Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1901-11-30
GROWS IN HORROR
LATEST NEWS or WABASH DIS.
AsTER EVEN WORSE THAN
FIRST REPORTS.
AT LEAST EIGHTY ARE KILLED
INJURED NUMBER MORE THAN a.
HUNDRED. MANY OF WHOM
CANNOT LIVE.
AT LEAST EIGHTY ARE KILLED
TRYING TO FIX THE BLAME
MlsREApiNG or ORDERS BY AN
ENGINEER GIVEN AS Al.
E.. LEGGED CAUSE.

e. I6GGD SfAO06s
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.
s Detroit, Nov. 29.-Two passenger
trains on the Wabash railroad, one
going west, the other east, met in
frightful collision while going at al
most full speed, one mile east of Sen
eca, Mich. village II miles west OF
Adrian. Both trains were wrecked in
the dreadful impact entailing a tire.
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. Is and was a regular which, be-
sides its 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 vestl-
buled train. consisting of baggage
car, combination coach and sleeper.
The cause of the wreck was q mis-
reading of orders by Engineer Strong
of the Continental Limited. The or
der, it is claimed, read 'fpass at Sem
eca," but Strong understood it to read
Sand Creek. The conductor of the
train did not eknow that the engineer
had misund erstood 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 ,sir 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.
Engineer Strong stated In positive
terms to an Associated Press reporter
that his order directed him to pass
trains Nos. 13 and (the latter closely
followed No. 13 from Detroit) at Sand
Creek. Said Strong:
81 saw the headlight of No. Is, four
or five miles before the collision oc-
Cured, but supposed the train was
sidetracked at Sand Greek, 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 gangWay.''
Strong and the fireman were both
hurled 300 feet but, although
scratched, cut and terribly Jared, they
were not seriously injured.
The immigrants and other passen-
gers on train No. 10 were crushed be-
tween the splintered cars. If any es-
capped without injury it will be by a
miracle.
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.
The scene that followed was heart
rending. The spot where the wreck
occurred was in the open country, with
but one farmhouse nearby, and facil-
ities~for aiding the injured were ex-
tremely inadequate.
Soon as the news Of the disaster
reached Superintendent Burns here
relief train was dispatched to the
scene with score or more of surgeons
on board. Farmers from nearby and
those who escaped from the wreck
alive made heroic efforts to rescue the |
less fortunate.
The condition of the wreck was such +
that in the darkness it was impossible
to render immediate aid.
i List of Casualties Incomplete.
The immigrants who were lucky
enough 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
conductor of the train could not be
found, and on account of this the list
of casualties is incomplete and the
estimate of the number of dead is
only approximately correct. But the
railroad doctors and others present
agreed that the number approaches
100.
When the relief trains arrived as
many Of the Injured as could be carl
ried were taken to Montpelier. OIL
Peru, Ind, and to the hospitals at
Adrian
The scene tn neighborhood Of the
wreck was terrible.
In the semi-darkness, Illuminated
only by the glare from the fire of the
wreekage, men stumbled about over
corpses which fell from the ruins and
which, after the flames had died out,
were hauled from the debris. There
they lay in confused heaps along the
track. Farmers from the surrounding
country and people from the neighbour
Ing villages did what they could to aid
the injured and care for the dead, but
this seemed little In proportion to the
enormity of the calamity.
Shortly after the collision SIX Of the
cars of the westbound train, occupied
by immigrants, burst into flames. The
fought madly in their at
tempts to crawl out of doors and win.
do~s, thus hindering each other SO