The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-16
EIGHT KILLED
IN COLLISION
ILLINOIS CENTRAL CONDUCTOR IS
ALLEGED TO HAVE DIS
OREYED ORDERS
TWO TRAINS MEET AT BEN.
Engine Crews and Passengers in the
Smoker Were Penned in and
Their Bodies Were En-
tireiy Consumed.
INJURED SUFFERED TERRIBLY

INJURED SUFFERED TERRIBLY
ROCKFORD ILL.,, Dec 15.-Failure on
the part of conductor to obey orders
is supposed to have been the cause of a
head-end collision on the Illinois Central
between Irene and Perryville early this
morning. The two trains were the east
bound passenger train No. and a
through freight from Chicago going
west. AS result eight people are dead
or missing and eleven injured. The
known dead are:
RICHARD oRMSBY, Chicago, en-
glneer OF the passenger train.
JAMES REARDoN, Freeport, fireman
OF passenger train.
ROBERT THOMPSON. DUBUQUE
american Express messenger.
j., w. FUNK, Chicago. brakeman, pas
senger train.
DAVID BEHAN, Freeport, freight en-
gineer.
fireman.
Missing and supposed to be dead:
,,1I-OY MIEWobOY on passenger train, name
SECTION FOREMAN from Irene, name
unknown.
The injured, SO far as the names could
be ascertained, are as follows:
IL. G. Wellman, S95 Jackson boulevard.
Cnlcago, right arm crushed off at elbow
critical.
D. r. Ahrendt, $50 West North avenue,
Chicago, cut and bruised by broken
glass;
]. H. Quinlan, passenger conductor cut
and bruised, crushed about the chest;
taken to Rockford city hospital; condi-
ton critical
W. 3. Keefe. Sioux City, Iowa, head
severely cut.
Frank Stadelman. New Athens, Ill, cuts
about head and arms.
Thomas Hendricks, New Athens, ILL.,,
cut It, and bruised and hair scorcned Off
e. M Burch. Kankakee; M. e. Franklin,
Lake City, Iowa; A. L. Boggs, ST. Louis
John Hussey, independence. Iowa.
Met at Bend in Track.
The trains met in a slight bend in the
track, both running at full speed. The
smoking car, express and baggage cars
Were piled on the locomotives penning
in the occupants OF the smoker Only
three of the half dozen persons in @that
car escaped. The others penned In, II
not instantly killed, were roasted to
death and their bodies, along with those
Of the engine crews, were entirely con-
sumed. An efforts of the survivors to
reach the victims were unavailing. The
flames drove them back at every point.
The temperature was 20 degrees below
zero and an icy wind was blowing across
the prairie, the point where the wreck
occurred being In shallow cut, afford
ing no protection. The injured were
without hats and wraps and suffered
terribly. By the united efforts of the
survivors the way car was pushed back
from the wreckage to escape the flames
and the wounded were placed on the
hunks inside.
Two hours elapsed before any relief
was at hand. Then an engine arrived
from the east and pulled the way car
to Irene three miles distant.
A relief train was started from Rock
ford at 1:3O a. M, having on board sew
eral doctors. 1t arrived at the scene
of the wreck twenty minutes later In
the meantime the injured had been
brought back from Irene from the way
car and were transferred to the relief
train and brought to Rockford. All the
injued are doing well except H. G. VII
liams, of Chicago, who Is in critical
condition.
Wrecking train have been at work to.
day and have the tracks clear tonight.
Six bodies were recovered from the de-
bris, but were charred beyond recogni-
tion Coroner F. M. Marsh will conduct
the inquest Monday.
Freight Engineer Blamed.
]. w. Higgins, of Chicago, general SUI
perintendent Of transportation of the II
linois Central road. said:
'sIt was lamentable accident. 1t was
due to the fact that the engineer and
conductor of the freight train failed to
obey orders. The passenger train was
delayed by the cold weather, and it was
three hours and forty minutes late when
the freight train going east reached Cole
man, forty miles west Of Chicago. Cole
man Is the passing point for the two
trains. The conductor and engineer of
the freight train were instructed that the
passenger train was late. and it was
their duty to sidetrack at Irene, which
they neglected to do.
'"There was no explosion that we can
get information Of. Employees who were
aboard the trains say that both were
running at full speed and that the shock
was terrible. It seems there were three
distinct blows, due to the recois of the
cars Two men say that they were
thrown down three times in rapid success
sion. The entire passenger train ana q
large part Of the freight train were
demolished with the two locomotives"
Steam Pipes Burst.
Bernard R. Ahrendt, of Chicago, one of
the survivors of the wreck, who was
injured and taken to the hospital at
Rockford, told the following story Of The
wreck:
"I was riding in the chair car when
the crash came. I was knocked sense
less for moment, and the first knew
the steam from the bursted pipes was en-
veIoping me. I broke the window with
nv fist and climbed out, cutting and
bruising myself badly.
"a fellow passenger, who sat In the
chair next to me, jumped out after me
and landed ON his head. The wreck took
fire almost Immediately, and in ten min
utes was reduced to ashes, the oil from a
tank car and the high wind that pre-
vailed helping the blaze. There were a
great many miraculous escapes. A young
woman with a baby jumped out Of one
of the cars and escaped without
out in the cold for two hours waiting for
the relief train"
Miss Malde Stewart, the fancee of
Harry G. Wellman, another Chicago
passenger, who was seriously injured, is
now at his side in the Rockford hospital.
She left tonight in response to a tele-
gram from the hospital authorities re-
auesting her presence. Wellman was very
seriously injured, his right arm being