The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-10-11


IN it's recent history yesterday after
noon at $3.50 o'clock in this city at the
foot of Western avenue.
1t was a head-end collision between
two extra freights Nos. SIT and 504.
The former train consisted of a long
string of empty box cars west bound,
but stationary at point just west of
the little semaphOre station at the up
per end of the "Y-'
Train No.5O4 was composed of 20 stock
cars, the front three loaded with horses
and colts, the other IL containing cat
tie, coming swiftly eastward
At this point there is a sharp curve to
the south so abruptly that a train COM
ing around the bend cannot be seen so
yards away. High hills shut out the
view interspersed with deep guIIies
while a sloping bank to the river on the
north makes the place a model spot for
a deadly wreck.
Train No. 577 west bound was stand
ing on the main track with steam up
waiting for No. 504 then due to pull in
from the west on the siding when the
accident happened.
neer E. T. Bristow and Fireman c. E.
Studer. No 504 was under the guidance
of Engineer Richard Gregory and Fire
man Francis. G. w. Fletcher was con-
ductor on the west bound train and W.
H. Hubert of the east bound train.
Rushing around the curve at 25 miles
an hour, for Engineer Gregory was
little late, the heavily loaded stock train
crashed into the standing engine with
the force of meeting thunder bolts.
Leaped From the Engines.
The employees in both engines at the
last moment leaped for their lives. This
cost Engineer Gregory a badly broken
lower limb. Brakeman William Figley
who was on the moving train jumped
from the top of box car when he saw
that the meeting was unavoidable, also
breaking a leg. Conductor William Hui
bert standing on the steps of the ca
bOOse of his train has his head pretty
badly bruised by a collision with the
woodwork of the car in the crash. His
first intimate of the accident came
with the humping of his head.
instantaneous with the crash the en-
CINE boilers burst with a mighty explo-
sion and the mingled sound of escaping
steam, the crunching of wood and iron
into fragments and the agonizing
screams and neighs of the wounded and
dying horses caused a cOmmOtiOn that
could be heard many blocks away and
quickly spread the alarm.
The disaster was indeed costly. So
powerful was the force of the collision
that the two engines were driven into
each other and amalgamated almost as
one piece of machinery. The moving 10
connective was stripped entirely-save
the boiler and trucks all were gone.
Not a thing was left to tell of the
smoke stack, the pilot, the bell or the
cab while down in a gully Is feet away
crushed in a useless mass lay the coal
tender.
cars of horses. The first in order was
squeezed together and tossed down in
the ditch much the same as a child
would crush a fragile toy and throw it
aside, yet out of this unrecOgnizable
mass two young colts were rescued by
trainmen and although badly bruised
bid fair to live. One other was put out
of its misery by bullet shot. The 9TH
ers were probably killed instantly.
cars in a tumble.
The second car was telescoped and
pushed up in the air and to the north
side much after the manner of a lean
to- on a tumble down house. The force
of the damage here seemed to have
and sundered beyond repair but the
frame work was comparatively little in
jured. The third car was reduced to
kindIing wood. Heavy oak bars and
stanchions were twisted and torn into
minor fragments while solid links of
iron were snapped aSunder. Several of
the horses in the second car escaped
alive but how they did so is one of the
of the cars containing the horses was
done. The cars loaded with cattle
escaped unscathed. The fourth car con-
tanning horses was but little damaged.
The engine of the motionless train
facing westward was little less of
wreck than it's opponent The bell re-
NAMED stationary and the tender was
not thrown aside or even detached but
and around it clear up to the cab, or
where the cab should have been.
The wreck was source of curiosity
to hundreds of people who gathered
along the banks Chamber in and
around the ruins and interfered with
the work of the wrecking crew. A
large proportion of the spectators were
women who stayed long after nightfall.
Traffic Not lmpeded.
The collision so happened that the
switch was clear around the wreck
and at no time was traffic impeded. A
long passenger train came around from
the west shortly after the casualty.
The wrecking train from Horton ar
rived promptly on the scene in charge
of c. r. Bundy and long before mid
night there was nothing left to indicate
that there had been any disturbance at
of the track. The line had been
There are two reasons assigned for
the wreck One that the block signal
did not work, the other that it did. but
that Engineer Gregory ran by without
needing 1t.
R. D. BIoss, the signal operator at the
semaphore station, said that the block
signal was out plainly visible at the
time and there could have been no pos
sibiIity of a mistake in the matter.
But according to other Rock Island
employees the semaphore at this point
is not reliable One man who did not
care to have his name mentioned told
a Journal reporter that he was always
afraid of that block and on his runs
pulled the train down to very slow
speed around the curve.
Engineer Barstow says that before