The San Francisco call., 1901-11-29
However, Five Score I'm
migrants Die in the
Wabash Wreck.
Ninety Bodies of the Victims
Believed to Have Been
Incinerated.
With the Removal of the Debris Nor
tai Remains Crumble and the
Ashes Are Scattered
by the Wind.

| over the scene of last nights calamity
on the Wabash Railroad near Seneca,
Mich, those who had been investigating
the disaster had found nothing to alter
the estimate of about eighty lives lost as
a result of the collision. Superintendent
| George NJ. Burns of the division on which
the wreck occurred insists that the esti-
mates are too high.
81 do not consider" he said, that the
total death list will exceed twenty"
However, in support of the larger esti-
mate, it is pointed out that there are
now fourteen passengers known to be
dead. The bodies of eight of these have
been recovered, and it is considered that
the fragments of other bodies now in the
Morgue at Adrian will account for many
more than the twelve dead necessary to
make up Superintendent Burns estimate
OF twenty.
Remains Crumble to Powder.
In addition to the comparatively few
fragments recovered and sent to the
Morgue those who were early on the
scene say that many more pieces were dis
covered which crumbled to powder while
they were being removed.
Superintendent Burns said tonight that
he was unable to tell the exact number
of Italian immigrants aboard train No
13, but thought that there were not more
than fifty. Passengers on the train, and
a number of those who were early on the
scene, disputed this and say the number
was nearer eighty. Superintendent Burns
has received no report yet from Ticket
] = Ill 81
probably knows, nearer than any one else,
the number of Italians In the cars.
Coroner Hamilton of Adrian this after
noon impaneled jury and will begin an
inquest into the disaster tomorrow No
step has been taken as yet toward the ar
rest of Engineer Strong who, Super
intendent Burns says, is responsible for
the collision.
One Hundred Lives Lost.
The official list of the dead given to the
local papers shows the names of but ten
dead and forty-eight injured, but Detroit
newspaper men, who were at the scene Of
the wreck and talked with survivors of
both trains, say that the official list does
not bear out the statements of the pas
sengers nor evidence of the horrible loss
Of life which they witnessed at the spot
where the accident occurred.
The Free Press tomorrow will say that
the loss of life was in round numbers 10O
and that the statements made by the Ital-
ian immigrants on train No. 1S bear out
this claim. These immigrants said that
there were about 125 of their nationality
on the train and that only about twenty
five Of them escaped.
While only ten of them are known to be
dead, it is asserted that the other ninety
were completely incinerated and that
with the removal of the wreckage the
bodies crumbled to dust, which was scat
tered by the wind. If the names of these
dead are ever known it will be when
friends make INQUIRY for them and in
many instances this seems highly i'm
probable.
A Tribune staff correspondent, writing
of the scenes about the wreck, says: Only
one man was found who was an eyewit-
ness of the collision
Scene of Awful Horror.
A. w. Ely, a man 20 years Of age,
residing at Seneca. stood at the depot
platform and saw train 13 go by. He
watched the train as she went down the
level track to destruction. His attention
was arrested by a crash. Then a stream
of flame and smoke shot 100 feet into the
air. Ely rushed to the wreck and was
the first outsider on the ground. Accord
ing to his statement, the scene was one
of awful horror.
when I got there the immigrant cars
were already on fire and the shrieks of
the burned and injured were terrible.
got hold of one man in the collapsed car
and pulled him out He was horribly
crushed and his legs were broken. He
died almost as soon as I got him out of
the car. Then 1 went to the burning cars
and the scene made me wish 1 had never
gone to the wreck.
Il don't believe more than fifteen Ital-
ians got out of the wrecked cars, for
saw but very few. Those who did get
out rushed around like crazy men; call