Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1902-12-28
Raging Blizzard 0bscures Track and Hides
Danger Till Too Late.
COACH REDUCED TO SPLINTERS BY SHOCK
Injured Passengers Moan Amid Debris of
Broken Cars
FIRE AND COLD ADD TO GENERAL MISERY
Exposure Hhstens Death and Probably
Leads TO Some Loss of Life which
Might Otherwise Have Been
Averted.

bringing death to over two score OF passen-
gers and terrible pain and suffering to
about thirty-hve. occurred at 1910 o'clock
last night at wanstead, Canada, a station
on the Sarnia branch OF the Grand Trunk.
forty miles from this city, when the Pacific
express, flying westward at the rate Of hfty
miles an hour. and crowded to its capacity
with passengers returning to their homes
from holiday visits, crashed into an east
bound freight.
The latest estimate Of the fatalities is
thirty killed and thirty-five or more in
jured.
The darkness of the night and the raging
Of a blizzard added horrors to the wreck.
Fire broke out in the wreckage OF the day
coach, but it was smothered with snow.
which was thrown on it. before 1t gained
any headway.
The Pacific express is fast train. Last
night it was delayed two hours by the heavy
travel and at Wanstead It was speeding to
make up time. The freight was working
slowly east under orders TO take the switch
at Wanstead and allow the express TO pass.
In the binding snow storm neither engi-
neer saw the other train approaching, ap-
parently, and the freight had just COM
menced to pull in on the siding when the
passenger train came up.
Trains Come Together.
The shock was awful. In a second the
baggage and express cars Of the passenger
train telescoped into the day coach. This
day coach was reduced to splinters and
fragments back to the last three windows.
AS it was crowded, the results were ter
Tible. Fire that broke out was quickly
smothered, but the fire was scarcely more
dangerous than the cold. For three hours
nr init
underneath wreckage. crying piteously for
help, while they suffered from exposure to
the elements.
Exposure probably hastened the death
OF some of the injured and caused tho
death of some OF those who might have
been saved II IL had been only question
OF oxtricstinR them from the wreckage
The Pullman cars stayed on the truck
and were comparatively uninjured, al
though the passengers in them were
severly shaken in the shock.
Work of Relief.
AS soon as possible word was sent to this
city of the wreck and a relief train with a
dozen London doctors was dispatched to the
scene.
Half dozen bodies were recovered within
a short time this morning and a number of
wounded removed from the wreckage.
Trains were made up to send the injured to
London.
Efforts to identify the injured and dead
were attended with difficulty. The dead
bodies taken from the wreck were fright
fully mangled, some of them almost beyond
recognition.
Edward Boise OF Prescott was taken from
the wreck alive. but he was so frightfully
injured that he died two hours after being
placed in the hospital in this city
j. A. Lamonte OF Wyoming was the night
operator at Watford. the telegraph station
nearest the siding at Wanstead. RESPONSE
blity for the wreck has not been fixed. 1t
is said by some that 1t came through a con-
fusion in orders for which Lamonte was re-
sponsible. Lamonte was in some way in
jured in the wreck.
Wreck is Complete.
The wreck was complete, and II is thought
that hardly a single passenger in the
smoker escaped injury. The other cars OF
the passenger train remained on the track
Word was quickly sent to this city and
doctors were soon on the scene. The work
of removing the dead and injured was then
proceeded with.
Among the known dead are Engineer GIL
lies OF sarnia Tunnel and the fireman OF
the express engine.
The Inflated express consisted OF two
baggage coaches, a smoker, two first class
coaches and two Pullmans. The smoker.
which was telescoped by the coach behind
It, had the roof fall in. imprisoning the
passengers. 1t was in this car that most
OF the havoc and loss OF life occurred.
Passenger Organizes Brigade.
The wreck, shortly after the collision,
caught fire and but for the heroic efforts
OF brigade OF passengers, organized and
led by an old man, who was himself a
passenger on the train might have been
more disastrous to those pinned down in
the wreck
By heroic efforts this brigade put out tho
fre by throwing snow on the flames with
their hats and hands. They then turned
their efforts to getting out the wounded.
who had their surerings increased by a
binding snow storm and the thermometer
at zero.
The injured we're taken to London by
special train and the work OF identifying the
dead and relieving the sufferers was hur-
ried as fast as possible
The accident is said TO have been due
TO the failure OF an operator to give orders
to the express train TO meet the freight
at the station.
One Of the passengers describes the ae-
cident as follows:
We were running at about forty miles an
hour, when, without the slightest warning
the two trains mot with terrific force. on
examination II was found that the two en-
gines were ditched. The baggage car was
thrown on top Of the hrst-class coach In
stantly killing great many and pinninE
about nifty other passengers In the debris.
The screams, means and prayers OF the in-
tured was heartrending.
one poor woman begged that her child be
carefully taken from the wreck and will
probably recover The mother was after
minutes.
About thirty people were killed and forty
badly injured, some OF whom Will die.
did all they could 10 relieve the sufferings
OF the victims.
Identified Dead.
Following is a list OF the dead 40 far A