Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1901-11-29
AWFUL WABASH DISASTER
Latest Reports Show Even Worse
Conditions than the Horrifying
Details of Thursday.
At Least Eighty Killed and over 100
Injured of Whom Many
Will Die:'
Misleading of Orders by An Engineer
is Given as the Cause of
the Disaster.


the Disaster.
Detroit, Nov. 29-The latest reports
of the terrible collision on the Wabash
railroad near Seneca, Mich, indicate
that between 80 and 100 people were
killed and 1875 injured. Of the latter
Is are expected to die. -.
Detroit, Nov. 29.-Two passenger
trains on the Wabash railroad, one
going west, the other east, met in a
frightful collision while going at al
most full speed, one mile east of Sen
eca, Mich, a village II miles west of
Adrian. Both trains were wrecked in
the dreadful impact entailing a tre-
mendous loss of life estimated from
100 to $50. The list of injured prob
ably will reach 125.
The westbound train was known as
No. 13 and was a regular which, be-
sides it's regular coaches, had several
coaches filed with italian immigrants
going west from New York The east
bound train was known as No. 4, the
Continental Limited. 1t was a vesul-
buled train, consisting of baggage
car: combinationAcoach and sleeper.
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 Sen
|1eca,"' but Strong understood it to read
Sand Creek. The conductor Of the
train did not know that the engineer
had misunderstood the order and sup
posed that his train was going on a
siding. Finding that the train was
running rapidly, the conductor put on
the air brakes himself, but it was
too late. The two trains crashed to-
gether and the two cars on the west
train were piled up in heap of ruins.
Positive Order Said Sand Creek, f
Engineer Strong stated in positive
terms to an Associated Press reporter
that his order directed him to pass
trains Nos. 13 and 3 (the latter closely
followed No. 13 from Detroit) at Sand
Creek. Said Strong:
| Il saw the headlight of No. IS, four
or five miles before the collision oc-
CURED, but I supposed the train was
sidetracked 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 / both jumped
from the right hand gafgway."
Strong and the fireman were both
hurled 300 feet but, although
scratched, cut and terribly ~jarred, they
were not seriously injured. :.
The immigrants and other passen-
gers on train No. 13 were crushed be-
tween the splintered cars. If any es-
capped without injury it will be by a
miracle. IL. ..-2.
F To add to the horror the. wreckage
caught fire instantly, and in a short
time the bodies of the dead and those
of the injured who were pinned down
were being burned. s.
The scene that followed was heart
rending The spot where the wreck
occurred was in the open country, with
but one farmhouse nearby, and faciE
tiles for aiding the injured were ex-
tremely inadequate.
Soon as the news of the disaster
reached Superintendent Burns here a
relief train was dispatched to, the
lscene with a score or more of surgeons
Ion board. Farmers from nearby and
those who escaped from the wreck
alive made heroic efforts to rescue the
less fortunate. -, ......r rl.*s.% +.
| The condition of the wreck was such
that in the darkness it was impossible
l to- old
| vi List of, Casualties Incomplete. IS @
The Immigrants who were lucky
lenough to get out alive were unable
TO- speak English and could give no
Intelligent estimate of the; number OF
| people in each Immigrant, car. The
condueto of the train could not be
| found, and son account of this the list
OF casualties is incomplete and the
estimate of the number of dead is
| only approxima ately correct. But the
lrailroad doctors Il and others present
lagreed that the number approaches
/ 100. afI s&,.. q 81 955s $ <i.u. ~
| when the relief trains arrived as
| lIlany Of the injured as could be car
rled were taken to Montpelier, O.,
Peru, Ind, and. to the hospitals at
| Adrian. s NJ S5s 5 Sst$ &
The scene ii neighb hborhood of the
| wreck was terrible. s % s5
In the semi-d darkness, p 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,
were hauled from the debris. There
fhey lay Iii confused heaps along the
track. Farmers from the surrounding
country and people from the neig ghbor-
/ Alg III flages did what the could ito aid
1 the injured and care for the dead, hut
this seemed title lii proportion to the
eno ormity of the ca lamits
| shortly after the collision six of the
| cars ef the westh bound train; occupied
Il !. n