The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1903-11-27
trains MEET ON
A SHARP Curve
Awful Wreck Near fremont, ILL.,,
Caused by a Conductors Neg
lect to Obey Orders.
REPORTED KILLED
and SEVENTEEN OTHERS INJURED

Recosnition - List of the Edenti-
fled Victims-AIl Were Members of
a work Train - Another Report
Says Dead Number Twenty.
Peoria, ILL.,, Nov. 20.-Thirty-tWO men
were reported killed and II injured in a
head-end collision between a west
bound freight and a work train on the
Big -Four railroad between MacklnaW
and fremont at 2: Is o'clock Thursday
afternoon. Up to the present time the
bodies of 26 victims of the wreck have
been taken from the mass of debris,
which is piled 30 feet high on the
tracks, while five yet remain buried
under a huge pile of broken timber,
twisted and distorted iron Il steel. On
a bank at the side of the track lie the
bodies of the victims, cut, bruised and
mangled in a horrible manner So far
Is only have been identified, the re-
naming being unrecognizable even by
those who kn.w them and are aware of
the fact that they are among the dead.
All the dead and most of the injured
were members of the work train, the
crews Of both engines jumping in time
to v their lives.
Met In Deep Cut.
The collision occurred in a deep cut.
at the beginning of a sharp curve
neither train being visible to the crew
of the other until they were within
SO feet. The engineers set the brakes,
sounded the whistles and then leaped
from their cabs, the two trains striking
with such force that the sound was,
heard for miles around. A second after
the collision the boiler of the work
train exploded with terrific force,
throwing heavy iron bars and splinters
OF Woo to a distance of 200 feet.
The Victims.
The following is a list of the dead
who have been identified:
Robert King, aged 43, fremont, wife
and three children.
Thomas Troy, so, fremont, single.
William Eads, 80, fremont, wife and
three children.
Charles E, Meyers, SO, Bloomington.
wife and five children.
George Smith, SO, OF Bloomington,
wife and three children.
George Harmon, 33, Bloomington,
wife and four children.
John Doran, aged 33, Bloomington,
single.
John Smith, 80, of Bloomington,
single.
Fred Bachman, "a, of Danvers, sin
gle.
John Shaw, aged %, Mackinaw, sin
gle.
Stephen Cutter, aged 90, Mackinaw,
single.
A. M. Long, Leroy.
Frank Lucas, Leroy.
Sam Smith, Leroy.
Amos Smith, Leroy,
Sixteen unidentified dead, bodies
mangled beyond recognition.
Failed to Obey Orders
Conductor John W. Judge, of Indian
apo!is, who had charge of the freight
train, received orders at Urbana to
wait at Mackinaw for the work train
which was due there at 2:4O p. III. In
stead of doing this he failed to stop.
The engineer Of the work train, George
iCShSi, udu dlSO received orders to
pass the freight at Mackinaw and was
on the way to that station. The work
train was perhaps five minutes late
and was running at full speed in Dr.
der to make up time. When about
two miles from Hinert and entering
a cut, both engineers saw the APP
preaching trains and realizing that it
was impossible to stop, they threw on
the emergency brakes, whistled twice
and hen leaped from their cabs. The
two trains, both heavily loaded and
going at full speed, crashed together
Only Twenty Reported Killed
Another report from the scene of +ho
wreck reports the wreckage as entira
" cleared away and trains again run
ming over the Big Four tracks. The
list OF casualties has been considaroh1S
exaggerated. A total of is bodies Wy
recovered, many of them in . borr;
bly, mangled condition. OF tbesa 10 -,
u three have been identified. Thara4
OF injured numbers IA, who were n,aaa,
in Bloomington and Peoria bosnita,e
Two OF the injured have sinco dtas
bringing the total number Of do a..u,
to 20. u ueaths
n