Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1901-11-28
TO-DAY'S TELEGRAPHIC NEWS


Y
Detroit, Mich, Nov. 2s.-The latest
estimate of the casualties 10 the terrible
railroad accident near Adrian, Mich,
Is that there are eighty dead and 125
injured. OF the latter, IL is said that 25
| will die. OF the dead 80 are Italian i'm
| migrants who were on westbound train
No. Is. Il 10 estimated that there we're
80 persons 10 the day car OF train No.
4, east bound, and OF these 30 are dead.
fne track where the collision occurred
Ia straight and &C fret the officials cou d
GOT understand how the accident could
have happened. Number Is, which
ordinarily Is due to leave Detroit at 2:20
O'Clock, was two hours late in depar'
ins, clearing this city at 4:20. Accord
| Jog TO the schedule, the two trains met
at Montpelier, Ohio. but yesterday, ac-
cording to reports, Number had orders
TO welt for No. IL ct Seneca. Toe
blame 10 therefore placed on the con.
ductor or engineer OF No. 4. Had this
train been held at Seneca the accident
and the attending horrifyDg results
would not have happened. Both trains
we're utterly smashed to splinters b.
the crash. The passengers bad not a
| momeots time to prepare and many
met instant death. Fire added to the
horror, for the wrecked coaches i'm.
medistely began to blaze and many per-
sons, still alive, but imprisoned 10 the
wreck, we're burned to death. Tiers
we're 40 means of quenching the flames
80 they were simply allowed to burn
themselves out by the panic stricken
survivors.
As soon as news OF the disaster
reached the railroad officials here spec-
| ial trains were ordered to the scene
from Peru and Montpelier. BY mid
night the injured were being cared for
at farm houses. The dead were picked
up and placed 10 row along the tracks.
Later the bodies were put aboard
special train. When the first special
carrying the injured reached Adrian,
| the wounded victims we're carried 10
smbulances, drays and delivery wagons
to the hospitals. When they were filled
private residences in the neighborhood
were pressed into service. The engines
| on both trains were reduced to scrap
| iro 4 and the engineers and fremen on
both trains persisted. They were buried
deep beneath mass OF iron and tele-
sooped cars which were burning fierce
| ly. No. 4. and No. 10 we're considered
the fastest and best trains on the Wa
bash. It Is estimated that they were
running at the rate OF OF 30 miles en-
hour when the crash came.
Chicago, Nov. 28.-Four partially
wrecked cars, OF those caught In the
collision on the Wabash Railroad near
| seneca, Mich, arrived In Chicago this
morning. In item were broken seats,
smashed stoves, bloodstained hand bag
gage and other effects Of the victims OF
the wreck. The contents OF the cars
and their badly crushed exteriors iDdi-
cate the ruinous extent Of the smashup
Heavy iron bumpers on the platforms
we're bent and broken. Many passeD.
gers were doing when the trains COL
lided and many OF these were killed
| outright. The stoves used on the cars
were 40 old type, according TO employees
of the company, and their contents
scattered aver the wreckage. This Is
the reason it was so quickly consumed.
The flames rapidly consumed the cars
| sud the dying persons pinioned 10 them.
/ Many, alive and In full possession OF
| their senses, were slowly consumed.
One aged Italian, whose leg was pinned
10 the wreck, frantioally tore away the
clothing on his body 80 The flames
might shorten his agony. Men and
women. realizing they could not escape,
begged the trainmen to kill them before
the flames reached the ii. A child's
skull was crushed and it's body iDciner-
sted before the eyes OF freDEled
mother. Men, whose limbs we're man
| gled, watched 10 borrow their blooO
stain the debris. Pletro Boaggio, 81
Italian laborer, sevrred with pocket
knife fragment of flesh which held one
msngled leg to his body and dragged
himself far enough from the flames to
escape. Some OF the bodies were burn
ed to crisp and are unrecognizable.
Fully twenty Of the immigrants killed
may never be recognized, their features
being obiiterated and their clothing and
Identifying papers being destroyed. No
report has been made of half dozen
children that were on train No. 4, ell
of whom 1t is thought were consumed
In the wreck.
Adrian, Mich, Nov. GA Novem.
Der dawn never witnessed more grue-
some sight than that presented this
morning at the scene OF yesterdays
Wabash wreck near Seneca. Smolder.
iug tlmbers smashed with twisted beams
and steam pipes holding In their fright
iul embrace ohsrred and still roasting
corpses, confronted the rescuers when
daylight came. All night long the
hunt for the dead continued while the
wounded were being placed on special
trains and hurried to hospitals. Ii ID
believed that between eighty and Dinety
persons were killed and that over q
hundred were injured. A s o'clock the
osmes OF only eleven dead had been
secured. Many of the Injured cannot
recover. Some suffered msngled legs
and others were badly crushed about
the head and body or we're frighttully
scslded. OF the ffty-four injured.
whose names had been secured. this
morning, twenty-one are foreigners.