The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-01-29
'DEAIH GAME IO F|VE
AS THE RESULT OF AN ENGINEER
SLEEPING AT HIS
POST
IT WAS A HEAD-oN COLLISION
DEAD WE'RE MANGLED BEYOND
RECOGNITION IN WRECK OF
THE ENGINES
MAN RESPONSIBLE IS SAVED
Beyond a Few Cuts and Bruises, the
Trainman Who Caused His
Companions Death Was
Uninjured.

BALTIMORE, Nd, Jan. pa special
from Parkersburg, w. Va. to the Morn
ing Herald says: Five persons dead and
one severely wounded, two engines and
ten loaded cars wrecked is the result of
the mistake of train crew this after
noon between Petroleum and Volcano
junction, on the Baltimore & Ohio rail-
way. 1t was the old story of the en-
gineer being asleep at his post, and mis-
taking the first section of passing train
for the second. Thinking both had pass
ed, he pulled his train on to the main
track and sped onward to what would
seem to have necessarily been his death.
The dead are:
j. B.. Watkins, engineer, Train No. 9S
from Grafton.
w. w. Cunningham, fireman, No. 9S,
recently from the second division.
M; Courtney, Of Parkersburg, brakeman
on No. SO.
]. T. Bailey, of Parkersburg. fireman on
No. 81.
j. G. Bailey, Kanawha, brakeman on
No 81.
The injured are:
Ike Davidson, engineer on No. g.
burned, but and bruised; will recover.
The Herald correspondent has just re-
turned from the scene of the wreck. The
scene was indescribable All the five
men pinned under the wreck were dead,
and only one of the bodies had been
found. He was ]. G. Bailey, whose
body was crushed so as to be unrecog-
nizable and could only be identified by
his watch, which stopped at LOS p. m.
On account of the inaccessibility of the
point where the wreck occurred, it was
impossible to bring the bodies to Parkers-
burg tonight, and they will be held at
Petroleum until trains get through to-
morrow.
TRAINMEN ASLEEP.
The accident happened on a curve on a
heavy down grade and at the approach
Of a bridge. That any one was saved at
all is almost a miracle. The third sec
ton of No. 81 was on the siding at Pc
troluem, with orders to wait there until
the second section of No. 9S passed east.
Engineer Davidson, who escaped with
slight injuries, was the engineer on No.
ST, and went to sleep on the siding. When
the first section went by he thought it
was the second section, and started out
on to the main track. His fireman and
forward brakemen, both of whom were
killed, must also have been asleep, for
they allowed him to take the train out.
The conductor of the first SO, after he
passed. saw Davidson pulling out, and
tried to wave him to stop, but failed.
The conductor of thes4fourths 81, seeing
the third section pull out, ran forward
after it as fast as possible, his engineer
whistling down brakes, and the conduc-
tor OF the wrecked train ran over the
tops of the cars until he reached the car
next to the last one wrecked in his at
tempt to stop the engineer, but none of
them attracted his attention In time.
Conductor Lang managed to jump in
time to save himself. All passengers on
the east and west-bound accommoda-
tions were transferred at the wreck to-
icrhf h11f fhn 70 OF fr.aiT
around by Moundsville and the Ohio
river railway. Brakeman Lester Davis,
whose day it was to go out on No. 9S
owes his life to the call boys failure to
find him this morning, and Courtney
was substituted and went to his death