The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-09-01
TORNADO HITS TRAIN.
Hurled 1t Down Embankment
Causing Death and Injury.

Waseca, Mimi, Sept. 1.-Two persons
were killed, three dangerously injured
and more than twenty others injured IN
the wreck of a train which had been
hurled down an embankment by a tor
nado. A west-bound train on the Chi
cago and Northwestern railway, con-
sisting. of an engine, a baggage car and
two crowded passenger coaches, was
struck by a tornado while running at
the rate of thirty-five miles an hour.
two miles from Meridian. The passen-
ger and baggage car were hurled eigh-
teen feet down the embankment to the
fence guarding the right-of-way.
brakeman had been lighting the lamps
when the crash came and the wreck
age ignited by the splitting of oil. The
dead are:
DELMAR PETERSON, aged 5 years,
WaSeca, MINI.
WOMAN, supposed to be Anna Buck
ford, Albert Lea. Mimi.
The fatally injured are:
Miss Eva Richardson, New Ulm.
Mimi. hurt internally.
A. c. Mcconnell, Bookings. S. D.,
hurt internally.
Unidentified woman, crushed.
The other casualties were as follows:
T. N. Knavold, Albert Lea, state SEN
ator and candidate for congress. four
ribs broken.
Frank Madden, news agent, Waseca,
John scolledes. Meridian. shoulder
dislocated.
Miss Edith Shackle, Winona, left arm
and hip fractured, face lacerated.
John Keegan, Waseca, left arm
sprained.
Mrs. James Deem, Sleepy Eye, Mimi.
right hip bruised and face lacerated.
Miss Ruth Jones, Worthington. Mimi.
arm fractured.
Margaret Jones, Worthington, injured
internally.
r. H. Wilde, Milwaukee, shoulder
dislocated, left arm broken and injured
internally.
Miss Caroline A. McCune, WOrthlng-
ton, head injured.
Mrs. Charles Greene. Owatonna, fore
head cut, left side bruised.
r. D. McDougall, Owatonna, scalp
wound.
Richard Borden, Meridian forehead
badly cut.
Christian Gregg, Marion, O., one ear
cut off and legs and chest crushed.
Miss E. c. Hilmer, New Ulm, head cut
and badly injured internally.
John Roseman. Meridian, left arm bro
ken.
Miss Mary Glasby. Kasson, Mimi, left
arm broken.
George Decline. Austin. Mimi, head
injured.
E. N. Stevens. 20 Best avenue. Chi
cago. cut by flying glass.
E. F. Wendt, Badger. Wis, Internal
ly injured.
The engineer saw the tornado in ap-
parent pursuit OF the train. ana scarce
ly an instant before the wind struck
the cars, the train gave a lurch in a
sudden squirt to evade the funnel shap-
ed fury. Fully an hour and a half
elapsed before a wrecking train arriv-
ed. The engine did not leave the track,
the baggage car and passenger coaches
having been twisted Off as if by giant
hands and hurled downward to the
bottom of the embankment. The bag
gage car was shattered to Splinters. The
two dead were damned in the wreckage
and their bodies were cut out with axes.
1t is feared that more bodies may be
found underneath the debris, and
wrecking gangs sent from Waseca are
at work on the shattered cars.
The brakeman. who was lighting the
lamps in one of the passenger coaches
when the tornado struck, cannot be
found. 1t is feared his body may be in
the wreckage. Passengers saw him
strike the under side of the coach with
terrific force and at the same time the
lamp he had been trimming crashed
into splinters. Oil from the vessel was
ignited by the flame on the wick and
to the terrors of death by violence was
added the danger of death by fire for
those of the victims who were impris-
oned in the wreckage. But the men
who were the first to pick their way out
of the splinters fastened to extin-
guish the flames, devQting their atten-
ton to this task before attempting the
work of rescuing the injured survivors.