The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1901-12-06
ENGINEER MAKES AN AWFUL ERROR
EIGHTY KILLED AND 1S5 OTHERS
INJURED IS THE AWFUL
RECORD.
VICTIMS MANGltD AND ROASTED
FIRE BREAKS OUT AND ADDS TO
THE HORROR OF THE TERRI
BILE SCENE.


Detroit, Nov. 80. Two passenger
trains on the Wabash railroad, one go
ing west and the other east, met in a
frightful collision while going at al
most full speed one mile east of Sen
eca, Mich, a village eleven miles west
of Adrian, shortly after o'clock
Wednesday night. Both trains We're
wrecked in the dreadful impact, en-
t;.jling q tremendous loss of life esti-
mated from 80 to 100. The list of in
jured probably will reach 1875. OF the
latter it is said that rs will die.
The west-bound train was known IS
No. Ii and was regular which, be-
sides it's regular coaches, had several
coaches filled with Italian emigrants
going west from New York. The eas.-
Continental Limited" 1t was a YES
tihuled train consisting of a baggage
cai', combination coach and sleepers.
Engineers Awful Blumdcr.
The cause of the wreck was a mis-
reading of orders by Engineer Strong
of the continental Limited The or
der, it is claimed, read: Pass at Sem
eca," but Strong understood it to read
sand Greek" The conductor of the
train did not know that the engineer
mad misunderstood the order and sup
posed that his train was going on a
siding. Finding that the train was run
ming rapidly, the conductor put on the
air brakes himself. but it was too late.
The two trains crashed together and
the cars on the west bound train were
cruinpled up in a heap of ruins. En-
gineer Strong stated in positive terms
that his. order directed him to pass
trains Nos. Is and (the latter closely
followed No. Is from Detroit) at Sand
Creek. Said Strong:
Il saw the headlight of No. Is four
Or five miles before
The Collision Occurred,
but I supposed the train was side.
tracked at Sand Creek waiting for us
to pass. The glare of the powerful
electric headlight made it impossible to
see the exact location of the other
train. My fireman and I both jumped
from the right-hand gangway.' p
Strong and the fireman were both
hurled 300 feet, but, although scratched,
cur and terribly Jared they were not
seriously injured. The immigrants and
ether passengers on train No. 10 We're
crushed between the splintered cars.
l. any escaped without injury it will
be miracle. To add to the horror the
wreckage caught fire i'm mediately, and
in short time the bodies of the dead
and those of the injured who We're
pinned down were being burned. The
scene which followed was heart-renl-
ing. The spot where the wreck oc-
CURED was in the open country, with
but one farmhouse nearby, and :acili-
ties for aiding the injured We're *
tre,nely inadequate.
Scene Was Terrible.
Soon as the news of the disaster was
received by Supt. Burns here a relief
lain was dispatched to the scene with
a score or more surgeons on board.
Farmers from nearby and those who
escaped from the wreck alive made he
role efforts to rescue the less fortunate.
The scene in the neighborhood of the
wreck was terrible. In the semi-dark-
ness, illuminated only by the glare
from the fire of the wreckage, men
stumbled about over corpses which fell
from the ruins. and which after the
flames had died out, We're hauled from
the debris. There they lay in con-
fused heaps along the track. Farmers
from the surrounding country and peo-
pie from the neighboring villages did
what they could to aid the injured and
care for the dead, but this seemed lit
tie In proportion to the enormity of the
calamity. Shortly after the collision
six Of the cars Of the west bound train,
occupied by the immigrants, burst into
flames. The
sInfOrtunates Fought Mndly
in their attempts to crawl out of the
doors and windows, thus hindering
each other so that most Of them were
unable to escape. The immigrant train
v as made up of nine cars behind two
engines. Six Of these cars were jammed
together. Very soon the wreckage be-
gan burning fiercely and those in the
cars were slowly roasted to death.
There wepe no means at hand to fight
the fire and the agonized shrieks of the
poor unfortunates was appalling.
Coroner Hamilton of Adrian has i'm
panelled jury and will begin an in
quest into the disaster to-day All the
Jurors are prominent in the business
affairs of the city Of Adrian. No steps
have been taken as yet toward the ar
rest of Engineer Strong, whom Supt.
Burns says is responsible for the COL
dlsion and holocaust:
TRAINS wRECKEIs.