The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1903-01-29
trains struck each other with full force.
WRECKAGE TAKES FIRE.

trains struck each other with full force.
WRECKAGE TAKES FIRE.
The engineer Of No. was John Bruce
He was killed. as was also his fireman,
George o. McGrath. The engineer of No.
! s. Robert Wilkey was also killed, but his
/ fireman, ". s. Gilbert. jumped and es-
capped with his life. Gilbert is badly in
jured
Three tramps riding on the engine Of
! the westbound train were killed and also
two passengers in the smoking car of the
eastbOund train. One of these passen-
gers was J. NJ. Hilton. and was bound
TO Cambridge Mass. The name of the
other passenger could not be ascertained.
but he was on his way to Bisbee to visit
( his daughter Mrs. William II. Cherry,
who was widowed in a wreck on the FL
PasO and Southwestern a few days ago.
1 These two passengers. with the train
butcher and Tom Donahue of Tucson,
were in the smoking car. The butcher
esca ped through a window and Donahue
made a sensational exit from the burn
ing car through the broken roof.
Within few minutes after the collision
the two trains caught fire. The engines
were entirely destroyed. one was cast,
total wreck. on the right side of the track
and the other upside down on the left
There We're three Pullman carss on the
eastbOund and two on the westbound. one
Of the eastbound PuIlmans. the one in the
rear was what is known as a deadhead.
Eleven cars were burned-two mail cars
/ two baggage cars, two smokers, two day
coaches. an extra box car carrying the
Gtrical baggage and two Pullmans. one
on each train. \The rear coach on the
eastbound was running empty, having
only the cOlOred porter aboard.
The DaSSen gers and train crows Joined
hands TO save as many of the coaches
as possible from the fire and to do this
showed them apart. The deadhead Pull
man got good start and rushed back
to Tucson and crashed into a switch
engine in the yard. The car got bunged
up and the engine was disabled. The
porter did not understand the brake and
could not stop the car. He was not
hurt. The bodies Of the engineers and
fireman were burned under the wrecks
Of their engines
BODIES STILL IN WRECK.
The fuel used on the engines scattered
over the cars and a fierce and instanta-
neous fire followed It is REGARDED as
bordering on the miraculous that the
loss Of life was not greater. Both Con-
ductor Parker of the Limited and Night
Operator Oluff Of Walls are Frustrated and
are now in Tucson staying with friends.
The shoo-fy around the wreck was
completed at 1 o'clock to-day and the de
layed trains then passed the wreck
which was still burnfng- The smoke
was so dense that the windows on the
passing trains had to be closed tight
TO prevent the passengers from being
suffocated.
When night came the wreck was still
burning and the work Of rescuing the
charred bodies was postponed till to-
morrow. Guards have been thrown about
the wreck for the night and a telegraph
Office has been opened there. Both of
the engineers Of the Inflated trains had
families in Tucson and their wives are
Frustrated The entire town of Tucson
is shrouded in grief, as many railroad
employees live here, and the dead men
We're all well known
All day long the ambulances have been
going back and forth from the hospitals
to the relief train and all day long the
dead wagons have been going ON their
grewsome errand to the station to bring
in the charred remains Of the unfortu-
nate victims.
Some Of the dead will never be identi-
fled. while articles have been found near
the bodies of others which ought to prove
means OF Identification The body of
NJ 2. Willard was identified by small
sterling silver knife on which his name
and address were engraved. Rings, keys
and other metallic pieces were found near
almost all Of the bodies except those of
the tramps riding on the trucks and on
top Of one of the tenders.
TOLD FIREMAN TO JUMP.
One Of these tramps. named Dwyer,
who boarded the tender at Benson, was
thrown 300 feet by the force of the collision
nd xS-ftF orTr eli gI,+ mi II
says that the engineer the limited
could not have seen No. until he round
ed the curve just past EsmOnd. where he
should have passed the other train 1t
was not until he rounded the curve that
he put on the air, but it was then too late
TO break the force of the collision, as the
trains were close together Engineer VIII
key OF No 8 evidently saw the limited
before it rounded the curve as he threw
on the breaks in time to slow down some
and called to his fireman, w. S. Gilbert.
TO jump. Gilbert succeeded in getting out
OF the cab before the collision. Wilkey.
however. did not desert his post, but met
his death bravely.
w {. Aiken of Cotton. Cal. who Is on
his way to the Indian Territory, tells not
only Of a most miraculous escape but re-
lates a most authentic story of the scene
in the smoker Of No. s. He was i'm the
front part Of the car when the shock
came EDDuy was thrown about the
car, many Of them being pinioned. and
the greatest confusion prevailed There
were about twenty in the car. Aikens
window happened to be open and he
crawled through it, Assisted by passen-
gers from the other cars, he pulled a man
through the top Of the car, which was
split open. This is the only man who es-
capped from the car he witnessed.
The passengers and train crew in the
sleepers performed great services in res
cuing the men and women from the day
coaches and tourist sleepers. Lockwood
Hubbard of Chicago, Ill, representing a
manufacturing company, was in the Sleep
er Mendoza on No. 8, which went up in the
flames which enveloped the wreckage
after the collision. There was little time
TO get out Of his car, but the GOODNESS of
the conductor undoubtedly saved a great
many lives Hubbard believes that all of
the passengers in his car escaped with
only slight injuries He lost all of his
samples. consisting of five trunks.
ESCAPE FROM THE SLEEPER.
W c Coley of Boston, who was in the
washington sleeper on the Limited, was