The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1897-07-09
KILLED In A WRECK
,REAR.END COLLISION OF TWO CHRIS
TIAN ENDEAvOR TRAINS.
Three Persons Were Killed outr,rht
jurcd-PassengersA vvOke to Find
Themselves In Wreckage-Train
Were Filled With Christian En-
deavor Excursionists.

Chicago, July 2. Three persons
were killed outright and about twenty
or thirty persons injured in a rear-end
collision on the Chicago & Northwest
ern road Mt West Chicago. thirty miles
out Of Chicago, on the Galena division.
The dead are Mrs. John GOoding,
Appleton, Wis.,; Mrs. r. Shipman, APP
pleton, Wis.,, and an unidentified man
riding between the engine and baggage
Cur. supposed to be tramp.
The victims of the collision were
Christian Endeavor delegates, who
left Chicago en- route for the great
convention in San Francisco. The col
liding trains were sections and 5 of
a Christian Endeav0r special sent out
in nine sections. Section ran into
section 4. which left Chicago fifteen
minutes ahead Of it. Section carried
the Wisconsin delegates, nearly 500
strong, and in the rear sleeper were
people from Fond du Lac, Green Bay,
Appleton and other Wisconsin cities.
Section 4 had come to stop just out
of West Chicago, where the FreepOrt
liue DIVORCES from the main line. Sec
ton 5 came up behind at great speed
and the shock of the collision was ter
rifle. The passengers in the two rear
cars Of section 4 were all in their
berths and most of them were asleep.
They received no warning, and those
not killed outright awoke to find them
selves TANNED in the wreckage. Pas
sengers on both trains fastened to the
spot and began the work of rescue.
One of the first of the injured taken
out was Engineer Charles Courtney, of
section 5. He had stuck to his post
like hero, and is so seriously injured
that he cannot live.
The body of an unidentified man,
supposed to be tramp, was found be-
tween the baggage car and the en-
CINE. The man had been crushed to
death. An immediate call was made
for help on every point within reach
ing distance. Chicago was notified
and asked to send physicians Mt once,
and medical help was requested from
Geneva, Wheaton and Aurora
The engine Of Section 8 struck the
rear sleeper of section with terrific
force. The engine was totally wrecked.
Strange to say, the rear sleeper Of Sec
ton was not the one to suffer most.
1t was driven with terrific force upon
the second sleeper, and such was its
impetus that it crushed through it as
II 1t had been q card box and reduced
1t to a mass Of wreckage. The pas
sengers in the second sleeper were,
therefore, the ones to suffer most, and
1t was in It that most Of the victims
were hurt. Mrs. Shipman and Mrs.
Gooding were both in the sleeper. Men
and women could be seen struggling to
extricate themselves from the wreck
age. Others, pinned down by some
crushing weight, were crying for help.
Here and there was an arm of q leg
pr0truding from the debris.
The responsibility for the wreck has
not yet been fixed, but the investiga-
ton indicates that It was caused by
Engineer Charles Courtney, Of section
8, running to the station this side of
West Chicago without having been re-
leased. No statement ia obtainable
from Courtney at present as he is too
badly injured to talk.
The officials Of the Northwestern
railroad made the following statement
concerning the accident:
'"There were only two sleepers dam
aged. They were the Cold Spring and
Garrison, conveying delegation from
Wisconsin to the Christian Endeavor
convention at San Francisco. Three
people were killed outright and nine
teen were injured. The injured have
been taken to st. Luke's hospital and
the physicians in attendance say that
they all will recover. The accident
occasi0ned no retention to the numer-
GUS special trains carrying Christian
Endeavor people from the East