Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-28
THE MICHIGAN WRECK
NINETEEN killed a..AND MANY
1E5UREf.s
Two of the Finest Trains on the Pere
Marquette Collide During
Binding Blizzard.

1
| Careful revision today of the list of dead
| in Saturday nights wreck on the Pere Mar
| auette railroad at East Paris shows total
| Of nineteen victims instead of twenty-five.
| as reported last night.
Today's investigation and revision shows
| that Alien H. Wells of Big Rapids. Peter
W. Wierengo of Grand Rapids. and a man
named Peterson, or Thompson. of Sioux
| City, Iowa, who were included in the list
| of dead, were not killed. A mistake was
| also mede in the name. of F. NJ Gfllett OF
| Portland, one OF the victims. 1t should
! have been VIM. G.. Smith OF Portland
| The mistake arosc from Smiths middle
name being Gillett.
i The death list Of nineteen is declared to
| be correct by the Pere Marquette officials
who have charge Of caring for the bodies.
There were no further deaths up to noon
| today among the injured in the hospitals.
and all were reported to be doing well
| as could be expected.
A dispatch from Grand Rapids. Mich,
| last night says:
The death list resulting from the head-on
collision between two Pere Marquette rail-
| road passenger trains. which occurred Sat
| urday evening. near East Paris. stands at
twenty-five, with thirty eight persons in
jured several Of them probably fatally.
1t was the most disastrous wreck in the
history Of the Pere Marquette system and
| instead of being caused by mans careless
ness or mistake. is charged to the high
wind, which ext.nguished the red signal
light in the order board at McCords Sta
ton, where the westbound train was ex-
pected to stop and receive new orders.
Two minutes before the train rushed by
McCords the light was burning, says the
operator there. but in. that brief interval
the blizzard that was raging extingutShed
it, and train No. flashed by the station to
otH into 10th frofy No "a ST
Paris.
Two Finest Trains.
The trains. which were two of the finest
on the system, were reduced to pro-
miscuous pile OF broken and twisted timber
and metal. With dead and injured pinned
down and crushed by the fragments Of the
heavy cars.
Five cars and two large locomotives were
damned into a space ordinarily occupied
by three coaches, and the wreckage was
strewn across tine railroad right of way
from fence TO fence.
When train No 5, bound west whizzed
by McCords instead of stopping, the fright
ened operator notified the dispatcher. then
found that his red light had been ex-
tinguished. He reported this fact, and then
there was but one action to take. The
collision was inevitable. The dispatcher
office called for medical aid and gave
orders to hold the train over the Saginaw
branch at the depot and get the wreckng
outfit under steam.d They then waited for
the word they knew must come.
Blizzard Was Binding.
There was no chance ofythe fast running
trains to see each other through the driving
blizzard to even slow down and in few
| minutes word came from the conductor Of
No. 5 that they had crashed together, and
that there was an awful loss of life.
The westbOund engine, No. 397, drove
through No. 6s engine like wedge, sep
| arating the gear from the boiler, and stand
ing the latter ON end like a broken. twisted
shell. rts1r
The running gear was crumpled up like
so much Irvine. 9--'-
General Managers Statement
M. J. Carpenter, vice president and gen.
| eral manager of the Pefe Marquette. ar
! rived in this city today, from Chicago, He
| stated that ne was here. In an advisory
| capacity, the investigation as to the cause
| of the accident resting with General Super
| intendent Smith Mr.. Carpenter declined TO
| place the blame upon any one, making the
| following statement, in part:
''All the employees who might be In any
| way responsible are tried men who have
| been in the employ of the company for
many years, and l have the utmost conf
dence in them. In the absence of any other
| explanation I shall believe the agents story
| that the light at McCord's was blown out.
| 1t may be doubted that such a thing is pos
| sible with one Of these signal lamps. but al
| of us vino had xperience with kerosene
| know that such lamps will defy all efforts
F., of a strong wind to blow them out while a
| simple little gust. eddying In just the
| proper manner, will extinguish them.
| LAS to the sending of the second order.
| this is a matter of daily occurrence in any
| railway Office. Probably il that second or
| der had not been sent this accident would
| not have happened. and then. again. 1t
| might. In any event. the dispatcher acted
according to his best judgment"