The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-12-22
RAN INTO END COACH
ENGINE FLOWED WAY THROUGH
PASSENGERS.
TERRIBLE TRAGEDY OF TRACK
ENACTED WHEN TR AIMS CRASHED
IN CALIFORNIA.

sixteen Passengers Were KILLED
and Many Were Injured-Traiu
That Bore the Brunt of the CoIli-
sion Was Delayed-FlaRman Wns
Sent to Warn the Following Train
and IL is Not known why the En-
Gineer Failed to stop and Thus
Avoid the Collision
Martinez, Cal, Dec 21.-As a result
of rear-end collision between the
Stockton Flyer" and the Owl train
on the Southern Pacific at Byron last
night, sixteen deaths have already been
recorded and there are fears that the
total will reach twenty.
Most of the wounded passengers, who
were too severely injured to be taken
to their homes, were taken to the
Southern Pacific Hospital at San Fran
cisco to-day, and on the way to that
place five victims died. Twenty-Five of
the injured reached the hospital,
where it was announced tonight that
r. w. Post of Fowler, Cal. and Lee
Sou, a Chinese of San Francisco,
would probably succumb. OF the
twenty-two patients, only three were
permitted to receive visitors, so seri-
ously were they suffering.
Some of the dead have been identi-
fed, as follows:
List of Identified Dead.
Elizabeth l.. Smith. Fresno, Cal,
aged 3S; Clarence d. Oluffs, Fresno,
%; Robert Renrick, San Francisco;
Miss Birdie Elliott, San Francisco,
aged %; Mabel Vezey, Modesot, Cal,
aged 10; Len Irwin, Oakland; George
Sessions, Oakland, Cal, aged so;
Charles Ownes. Fresno; Miss Myers,
Fresno; Lung Tia Gong, a Chinese girl
of San Francisco.
The unidentified dead include one
white man, evidently a sailor two Chi
nese, one Japanese woman and q Jap
anese child.
The dead were brought here to-day
and an inquest will be held to-mor-
row. Most of the corpses are terribly
mutilated.
1t was a rear-end collision, the en-
CINE of the local blowing it's way into
the rear coach of the Owl, which was
filled with Fresno people. The pas
sengers who escaped death were hurled
to the forward part of the coach,
crushed in the mass of debris. Their
sufferings and danger were intensified
by the clouds of scalding steam that
poured out from the shattered boiler
OF the Stockton engine.
After the Owl left the Oakland mole,
1t was noted that there was leak
in the fiue of the engine. This in-
creased to such an extent that IL was
deemed advisable to stop here and take
freight on pfna for ra1eaf 1vaa
officials knew that the Stockton local
train was following a half-hour behind,
and a fiagman was sent back along the
track to give warning Of the presence
of the Owl.
1t is said that the Stockton train,
in charge of Engineer Mcguire and
Fireman Joyce, got the warning sig
nal in due time and gave the usual
signal. Why the following train was
not checked, however, has not been
explained thus far, the men who could
give the facts being among the badly
injured.
PIOwed Into Crowded Coach.
So forcibly did the local meet the
rear of the Owl that the end of the
second car, the dining car, was
smashed In, and the three cooks were
seriously hurt. The horror of fire was
not added to the disaster, and the
penned up victims were spared from
flame, for the oil burners were extin-
guished when the crash came
Relief quickly came to the injured
passengers, axes and saws being
brought into play. Messengers were
sent to Byron Hot Springs, a short
distance away, and physicians came
quickly to the station. Every effort
was made to alleviate the suffering,
and those who were unable to proceed
on their journey we're, taken to the
Springs Hotel, or the chafeh in By
ron. which temporarily Nvas trans
formed into a hospital
None of the passengers of the Stock
ton train were injured and all of the
crew of the Owl escaped unhurt
Edward Joyce, fireman of the Stock
ton Flyer, in a statement explaining
the collision. said:
= 1--WE saw the hagman's light ahead
of us and put on the brakes at once.
They seemed to work well enough, but
we could not stop in time to avoid
smashing into the rear of the owl
train. The engine went right through
the cars.