Gilpin observer., 1902-12-25
-MANYDIE In WRECK
TRAIN sMAsti IN CALIFORNIA
KILLS AND MAINS SCoREa.


Train Collide With Frighs.ul Re-
sults-ciouas CT ecaIains s.sam IN
tensifies Suffering of Injured.
Byron, Cal, Dec. 22.-As result CT
collision between the Stockton flyer
and the owl" train on the Southern
Pacific twenty-five deaths have already
been recorded and laere are indica-
tions that the total will soon be raised
to twenty-seven. 1t was rear end col
lision. the engine of the local plow
ing its way into the last coaches OF
the owl" which was filed with
Fresno people. The passengers who
escaped death we're hurled to the fore
part OF the coach, crushed in between
the mass of debris. their sufferings
and danger intensified a hundredfold
by the clouds OF scalding steam that
poured out upon them from the shat
tered boiler CT the Stockton engine.
After the owl left the Oakland mole
it was noted that there was leak in
the fiue of the engine. This increased
to such an extent that it was deemed
advisable to stop here to take up 4
freight engine for relief. The train
officials knew that the Stockton local
was following half an hour behind and
sent a fiagman back down the track
to give warning Of the presence of the
Owl"
The Stockton train. in charge of En-
gineer Mcclure and Fireman Joyce.
got the warning signal in due time
and gave the usual response with
whistle blasts.
Fireman Joyce. in a statement ex-
planning the collision. said: I'VE saw
the nagmans 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 smash
ing into the rear of the owl train,
The engine went right through the
car"
Relief quickly came to. the passen-
gers who were penned in the wreck
I age. axes and saws being brought into
| play and passengers and train crew
lending eager aid. Messengers were
sent to Byron Hot Springs, a short dis
1 tance away. and doctors came quickly
/ to the station. A trained nurse accom-
panied them and first aid was at once
| given to the mangled. bruised and
| scalded sufferers who were lying near
the track None of the passengers of
/ the Stockton train was injured and all
of the crew of the "OwP' escaped IN
hurt.
Ten Of tAe dead have been identi-
| fed. as follows: Elizabeth L. Smith,
| Fresno; Clarence d. Oluffs, Fresno;
Miss Birdie Elliott, San Francisco;
Mabel Vezey. Modesto; George Ses-
/ sions. Oakland; Charles Owens, Fres-
| NJ: Miss Myers, Fresno; Robert Rem
wick. San Francisco; Len Irwin, Oak
land: w. F. Temple. d. ]. Vernon.
Twenty-Five of the injured reached
/ the South Pacific hospital at San Fran
cisco. where 1t was announced that X.
Post of Fowler and Lee Sou would
probably succumb. Of the twenty-five
patients, only three were permitted to
receive visitors. so seriously were
they suffering. D. ]. Vernon's son is
reported TO be in state of collapse.
Mrs. Mayer, whose little son and
daughter have died. is very low and
her other son is in critical condition.
The condition of Stella Howard of San
Francisco is also exciting the appre-
hension of the physicians.
Story of an Eyewitness.
Frank II. Short, a prominent resi-
dent of Fresno who was at dinner
when the collision occurred, said In
discussing the wreck:
..It was indescribably awful. Sew
eral successive jars occurred. the
lights went out. glass crashed all
about us, the chandelier toppled down
and the crowd was panic stricken. We
ran to the Fresno car and there en-
countered 4 scene of the most terrible
description. Men were begging. ap-
healing. swearing and groaning.
Everything was in utter darkness
and a fence was torn down and fires
started to give light. Men were seen
sticking out of windows with their
4 limbs caught in the wreckage. Some
had doubtless met instant death. while
Others were horribly scalded and i'm
paled. On one side of the car the vic
Tins seemed to be mostly scalded.
while on the other side they were
crushed. We began the work of res
cuing. With axes and saws we made
our way into the car and worked back
among the seats. carrying out the in
jured. think every person carried
out had broken limb. The plight of
the Vernons. father and son, was par
ticularly narrowing. The fathers
body was sticking out of the car win
dow and he was begging to be rescued
quickly as he said he was crushing his
son underneath. We chopped him out
as quick as possible and then freed
the boy from the mass of splintered
wood and twisted iron. The boy was
badly burned. The father died from