The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-28

impossible to see hundreo rect ane8d because of the snow and the trains crash ed together almost before the engine crews realized that collision was immi- nent. The impact threw the two engines clear of the track on the right-hand side. The two day coaches of the express were between the heavily loaded baggage cars and the weighty Pullmans. With ter rife crash the rear baggage car was driven into the coach for three-fourths of It's length and in a twinkling a score of the occupants were dead and two score more pinned down in the wreckage crush ed and mangled- he horror of Ire was mercifully spared the suffering persons buried in the wreck. A little flame broke out but the uninjured passengers extin- guished it with snow before 1t could gain any headway. The occupants of the two Pullman cars and the second day coach swarmed out of their cars to the rescue. A perfect pedlam of noises greeted them. The hiss of escaping steam from the wrecked engines mingled with the piteous cries of the unfortunates pinned in the ruins. The bitter cold wind and snow added to their sufferings. Volunteer res cue parties immediately formed and did heroic work.
 Surgeons and wrecking Cars.
 Meanwhile a brakeman had rushed through the storm to the telegraph of- flee and notified both London and Sarnia officials of the accident. Relief trains with surgeons and wrecking cars were oIf their way to the scene from both ends of the division in the shortest possible time. While they were steaming at greatest speed the work of rescue was carried on by the uninjured passengtrs. They delved into the head of debris and, guided by the means and cries. found the sufferers, pried and chopped them out and carriet them to the two Pullman cars which wer' transformed into temporary hospitals.
 Tenderly the wounded forms were car ried to the hospital cars and given what attention was possible before the surgeons arrived. Several of the passengers had liquor fiasks and the most severely in jured were given stimulants There was scarcely any water to be had and the vol. unteer nurses melted quantities of snow with which they satisfied the feverish thirst, of the suffering. The surgeons on board the wrecking train from Sarnia were first tp reach the scene. They has tened around the wreck through a snow- cover ed field to the temporary hospitals and began making emergency dressings of the most serious W ,unds. The men of the wrecking crew took up the work rescue. While they were at work the wrecking train arrived from London with more surgeons. As soon as it was posi- lively known that all the injured had been found, an engine was coupled to the hospital Pullmans and the pitiful journey to Lcndon, forty niles away. was begun Agonies of Wounded.
 Opiates were administered to lessen th' agonies of the wounded, aggravated as. they were by the unavoidable jarring and jerking of the car. As soon as news of 10 Tuaz in ha Grand Trunk officials began arrangements for caring for the injured at Victoria Hospital on South Street. The tracks of the Detroit and Lake Erie Railroad are
 within a block and half of the hospital and the car was transferred to them and ran as closely as possible to the hospital. Twenty extemporized ambuances were In waiting. Strong arms carried the wound ed out of the car and they were hurried to the hospital It was 5:so o'clock when | they arrived and in an hour all had been 1 put to bed temporarily awaiting examina- l ton and surgical treatment.
 Ed De Baus of Prescott, Ont, and Lot ! tie Lynch of Port Huron. Mich., died soon after they were received at the hospital. Several of the lesser injured persons left | the hospital this afternoon. Tonight all | those still there are expected to recover, although internal injuries may result fatally in one or two cases.
 Met by UndertakerS' Wagons. When the second Pullman arrived in
 the city at 10 o'clock it was met by under takers wagons instead of ambulances Twenty-Five bodies were in the berths. The broken forms were placed in collins | in the freight sheds and then sent to the morgue where the work of identifying them began. At 10 o'clock only one un- claimed and unknown body still remained
 at Furgusons morgue.
 Tonight at Watford, pr. A. E. Harvey
 county coroner. impaneled a jury to in | vestigate the wreck and decide If possible on it's cause After electing a foreman they adjourned until Monday. Up to a late hour tonight the operator at Wat | ford, whose mistake Trainmaster Price
 says caused the wreck, had not been placed under arrest.
 | Conductor McAulffe of the express said today that the freight train crew had | opened the Wanstead switch and the train
 had started to move onto 1t when the | collision occurred. A minute or two
 more and the freight train would have
 been safely Sidetracked.
 Trainmaster Price says that $10,000 will
 cover the loss to rolling stock and equip
 ment. The line was cleared soon after
 noon and tonight the shell of the baggage
 car lies on one side of the track surround | ed by the wreckage of the telescoped day
 coach. On the other side the two en-
 zines are piled in A heap.
 | One of the peculiar features of the dis
 aster was that not an amputation was
 necessary among the injured. Almost all
 of them suffered injuries about the head
 and upper part of their bodies. This is
 probably accounted for by the following
 descriptions by one of the uninjured pas.
 sengers of the day coach. He says the I floor of the baggage car raised up level with the window sills of the passenger
 car and cut a path right through the pas | senger car at this level. The window siIls
 being about even with the backs of the
 seats, this accounts for the great number
 of shoulder and head injuries.