The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-11-23
DUE TO A DENSE FOG.

Collisions Occur on Elevated Roads
in Chicago.
Lose Their Lives and u Large
Number of Persons Are
Injured.
Inlcago, Nov. 20.-Disasters on ele-
waited roads caused reign of panic
Tuesday, when in four rear-end col
lisions two men were killed and
not fewer than 40 persons in
iured. Several of the victims now lie
at hospitals in critical condition
and it will not be possible to estimate
the death roll correctly for days. The
accidents were due to dense fog
that made the day almost as dark as
night, and to frosty rails that made
quick stopping of the trains an i'm
possibility. Thousands of persons
gathered at the stations of the ele-
waited roads all the forenoon to in
quire for relatives and friends who
they feared might be in the wreck.
The inability of these anxious crowds
to reach the scenes of the accidents
resulted in reign of anxiety that
practically plunged thousands into a
panic of fear.
First Crash on Metropolitan "L".
The first of the big accidents &C.
Cured on the Metropolitan road near
West Monroe street at 7:20. With a
crash that shook the steel structure
beneath them and rolled like the
roar of guns through the impene-
trable mists Humboldt division
train of the northwest main branch
bumped into the rear car of a Logan
square train and knocked it into a
mass of wood and glass and steel,
killing Thomas Meeny and injuring
~ others.
Unable to see the Gus tomary signal
in the dense fog and calculating upon
the usual time to start the train from
the West Madison street elevated sta
ton, the motorman in charge of the
downtown Humboldt park train at
about 1928 in the morning started his
train laden with people toward West
Monroe street. In front of him
moved, snail-lilze, a Logan square
train, marked for Canal street only.
The Logan square train was awaiting
the signal to go around the curve to
the Marshfield avenue station. The
curve begins at about West Monroe
street and on account of the fog
the Logan square train was brought
almost to standstill. The Humboldt
park train came after it and before
it could be fully checked in the speed
with which it had started the crash
came.
Second Collision Comes.
A few minutes later on the same
road, near West Chicago avenue, Con-
ductor Lehnert, standing on the rear
platform, saw the motor car of a Lo-
gan Square train loom out of the
fog like giant. He stood at his
post and faced his own death to
wave lantern in the hope that he
might prevent the accident. His legs
were crushed in the crash and he
died few hours later. Perhaps his
bravery helped to lessen the number
of injured who fell victims to the
disaster.
Alley 81" Cars Wrecked.
Two cars on two trains on the
South Side Rapid Transit elevated
were partly wrecked Tuesday morn
ing as Il result of rear-end collision
at Sixtythird street, between Mon
roe and Madison avenues. A piece of
an air brake was broken from one
of the cars and fell through the ele-
waited structure. The piece of iron
crashed through a plate-glass WIN
dow in the barber shop of Gates e.
Gretzner, on Sixty-third street, near
Madison avenue. George Smith, a
porter in the place, was standing
near the window at the time of the
collision. When the iron broke
through the window he was reaching
up to turn off gas jet inside the
window. The piece of iron barely
missed his head and shower of
broken glass fell around him.
The tracks were blocked at this
point for about two hours. Down.
town workers were forced to look
elsewhere for transportation to their
work. For the first time in years
there was a line of men and women
nearly a half-block long waiting at
the Illinois Central depot ut Sixty
third street to get tickets. All sur
face lines in the section about Wood
lawn were either far behind their
schedule time or not running at all.
The Illinois Central trains were also
forced to lose considerable time, the
fog being so dense.
Passengers Shaken on Northwest ern.
About the same time, and before
the fog had begun to lift, there was
a third elevated road collision, this
one on the Northwestern "L," at D-
vision street. No one was hurt, but
many passengers were shaken up
quite severely.
Bank Failure.
Tacoma, Wash, Nov. 20.-The Metro
Co. i