Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-11-28

to render immediate aid. me liHtht
grants who were lucky enough to get
/ out alive from the last one or two I'M
migrant cars were unable to speak Eng
llish. and could give no idea, apparently
of the number of people in each car. Inc
4 conductor of this train could not pe
i found. and for this reason the es'ima'e
of the number of dead must be consio-
cred purely as approximate, put she
| railroad doctors and others agreed .na'
/ the number must approach 100. When
the relief trains arrived, as many oA 'le
injured as could be carried were taken
To Montpelier Ohio; Peru, Indiana ana
/ hospitals at Adrian.
/ Considerable light is thrown on .ne
i cause of the disaster by the orders Wnicn
She conductor showed as his au'hoii's
! for proceeding past Sand Creek. me
j order, which was delivered to the tram
AZ Holloway, read as follows:
"order No. 2S-Trains 13 and S-No.
Ia engine 6o9 will meet No. 13 at Seneca
/ and No. 5, engine 62s. at Sand Creek.
/ Engines No. ss and 151 will double ana
hold No. 49,"
/ It is understood the engineer ana con-
ductor OF No. received a similar oroer
at Montpelier, o., but il they did the or
ders were disregarded.
The scene of the holocaust presented q
lbleak and desolate appearance tnis
morning. Strewn along both sides OF
the track for 500 feet we're car Wheels
lbrake beams and such other parts OF the
wrecked coaches as would not burn.
Engines IS and COG were lying In the
lditch on. the right hanf OF the road'
Jyeritable scrap heaps. Broken car seats,
many. Of them daubed with the blood OF
their last occupants, were scattered
about and being used as cushions by
those huddled around the open fires
about the scene. Farmers for miles
laround drove to the scene this morn
ing. in majority of cases bringing
i their wives and families with them.
II was past midnight before search
OF the ruins of the burned cars could be
/ begun. AS soon as the heat subsided
sufficiently scores of men began delving
! in the mass AS 1t was slowly turned
over small crisp pieces of those who had
perished in the flames were occasionally
found.
/ The largest portion OF any body found
wa. terribly burned trunk. The heat
was SO intense that the cars and their
human freight were reduced to black
4 ened powder that was blown about for
hundreds OF feet by the breeze. Inside
Of two hours the iron of the cars had all
been hauled into the ditch at the right
| side of the road. The first relief party
on the scene arrived from Adrian fifty
five minutes after the accident and they
j Immediately began work on the second
coach OF train No. 4, which was tele-
scoped KY the collision and reduced to
splinters. The wreck Of the coach was
1ammed into space hardly fourteen
feet square and from the ruins of the
car the bodies of four men and one
woman were pulled out.
Train No. g. which was waiting on the
side track at Sand Creek, was run up to
/ the scene as soon as the accident was
reported there, and on this train practi-
cally all the injured from the west
bound train was loaded and started for
| the company's hospital at Peru, Ind. A
4 relief train from Montpelier, o., took
more of the injured from the east
bound train and also started for Peru
1 with them. Pending the arrival of these
ambulance trains, the injured, as fast
as extricated, were placed in the two
sleepers attached to train No 49, which
was not wrecked, or taken to the house
of Ben Huss, which was within hun
4 dred yards Of where the collision oc-
Cured.
At 8 O'Clock the bodies of the dead, to-
/ gether with q few of the awful frag-
ments that bulged out OF tne burning
cars, were placed aboard car and
| taken to Adrian.
/ At Ais the body of Fireman Calvin
Baldorf was discovered jammed into the
wrecked cab of his engine, No. 151. At z
. o'clock the wreckers removed the last
piece of the wreckage from the tracks.
1t was enigne 151. Altho considerably
warped and bent. its wheels were still
4 true enough SO that they kept the track
after the engine was pulled back on the
rails, and 1t was towed to Seneca.
II Altho Engineer Strong of the east
bound limited saw the light of the ap-
4 preaching train while yet some Ave
l miles away, and down straight track,
/ he did not check his speed, because o