Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-12-22
Collision of Fast Trains on the
Southern Pacific In
California
THE VICTIMS BADLY MuTlLATED
Work of Identification Made Very Diff
ficult on Account of the MutiIation of
the Bodies-Twenty- one Injured, of
Whom Some Will Die-An Inquest
Held Today.

Byron, Cal, Dec. Pas a result of q
rear end collision between the Stock
| ton flyer and the owl train on the
Southern Pacific at Byron, sixteen
deaths have already been recorded and
there are indications that the total
will soon be raised to twenty. Most
of the wounded passengers who Were
too severely injured to be taken to their
homes were taken to the Southern hos
pital at San Francisco today, and on
the way to that place five of the vic
Tins died.
Twenty two of the injured reached
the hospital, where it was announced
tonight that r. Post, of Fowler. Cal,
and Lee Sou, a Chinese of San Fran
cisco, would probably succumb.
OF the twenty-five patients only
three were permitted to receive Wis
itors, so serious were their sufferings.
Elizabeth l.. Smith, of Fresno, Cal,
aged SO.
Clarence D. oluffe, of Fresno. aged
%.
Miss Birdie Elliott, of San Francisco,
aged %.
Mabel vezey, of Modesto, Cal, aged
10.
George Sessions, of Oakland, Cal,
aged 80.
Chas. Owens, of Fresno, aged So.
Miss Myers, of Fresno.
The unidentified dead include one
whit man evidently railroad man,
two Chinese and a Japanese woman
and a Japanese child. The dead Were
brought here this morning. An in
quest will be held tomorrow
Most of the corpses are terribly mu-
tilated. This made the work of identi-
fioation very difficult. All the injured
Were removed to Oakland hospital to-
day and are reported to be recovering.
All of them are Californians.
After the "OwI' train left Oakland
mole last night the engineer discovered
a leak in fiue, which increased to such
an extent that when Byron was reached
it was determined to remain here and
take UP freight engine for relief. The
crew knew the Stockton local was only
half an hour behind them and a flag
man was sent back on the track to give
This hagman asserts that hfs
lamp was seen and answered by the
but the train rushed on and
crashed into the rear end of the "Owr'
rain.
The Fresno coach was completely
So forcibly did the local
meet the rear of the Owl that the
end of the second car, the dining car
was smashed in and the three cooks
were seriously hurt.
1t seems miraculous that the horror
OF fire was not added to the disaster,
but the penned UP victims were spared
from the flames, as the oil burners in
the diner We're extinguished by the
shock.
Relief quickly came to the passengers
who We're penned in the wreckage, axes
and saws being brought into play and
passengers Were sent to Byron Hot
Springs, a short distance away, AMI
physicians and nurses were soon on the |
scene. None Of the passengers of the
stockton train We're injured, and all of
the crew OF the owl. escaped UNI
aurt.
Edward Joyce. fireman of the Stock
ton flyer in a statement explaining
the collision, said:
We saw the fiagman's 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 |
ng into the year of the "OwI' train |
The engine went right thru the cars