Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-05-08
Jumps the Track While Running
at a Speed Of Sixty Miles
an Hour.
One Man Killed and Three 9th.
ers Seriously Injured...Re.
markable Accident.
Soft Track and Terrific Speed
the Cause of the Serious
Wreck.
Special to Times- Republican.

Special TO IlmeS- S-RepuDllcau.
Ames. May S.-One of the most
Fortunate railroad wrecks in the his
tory of the Chicago & Northwestern, in
that there were no more lives lost or
employees injured. occurred at point
two miles west of this city shortly after
midnight this morning, when fast mail
{ NO. 10, east-bound, running sixty miles
an hour. went into the ditch. AS re-
suit one man was killed and three in
aured. one seriously.
The dead:
Unknown tramp, stealing ride on
front end of the express car, thrown to
north line right of way. killed instant
ly; body unidentified.
The injured:
John Griffin, Des Moines. clerk in
charge Of mail crew, chin badly cut and
hurt internally. Condition serious. Re
i moved to his home on morning passen-
ger train.
Alexander Turk. Chicago. mail clerk.
left hand, wrist and arm sprained and
bruised; not serious.
q. N. Graves, Chicago. mail clerk,
buried underneath mail sacks and
racks; head and body bruised and bad
5y shaken up; not serious.
The mail train, which is one of the
Fastest in the Northwestern service,
Mas in charge of Conductor j. A. Per-
nv, of Clinton, and was pulled by En-
Eineer George Clark, of Clinton. with
one OF the big ocean liners" No. ZIG.
The accident is supposed to have been
due to a small piece of soft track with
new ballast, and the fact that the train
was running at such high rate OF
speed, On board the engine at the
time Of the accident was a representa-
tive of the motive department Mr..
Nash. who, with a speed indicator, was
testing the locomotives speed In view
pf the coming contest with the C., b. q
o. for the government mail contract.
The engine was running close to Sixty
miles an hour at the time 1t left the
track
Tears Up 100 Yards Of Steel.
The accident happened on slight
hurye with trife down grade, ana
without a moments warning. The train
syas carrying four cars The first was
loaded with express, the second was the
chicago city mail car, the third the
storage mail car containing mail that
rad been worked" for New YORK ana
Tar eastern points. and the .ast an or
binary mail car On board the eng1n"
n,ith Engineer Clark and Mr. Nash was
Elreman "Cal" Spaulding of Clinton.
Accompanying Conductor Perry as
members Of the train crew were Brake
men Carl Mead and John Carroll, ooth
pf Clinton. The mail clerks on the
Drain. besides Clerk in Charge Griffin
syere q. N. Graves. Of Chicago; AleSan- :
der Turk, of Chicago; c. A. Peters, OF
haywood, Ill; Fl. c. Robbins, Of CEDAR
Rapids; Tim Kelly, OF Council biuns'
end e. R. Newcomer, of Tama. Ihe
occupants of the express car were n.
* Marsh and r. w. Younger, both OF
Chicago. All but Peters end Robbins
swere In the last car, whlh - :he
worst wrecked. Robbins and Peters
syere in the Chicago city car. The
massive engine did not leave the track,
,.nt it's tank bro\e loose and pitched off
i.o the south and out of the way of toe
following mail cars. The force that the
tank carried with 1t in parting from the
rars swerved the four cars little to
The south and this proved most fortu-
nate. The cars all left the track and
plowed along thru the sand and gravel
for distance of 100 yards, tearing up
the rails of both the north and south
tracks. The trucks were all torn away
from under the storage car a,ld those OF
the other cars were imbedded SO deeply
t,,to the gravel that nothing short of a
steam derrick will lift them out. Had
the cars been inclined to go off to the
north they would have been precipl-
tated down an embankment of thirty
ro4 s,N
even Providence could have saved the
lives Of the occupants of the train.
Find Tramp's Body.
The accident happened at point
even with the Iowa State College build
inos one-ouarter Of mile to the north.
The noise Of the wreck was plainly
heard by students and it was only a
ehort time before hundreds of young
men and women were on the ground
viewing the wreckage. A great many
~ the BOYS. knowing that their fellow
.ludents often take trips out of town
and return on the "blind baggage" of
night trains. We're much interested in
searching for the remains Of a man
uio was thought by Engineer Clark to
wave been riding on the head end of the
axnress car Harry Denmead, one of
iha students, found the mans body, ly-
ing partially over the north right-of-
way fence The man had been instantly
killed, nearly every bone in his body
having been broken. A careful Search
failed to find any scrap of paper that
would establish his identity. He had a
small amount of money in his trousers
pockets.
Miraculous Escapes.
How the occupants of the rear mail
car escaped without more injuries OF
with their lives is a mystery that can
only be solved by crediting it to kind
providence. Every particle of mail in
the car was knocked from the cases
aud every window broken. The mai.