The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-24
|63 DEAD AND
 MANY HURT
 < DuQueSne Limjs 4 Leaves 1''{ STRIKES Es E OF LUMBER - Frlghtful Scenes at Laurel Run, in Pennsylvania. Those Who Lost Their Lives Literally Roasted to bsath--Many of Q the Bodies Burned to

| Connellsviile, Pa, Dec. 23.-With a ter- rible crash and a grinding noise the Du- quesne Limited, the fastest through pas senger train from Pittsburg to New York on the Baltimore and Ohio. plowed Into a | pile of lumber at Laurel Run. two miles west of Dawson. at 7:45 o'clock this over- ing and sixty-three lives were lost and thirty persons were injured.
 The train left Pittsburg this evening, running . few minutes late in charge of Engineer William Thornley of Councils vile. When approaching Laurel Run. which is particularly fine piece of road- bed. the train was running at a high rate of speed.
 | Suddenly the passengers were thrown from the seats by the lightning-like app plication of the air-brakes and a moment later came the crash. The train was made up of two baggage cars, two day coaches. one sleeper and one dining car, and was carrying at the time at the low est estimate 150 passengers. Cars Torn to Pieces.
 The train ploughed along for a consid- erabie distance. and the cars were torn to pieces. passengers jumping. screaming, falling from the wreck as 1t tore along. l Suddenly the engine sweryed to the left and the coaches plunged down over the embankment to the edge of the Youghiog- Ihany riyer. When the cars stopped rolling there was arscens of wild excitement Many were pinioned beneath the wreck age. Many were injured in their mad ex- citement and plunged Into the river 0kh- CTS. pinioned beneath the heavy tirntars
 pleaded in agonized tones for releaseF So Lterrific was the force of. the wreck that nearly every passenger suffered a mo-
 ment's inconsistencies and many of the I abIe-bodied men were unable to assist in
 helping the injured from the wreck on ac- count of having tainted.
 The official stateinant Of reFintendest W. c, Loreas felf0was
 Statement by Supestntendsnt.
 'sNo. l3 was s1erailed by running into
 some switch tirnbers. or timbers of about Ithatk nims. @tteRmf1laat the. engine and all fcsfls All tine cafs are badly damaged.
 Do not think any of the equipment will
 be able to so away from the accident on
 their own wheels except possible the Pull.
 man cars and the diner. The engine lies
 across both tracks. The baggage car is
 over the bank. The balance of the train
 is badly twisted. I judge thirty-five peo-
 pie killed. All the people killed were in | the smoker. Escaping steam from the ] engine went into the first coach, scalding
 the people. Very few of the other pas-
 sengers were injured. The injured have | been taken from the wreck and are lying 1 on the bank.
 List of The Dead.
 Engineer and fireman cannot be Engtneec sVllIi8ra Thornley, Hazlewood. Pa.: Division Engineer s. G. Heater of Haxlewood, Pa; Fareman Thomas Cook, Hazlewood, Pa: Herbert Holmes, Elm melton, Pa; Joseph Aihes. Tarboro. N. C.. the Union News Company agent on
 the train: Charles Lindford of Confluence, ' T4~,s ECumbefland: '. W. Martin, Hancock, Md;
 Edison Goldsmith, counellville. Pa. The other ffty-three dead are mostly foreigners and negroes who were riding | in the smoking car. The work of their | Identification has not yet begun.
 The injured: W. H. Hancock, Pitts | burg, slightly; John W. Bromley, North Bradock. Pa., slight; Annie Reese Green. | wood, Pittsburg. slight; Thomas J. Dom, Hazelwood, slight: J. W. Martin. Han l cock. Md, slight; J. A. Allfurter, Bealton, W. Va, serious; Henry Davin. Redwood, | Pa. badly injured, will die; c. H. Line- I ford. East McKeesport. Pa., wife and | child at Confluence, will die; Will Ed.
 wards. Cumberland, Md: Thomas Tip | pier, Philadelphia; Harry Devlin. Con-
 nellsville, serious; W. H. Stoddard, Con-
 neIlsulIe; E. P. Keefer. Somerset, Pa;
 J. K. Powers. South Cumberland: | AlIInan, COnneliSVlIlCs
 Aaron, Verg, East Pittsburg.
 Were hoe~ted to Death.
 The killed, most of them, were foreign CTS who were in the smoker just back
 of the baggage car. They were literally
 roasted to death, the baggage and smoker | telescoping the engine and immediately
 catching fire. Their bodies are lying
 many of them burned U a crisp, in the
 baggage room of the Baltimore and Ohio
 depot to be removed later to the differ | ent undertaking shops in the city. The | entire population has turned out en | masse to assist in caring for the living and disposing of the dead. A peculiar feature of the accident is the fact that
 not woman was injured except slightly. The wreck was caused by the break | ing castings on a carload of bridge tim- bers on a westbound freight train, which had passed Laurel Run not more than fifteen minutes before the i'll fated pas senger train. The wreck occurred on curve and 1t was impossible for En- gineer ThornIey to see far enough ahead l to detect the obstruction on the tracks. | The big Atlantic type engine plunged
 into the timbers at velocity of GO miles
 an hour.
 Cars Go Into River.
 1 The engine plowed into the embank-
 ment and the baggage and express car | were thrown into the Houghiogheny XIV
 er The smoker followed the engine and
 landed squarely on top of it. This allow ed the escaping steam and hot water
 from the engine to fill the car. The
 smoker was packed to its utmost capacity
 and all the passengers were cooked alive.
 Not a single passenger in this car es-
 capped with his life, and 1t is expected
 that at least forty of the dead were in ] the smoker. Baggagemaster Thomas J. Baum of Hazelwood. who was on the | wrecked train. proved himself a hero. With his head and body frightfuIly cut, he managed to crawl from the wreckage, and. groping his way along in darkness, | Jagged the west-bound passenger train, No. 4e. He had nothing with which to 1 flag the train except matches. and these he made use of in his desperation by talk ing off his coat and setting fire to it.
 He stopped the train just in time to pre-