The Penn's Grove record., 1903-01-02

branch of the Grand Trunk Railway.
The trains in the crash were the Pa
cific Express and a freight. The ex-
press was running nearly two hours
late and was making fast time. The
freight was endeavoring to make a
failed by a minute.
There was an awful crash, the loco
motives reared up and fell in the ditch,
the baggage car of the express tele-
scoped the smoker and the shrieks and
cries Of the wounded and dying filed
the air. The loss Of life is twenty
eight. The injured will number con-
siderably more. Tluge latter include
many who may die from their injuries.
They sustained all mi of hurts,
and when they reached the hospital
at London were SO covered with blood
that they could not be recognized.
Their appearance simply beggared de-
scription.
Many of the dead were frightfully
mangled. Heads were cut off, legs
were wrenched from the bodies and
the stretch Of s~now-coyered level high
way became crimson with the blood Of
the victims.
The responsibility for the accident
has not been definitely fixed, but it
is believed to have been due to an
operators error. The operator at one
Of the stations where the two trains
stopped gave an order for the freight
to pass No. 5, the Pacific Express, at
Wanstead.
Tn thu cucfonn ~ Tho Cran6 T,sr1nl.
this order should have been duplicated,
a copy being given to the engineer and
conductor Of the express. Instead Of
this the conductor of the express re-
ceived a clearance order. telling him
to run right through. The freight
train had meantime stopped at Wan
stead to side track and was t~elescoped
by the express. The binding storm
made objects invisible at the distance
of a few feet.
The operator at Wanstead is not u.s.
ually on duty at night, but this evening
he happened to be in the Office for a
short time. He was just going out Of
the door when he heard the telegraph
instrument click and Immediately call
repeatedly the message, "Stop No. s."
"Stop No. s."
Selling a lantern the operator dashed
for the door, and as he closed it behind
him he heard the awful crash of tht
collision half a mile up the track.
There was not a house to be seer
anywhere through the storm, and it
proved, when daylight came, that there
was one a enough to carry the
manned. Most fortunately the two
Pullman cars on the train did not sus-
tain any damage. They We're warm
and comfortable, and what were a few
moments before palatial sleeping COM
partments for scores Of weary travel
ers became a temporary hospital. The
injured were placed in the berths and
everything possible to assuage the suf-
ferings of the victims was done. This
was, however, very little. There was
scarcely any water to be had, and snow
was melted in the endeavor to quench
the thirst Of the sufferers.
The latest estimate of fatalities is
twenty-eight killed and thirty-tive or
more injured. The following is the list
Of the killed:
Alexander and Mrs. Alexander Stew
art, of Petrolia, Ont; A. Ricketts,, ,Sar-
MIA Tunnel; j. Gillies, Sarnia Tunnel;
Mrs. Trotter, Petrolia; II. B. Lawrence.
Watford, Ont; f. S. Freemen, Oil
Springs or Hensall; Nicholas Jeffrey,
London; Glen Roaley. Port Huron,
Mich; Guy De Penter, La Crosse.
Wash; DIR. Pennwarden and wife, Oil
Springs, Mich; Glen Bodley, Port HUI
ron, Mich; J. H. Brock, Brucefield. O.;
B. Burwell, Port Huron, Mich; Wilson
Morton, Chicago, ILL.,; Miss Nellie
Geddes, Sarnia, Ont; Alexander B.
Cameron, Petrolia, Ont; Edward
Boyce; - Smith, trainman; Miss Lot
tie Lynch, Port Huron; Ed De Beaus,
Prescott, Ont; Mrs. ]. B. Barnes,
Woodstock, Ont; Archie Douglass, AL
winston, Ont; Mrs. Bodley, Port HUI
ron, Mich; George Burkholder, Sarnia,
Ont: William John Lucas, Strathroy,
Ont; Violet Brock, child, Chicago.