Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1903-12-30
TWENTY-FIVE ARE KILLED
Horrible Railroad Wreck on the
Pere Marquette Road.
TWENTY INEINJURED
Dispatcher Foresaw Doom Of Trains and
Sent Out Relief Long Before
Collision Occurred.

Grand Rapids Mich. Dec. 2S.-Even
while passenger trains No. and No. 3,
on the Pere Marquette road, going at
full speed, were rushing toward each 9TH
er on the same track last night to the
collision which killed twenty-five persons
and injured twenty nine, and long before
the crash came, the train dispatcher in
this city, powerless to prevent the disas-
ter, had called out the regular wrecking
crew, ordered a relief train to be in read
mess, and summoned nurses and sur
geons.
Then he waited for the flash over the
telegraph which he knew would in few
minutes tell him that the two trains were
wrecks and that an unknown number of
| dead and wounded might be in the ruins.
While the passengers on the two
doomed trains We're flying toward death
and disaster, all unconscious of the fate
that was impending, the dispatcher here
had realized the horror that awaited
them.
For half an hour before the wreck he
knew it was inevitable, and that he was
powerless to prevent it. Only a miracle
could have saved the two crowded trains
from destruction.
Death Sentence by Wire.
This word came from McCord's sta
ton:
mo. has passed without stopping
That message was the death sentence.
! The dispatcher knew No. E was speed
ing along, behind time and trying to
make up, and he also knew there was no
accessible intervening station to which
be could send word to stop either train.
1t was simply question Of waiting for
the blow to fall and then try to save as
many lives as possible.
The suspense was longer than the dis
patcher figured it would be, and the re-
lief train, made up and ready, was stand
ing on the siding before the news Of the
disaster arrived. Then it was only
word the dispatcher had to say, East
Paris" and away sped the train loaded
with doctors and rescuers prepared to-
give what aid they could.
Carries News Through Blizzard.
This long wait was afterwards ex-
planned. The wreck was three-Quarters of
a mile from East Paris, and it was neces-
sary that "a man should walk the distance
Tough the blizzard to get word on the
wire.
The message from the operator at Nc
Cords saving the train had passed with
out stopping was followed O few moments
later by another saying the red light OH
the order board had been blown out This
satisfied the dispatcher that the engineer
or No. was all unconscious of the dan
ger ahead
The blowing out Of the red lantern was
Tie immediate cause Of the wreck, but the
real cause was an attempt to save time
| No. Is should not have left Grand Rapids
until after No. 5 from Detroit had ar
rived. But No. 5 was late and the crowd
| OF Christmas visitors on No. 6 were anX-
| ious to get home, SO No. 6 was sent out
Both had orders to pass at Oakdale Park,
| but this order was changed. No. got it's
order all right, and No. 5 was to have
been given the new order at McCord's,
| but it failed to stop. The zeal Of the
| train dispatcher in his efforts to save ev-
cry possible minute had not allowed suffi-
Gent leeway and the wreck resulted
The list Of dead may be increased by
the death Of several others Of the injured,
for many are probably mortally hurt.
Blame Is Not Placed
The wreck, the most disastrous in the
history Of the Pere Marquette system.
The officials declare the signal light ex-
| tinguished by the gale was in good re-
pair. It was the absence Of the light
that caused the train to speed past the
station at McCord.
The trains, which were two of the fin
est on the system, were reduced to a pile
| Of broken and twisted timber and metal,
with dead and injured pinned down and
crushed in the debris. Five cars and
| lNO &c lOCOuOLltc were damned INTO
a space ordinarily occupi I'd by three
coaches, and the wreckage was strewn
across the railroad right-t f-way from
| fence to fence.
Cars Are Telescoped.
No. 6, east-bound, was composed Of
mail and baggage car, combination
smoker, buffet parlor car, day coach and
diner. The baggage coach, caught be-
| tween the engine and heavy train, crum-
/ pied like pasteboard. The big mail coach,
heavily bulk-headed, took the brunt of
the blow and communicated it to the
smoker next in the rear.
| The smoker was telescoped it's entire
length and turned over at the north side
Of the track, crashing several feet into
the parlor car. 1t was at the rear end
Of the smoker and forward end of the
cafe car that the passengers were killed
and injured. From space six feet
square the bodies Of two women, boy
and man were taken out.
The Westbound flyer, with its heavy,
bulkheaded cars, stayed on the rails,
back of the baggage and mail cars, and
the passengers in this train escaped seri-
Gus injury.
Both Making Fast Time.
According to statements made by Of
hclals Of the Pere Marquette, the west
| bound train was travelling down grade ct
the rate of sixty miles an hour. The
eastbound train was beginning to climb
the hill at speed Of forty miles an hour.
The former carried probably seventy-fve
passengers, while the latter is believed
to have been carrying at least 125 per-
sons. The two trains collided about the
middle of long, sweeping curve, three
quarters of mile west of East Paris.
This is the first wreck in which the
Pere Marquette ever killed a passenger
on its own train,'' said Supt Smith.
roads, persons at crossings and employees,
but never before has it killed outright
or fatally injured passenger Of its
own"
SEARCH FOR MURDERER.