The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-12-25
DEAD NUMBER SIXTY.EIGHT
LATE DETAILS OF THE WRECK
 ON THE E. AND O.

Many People Flock to connelIsviIIe,
 Pa., to Visit Scene of Catastrophe
 Sums Found on Bodies of fT<iiIcd-sup-
 ply of Cohns Far from Adsquate-NO
 Truth i'm story That Train wreckers
 Deraiied the TraiD.
 ] ConnelIsville, Pa., Dec 24.-The sum- ming uo of the results of last nights wreck of the Duquesne Limited on the Baltimore & Ohio, eight miles west of here, shows total dead list of sixty eight and nine injured.
 l To-day Connellsville has been packed with curious people attracted here by the wreck. The three morgues have found it necessary to put guards on all doors to keep morbid spectators from jumping into the small rooms and walk i ing over the remains of the deade. The streets are packed and in front of each of the undertaking establishments hun dreds of people are grouped eagerly waiting for a glimpse of the dead bodies. Friends and relatives of the victims are coming in on every train and scenes at the morgues are most dis tressing. All btu a few of the sixty eight bodies have been identified and those who are still unknown will be laid away in Hill Grove cemetery at the dawn of a Christmas morning. Those who are still to be identified are most ! ly foreigners and it is doubtful if their 1 identity will ever be known. Consider able money was found on the persons of the unidentified and tightly sewed I in a belt on one foreigner was found more than $400, which was placed in the First National bank sums ranging from s100 to $500 were found and all has been put in the bank until a relative may be l located. &
 Connellsville has never in her history 1 pasesd through such intence excitement as now has taken hold of the town. Dead wagons and ambulances all last night and to-day have been rattling over the narrow streets hurrrying the dead to the morgue and the injured to the hospitals. Undertakers have been taxed to their utmost, and additional ! assistance has been secured from every Connellsvillle was by far from being sufficient, and orders for sixty collins have been telegraphed to Pittsburg. 1Undertakers are besieged with tele- grams giving instructions for the dis posal of the bodies. Some ask for the bodies to be held while others ask that they be sent at once. Many of the vic tims of the wreck have been robbed There are several who are known to have had a large amount of money and l Ijewelry on their persons. Not cent 1 was found in the pockets fo several of these and 1t was plainly visible that Irings had. been taken from the fingers cured considerable booty, much of whi Robbers were on the scene early and befre the rescuers arrived they had se- 1cured considerable booty, much of which consisted of baggage and hand l bags that had been tossed about the cars in the wreck.
 I Connellsville people were heavy pur- chasers in Pittsburg yesterday, and I many of the shoppers carried valuable I jewelry and presents of all descriptions in handbags. A number of these have not been recovered, and it is believed that the bags were picked up by the gang of thieves that operated there be- | fore assistance arrived. % I To-day the wreck is pretty we'll clear ed away and little is left at Laurel Run I to remind one that the worst wreck in l the history of the Baltimore and Ohio occurred there on Wednesday,. All Il wrecking crews from Connellsville and 1 Glenwood, with a large force of men,
 have worked necessarily since the dis
 aster to clear the tracks and open traf- fic. All traffic on the Pittsburg divis- ion has been completely done up since the wreck.
 I Coroner Arthur Hagen, of Fayette county, arrived in Connellsville to-day
 and immediately swore in a jury. The l jury is now taking evidence as to the cause of the disaster. It has been learned that the car that dropped the timbers which wrecked the limited was gondola No. 3,0S7 of the Nickel Plate | road. It was loaded with huge ties I three days ago at Fr1endshlp, Md, and billed for Newcastle, Pa.
 Superintendent J. F. Irwin of the Ball. timore and Ohio declares the blame must rest on the persons who loaded l the lumber on the car. His theory is that the stakes at the side of the gon- dola were weak and gave way under the tension os the car when it rounded the curse. Superintendent Irwin has addressed inquiries, to both the starting point and the destination of the car and will make a, thorough investigation.
 q expect to learn tomorrow the con- dition of the car on its arrival at New castle" said Mr. Irwin tonight, "and we have started a rigid inquiry as to the care taken in loading"
 MT. Irwin says there is absolutely no truth in the rumor that train wreckers purposely derailed the train.
 '"This could not have been possible, /" he said. "No human being could have achieved what the accident did. Merest chance and the possible carelessness of some one are the causes. No wreckers did this awful thing"