is
miles an hour, and the crash was ter
rltc, both cars being smashed to pieces.
The killed are:
The following were killed: John Kelly. of
Detroit, book agent: John Savage. super
intendent of the road: Charles NJ. White
head. motorman.
Following are the names of those Sc
riously injured: Mrs. John E. Doty, Of
pontiac, two ribs broken and otherwi: in
)ured; aged mother Of Mrs. Doty, badly
crushed and leg broken: Warner Goodale,
OF Lapeer, severely bruised; Mrs. Warner
Goodale, face cut, body badly bruised;
LOUIS Harneck, seriously bruised and in
ternally injured: Peter Hempel. Of Detroit,
hole cut in leg and face cut; frank Nc
Hugh, motorman. leg broken and Internal
~ injured; John +. Madden. Of Leonard,
legs and arms badly bruised; John Riegel,
OF Pontiac. compound fracture o. leg; A. E.
Robertson. Of Walnut. Oakland county, leg
badly cut, hand crushed and shoulder
bruised; Mrs. E. H. Smith. OF Detroit. legs
and face badly bruised.
The exact cause OF the accident is in
doubt. President Hendrie, of the De-
troit& Oakland railway, said that the re-
sponslbility had not been fixed. Ac-
cording to the schedule car leaves
each end, Detroit and Pontiac, every
hour, and there are three sidings along
the road. Saturday the cars were be-
hind time.
The one bound south from Detroit
had passed an outbound car at the
switch two miles from Pontiac, the
crew apparently being ignorant of the
fact that another outbound car was
approaching less than two miles dis
tant, although it is claimed that they
should have known it from orders sent
from Birmingham. The weather was
foggy, and the rails slippery from the
sleet which had been falling. The COL
Esion occurred near gravel pit mid
way between Pontiac and Birmingham
at the foot of two steep grades, down
which the fated cars ran at full speed.
The impact was terrific. The cars were
driven half through each other and
crushed to pieces. superintendent Saw
age was in the motorman's vestibuIe
operating the outbound car. Both his
legs were cut off and his body was
frightfully mangled. Motorman Nc
Hugh, who stood behind MIR. Savage,
narrowly escaped similar fate.
John Kelly was evidently the only
passenger who saw the Inbound car
approaching. He rushed for the vesti-
bule door, and he and Motorman White
head were struggling together to get
out of the door when the crash came.
Both were killed. Mr.. Nelly's head and
shoulders were damned out of the vesti-
bule window, and his neck was broken.
Mr.. Whtehead's head was cut open and
his chest crushed. Had it not been for
the stout construction of the cars, eboth
of which were new, it is doubtful
whether any of their occupants would
have escaped alive. AS it was, nearly
all of the IA passengers in the south
bound car suffered some injury. Some
of the injured were taken to farm
houses, others were brought to the city
hospitals.