The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-11-04
CRASH IN FOG.
Trains Meet With Terrific Force
on 18th Street Viaduct.
One Passenger Killed; 10 In
jured, Four Fatally.
ON SLIPPERY TRACKS.
Gripman Lost Control of His
Train at Summit.
It Flew Backward and Met An
other Coming Up.
Those on Board Were Mostly
Working Girls.
IN SLIPPERY TRACKS.

Kansas City. Mo-, Nov. 4.-One per-
son was killed and 10 others injured,
four perhaps fatally. in a collision of
two cable cars in a fog on the Twelfth
street incline, near the Union depot.
this morning.
Most of the injured were working
girls. clerks in the big retail stores up
town. who were on their way to work
from their homes in Argentine. Ar
mourdale and Kansas City, Kas., across
the river from Kansas City. Mo. The
accident was due to slippery tracks.
One train heavily laden with passeng-
ers had reached Summit street. four
blocks east of the top OF the Twelfth
street viaduct, a structure four blocks
in length that spans the railway tracks
in the Union depot yards. For the en-
tire distance of eight blocks there is
a sheer descent of about 80 degrees. At
Summit street the first car had stopped
to let off passenger when the grip
man lost his grip on the cable. Imme-
diately the train started back, gaining
great speed. A heavy fog made it i'm
possible to see block ahead. and in
deScribable confusion enSued among
the passengers, dozens of whom were
packed inside the car too close
ly to make move to save them
among those on the platform of the
rear car jumped and escaped with but
slight injuries.
When the train had reached the top
OF the viaduct it was going at rate
of perhaps 80 miles an hour Two
blocks away. midway down the incline,
another heavily laden train was MAX
ing Its way upward. The fog was too
dense for. either crew to see the other.
and not until the runaway train was
within few feet of the second train
Ibid those on the latter realize anything
The cars came, together with terrific
force, throwing the passengers in every
direction. locking the cars together in
deadly embrace, and partially wreck
ing the viaduct. Bewildered, crushed
and unable to see clearly in the dense
thicker than above. it was some mo-
ments before the situation could be
realized and an effort could be made
by the people to extricate themselves
perilous position. Several of the in
f1ured had been thrown clear of the
vladuct railing and, falling twenty feet
to the railway yards below, sustained
INJURIES more or less serious. Ambu-
lances We're sent from all parts of the
citv and when finally order was re-
stored and the injured removed if was
found that Miss Emma Homer. a clerk
from Kansas City Kas., had been killed
and 10 others more or less seriously
hurt, four perhaps fatally.
DEAD.
MISS EMMA HOMER.
INJURED.
Minnie Soeder.
Annie New.
Mary Donavan.
Lizzie Carey.
Margaret Finnigan.
Harmon Watkins. .
Esther Lotus.
Carrie Mooney.
| Blanche Barker.
| Josephine Chalk.
Emma Oyer.
Gertrude DrineH.
Eta Hanson.
| Mrs. E. E. Goodell.
Benjamin Mitchum.
w. J. Lawson, gripnan of the run
away train: hurt internally, serious
Charles Slack. conductor of runaway
train: hurt on head. serious.
| w. K. Runnen, gripman of second
train: hurt in chest and shoulder. hand
cut; serious.
]. A. Lynch, of Wichita, Kas. fell
from viaduct. lighting on his head;
serious.
The conductor of the second train
| ESCAPED injury
! Harmon Watkins. who is an employe
/ of the Methodist Book concern, was
probably fatally hurt His Jaw was
broken. and he was otherwise hurt.
| The grip car of the second train
teleScoped the rear coach of the descend
ing car, and was splintered while both
coaches were badly damaged. A board
struck one man seated in the rear of
/ the second grip car in the throat, rem
dering him unconscious and cutting a
cash that will cause his death. Half
a dozen others sustained broken legs
and arms, while many others were bad
| ly bruised and cut.
In the descent of the runaway car the
lives of many girls were undoubtedly
saved by the men pushing them from
| the car to the pavement These escap-
ed with minor bruises. Almost all of
the injured were young women clerks.
The injured were carried to a house at
the top of the incline which was thrown
open to receive them and here they
were laid out in beds and on the floor
and given temporary attention until
they could be removed to hospitals.
Means and screams of the injured
filed the room Several were uncon-
scious when first taken from the wreck,
and when they revived they did not
even know that there had been a col
lision so suddenly had the accident oc-
| cr-r-,s-
Besides the 10 more or less seriously
hurt, q others received bruises and cuts.
1t was a long time before a complete
of the less seriously hurt, either left the
injuries or were taken to their homes.
! Nellie Luscombe, aged 20, dry goods
clerk. died of her injuries about noun.
Temperatures of Largs Cities.
Chicago, Nov. Al a. m. tempera-
lures: New York, 81; Boston, 81: Phila-