The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-09-22
FOUR WERE KILLED

Continued From First Page.
to Window, but we're afterwards trans
ferred to the regular night train. which
usually arrives in ST. Paul at 7:45 p m,
and arrived here two hours and quar-
ter late, at 10 o'clock last night. En-
gineer Yeomans was cared for by friends
and remained in Window.
AS the train pulled into the union sta
ton last night ambulances from ST. Jo-
seph's hospital transferred Fireman Mer-
rill to st. Luke's and Engineer Few to
his home on Stewart avenue. Both were
suffering keenly and could talk, but with
difficulty. Neither was able to tell a
coherent story Of the wreck or to give
cause for the accident which left the
special freight standing on the bridge.
Engineer Few said to the Gil b e, as he
lay on his cot in the baggage car:
II was on the second engine of the
double-header, with my fireman, Hugh
Stratton of Sioux City. We were running
at a pretty good rate as the grade was
steep and our train was heavy. The
stretch before the Des Moines is reached
is all down grade. and owing to the fact
that there was another engine ahead OF
me I could not see the track we
crossed the river bank and ran onto the
bridge, and heard the front engine whis-
tie as Rasmussen pulled the cord
reversed my engine and tried to jump,
but I got caught somehow and was In
Jured. do not know what happened
then. Some one found me afterwards and
I was cared for AS threw the air 1 Sig
nailed to Stratton to Jump for his life but
I guess the poor boy did not have time.
He was sitting on his seat beside the end
Of the boiler the last ] saw. and must have
been caught as he attempted to jump.
He was not In a position to see ahead.
IT do not know what happened on the
forward engine. 1 heard the whistle and
felt the jar as Rasmussen set the brakes.
He and his fireman must have stuck to
their engine in hopes Of saving the train.
They were in better position to see their
danger than we and had had plenty OF
time to jump had they decided in time. ]
am Of the opinion, however, that they de-
terrnined to stick until they had done
their duty, and thought Of the train and
men behind them first, of their own dan
ger afterwards. The time was so short
that there was but an instant to act, no
time whatever to think They did a
noble deed, at any rate, in trying to save
the lives Of the train crew at the expense
Of their own"
Fireman Merrill, lone Of the injured
brought to St. Paul, was sitting in the
cab of the push engine, on the rear of the
standing train at the time of the wreck.
He was unable to give any account OF
what occurred last night, as the strain
on his nerves and the pain from his In
juries made 1t impossible for him to con-
verse with any degree Of ease. He said:
'fI do not know how 1t happened. I
am lucky to have lived through it. AS
remember 1t I was sitting there and then
there was crash. i can't tell now what
happened next I saw the engineer a
few seconds before the edouble-header
struck us, but have not seen him since. "
When Informed that the name Of his
engineer did not appear in the list of
the killed Fireman Merrill expressed con-
siderable relief
Engineer Few has a wife in st. Paul
and has been married less than a year.
His service as an engineer on the Omaha
dates back only few months.