The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-11-30
IT WAS REALLY SENECA
Engineer Strong Saw Headlight of No.
IS Far Away.
BELIEVED HER WAITING Ar THE STATION
II is Believed That Eigh'y.Fiye People We're
Killed in the Collision on the Wabash,
An Inquest to be Held
Today,
(By the Associated Press. )

Detroit, Mich, Nov. 2S-When night
fell over the scene of yesterday evenings
awful calamity on the Wabash Railroad
near Seneca, Mich, those who had been
investigating the disaster had found
nothing to alter the estimate of s1bout
1 eighty lives as result of the collision.
Coroner Hamilton, of Adrian, this af-
ternoon impaneled jury and will begin
an inquest into the disaster tomorrow
morning. No steps have been taken as
] yet toward the arrest of Engineer
Strong, whom Superintendent Burns
! says is responsible for the collision and
| holocaust.
The scene of the holocaust presented
| bleak and desolate appearance this
| morning. Strewn along both sides of the
| track for five hundred feet we're car
wheels, brake beams and such other parts
| OF the wrecked coaches as would not
burn. Engines SS and 609 were lying in
| the ditch on the right-hand of the road,
| veritable scrap heaps. Broken cars, some
! OF them daubed with the blood of their
| last occupants, were scattered about and
being used as cushions by those huddled
around the open fires about the scene.
When the first relief train arrived
on the scene last night from Adrian, six
OF the ears in train No. 13 were burning
| so fiercely that the relief party could
not get within several hundred feet of
| them. They were the baggage car, the
/ immigrants cars, two coaches and chair
Car
| There was nothing to do but stand
back and wait Until the fire burned itself
out 1t was past midnight before search
of the ruins Of the burned cars could
| be begun. AS soon as the heat had sub
sided sufficiently scores of men began
, delving in the mass. As it was slowly
turned over small crisp pieces of those
who had perished in the flames were oe-
casionally found, The largest portion OF
anybody found was a terribly burned
trunk. The heat had been so intense
that the cars and their human freight
had been reduced to a blackened pow
der that was blown about for hundreds CT
feet by the breeze.
Although Engineer Strong, of the
Eastbound Limited saw the light of the
approaching train while yet some five
miles away and down q straight track,
he did not check his speed, because, as
he said, he supposed No. 13 was waiting
on a siding at Sand Creek After reach
ing Detroit today. Strong said:
II read mr. orde- s that was to ston
at Sand Creek, and evidently the other
crew read theirs to stop at Seneca.
know that there were four OF us tEat
read my orders the same-the fireman,
conductor, brakeman and myself. lost
my orders in the confusion of the wreck,
but the records will show what they were
and what the other crews orders were
when | first saw the headlight of the
other train it was far enough away, so
l presume, I could have stopped, but
you know how it is with these electric
headlights-you cannot tell anything
about how far away they are. 1t was
on straight away track, and 1 thought
we were to stop at Seneca, and so both
of us came on at full speed.
I'VE must have been running fifty
miles an hour. When we saw that they
were on top of us i saw must jump
There was a bridge right ahead and / did
not want to fall in that, so l waited un-
til we were past it and fell There was
only slight embankment and the crash
came, right after / let go. rolled fully
thirty rods. When / came to there was
my engine on one side of me and the
trucks of the second car, which was tele-
scoped on the other"
Superintendent Burns today said that
Engineer Strong, of train No. A, was re-
sponsible.
His orders" said he, clearly directed
him to pass train No. 1S at Seneca He
evidently forgot them for he did not
stop there and the collision resulted
Engineer Parks, of the rear engine CT
No. 13. has his left leg broken and face
cut He describes the collision as fol-
lows:
I'VE had orders to meet train No. at
Seneca and were running about thirty
miles an hour. The track is straight for
several miles and could see the head
light of No. 4 coming when we We're
about three miles west Of Sand Creek.
l put on the air brakes and the shock
came before l had time to jump.
"The three engines all piled up togeth
er. l was thrown through the roof of the
window of the cab. The engine on train
No 4 fell to the south and our two piled
up together. 1 picked myself up on the
bank and then another man crawled up
to me. 1t was Engineer Work. Both
of our firemen must have been killed"