The San Francisco call., 1898-05-23


 the engine that he had piloted so long, The few pass ngers who had their heads about them saw steam launch coming up the creek and hailed it. The skipper was asked to take Baldwin to Oakland for medical treatment, and promptly ran his boat up to the break water and took the injured man aboard.
 Hickey, the fireman, was beyond earthly help, so his mangled remains, pinned down by the engine, were cov- cred up with the means at hand ana efforts were made to alleviate the sui ferings of those who had survived After an hours delay, during which the large majority of the passengers made a tedious march up the mole to oak land, a wrecking train came down the line from the yards and a gang or workmen tried to remove the body or Hickey. It was found that this would be impossible, unless the engine was raised, and Superintendent Frazier, who had arrived on the scene, prompt ly telegraphed to Newark for wreck ing train, which arrived late in the aft ernoon.
 Edwin L. Baldwin, engineer, in de- scribing the accident, said: Soon after we left the mole and just after l had turned the throttle to increase the speed I noticed that something was wrong. The wheels did not seem to run as smoothly as usual, and the engine and tender rocked more than usual. I was in doubt as to whether it was simply imagination or reality that the train was running any different than was customary, when 1 heard creaking noise, followed by a heavy thud, directly under the carriage where 1 stood. l realized that the engine was doomed, and made a frantic leap from the window of the carriage to save my self from certain death from the explo- ciy fl,rR l,s.51T h T<h T knew would be inevitable The loco motive had already broken the coup ling connecting it with the tender, and 1t was just as 1t crashed into the bank at the side of the track that I jumped. Where the fireman was all this time 1 don't know and didn't learn until I saw his charred and mutilated body lying under the debris. When I fell I landed on the bridge below, and for a moment was blinded and almost Suffocated by the escaping steam from the bursting boilers; but l regained my feet and es- caped to the edge of the bridge from which l leaped, past experience having taught me the efficacy of salt water as relief from the eXcruciating pains of scalding. l must have been in the water three or four minutes before I was picked up by small steam launch and lowed back to shore. The cause of the accident cannot and I don't think
 
 that some portion of the machinery un- der the engine broke and threw it off the track; but to such a statement I would not commit myself or desire it to be given as an authentic solution of the cause, although the effect points directly to this opinion"
 Among the passengers upon the wrecked train were the ladies of the emergency committee of the Red Cross Socity. Among these were many of the best known society people of Oakland, and as far as known were: Mrs. l. L. ReQua. Mrs. F. M. Smith, Mrs. Major o. E. Long, Mrs. Wallace Emerson, Mrs. A B. Nye, Mrs. Lieutenant Dun woody, Mrs. A. D. Thompson, Mrs. Paul Loshe, Mrs. s. M Martin, Miss Veitch, Miss Mary Veene, Miss Jaeg- hern, Miss Alice Grimes, Misses Alice and Lucy Moffatt, Miss May Burnham, Miss Molly Corners and Mrs. Judge Midsummer.
 Many were thrown from their seats and all were more or less injured To- night all the homes represented by the ladies resemble hospitals It may be that a good nights rest will be suf- ficient to revive most of them, although 1t is believed some of them suffered severe spinal injuries which may not improve so rapidly.
 Shortly after the accident Assistant Division Superintendent Frazer arrived at the wreck and made an examination of the track and the demolished engine and cars for the purpose of discovering If possible the cause of the disaster and Of fixing the responsibility. Accompa- nied by Call correspondent MT. Fra Fer walked along the track to the place where the first scratch appears on the ties. The spot where the primary acci- dent occurred that resulted in the wreck is easily seen, and it is just as easy to trace the cause of the obstruc- ton and the derailed wheels to the place where the track is all torn up be- heath the wrecked cars and locomotive
 The first mark on the ties is very slight and might have been made by a small bolt. It is almost in the middle, between the rails. Very gradually the ties are scratched and splintered more and more until large pieces are broken out. A lmost 100 feet from where they first occur the ties are broken clean in two and from there the track is torn off its bed, rails are twisted in all direc- tions and beneath the wreck ties, rails, dirt and broken carwheels are all damned in heap.
 The track where the first mark occurs is not out of order, and has not spread, so the cause of the accident is attrib- uted by the officials to the falling of a bolt or some other obstruction on the
 
 zine. The cause of the disaster must forever remain a mystery, for the ten der is completely smashed and off it's trucks in the mud, and the locomotive is so broken up that there is no possi- bility of telling which one of hundred bolts might have fallen on the track
 'This affair is purely an accident" said Assistant Superintendent Frazer, "and it is very plain that something dropped to the track from the tender It might have been a brake shoe or a bolt or any similar thing, but it is inn possible now to tell what, as the tender is knocked all to pieces. The track is in perfect condition and cannot possi- bly have contributed to the accident as an engine has been running over it since the accident at the place where the ties show the bolt dropped down. It is very clear that the obstruction came from the tender, as it was In front of the engine and was driven clear off the track and down the bank, showing that 1t was the real obstruc- tion. It is impossible to prevent such small accidents as a falling bolt shoe but it is rarely that they produce such disastrous results
 An inspection of the track shows that it is miraculous that a disaster T111Ch Yf,r