The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1903-11-27
COLLISION
ON The Big FOUR
Twenty-Six Bodies Of Unfor'
tunate Ones Recovered,
Twenty Identified.
WAS 4 TERRIBLE WRECK
Heavily Laden Freight Train Met a
Work Train Near Fremont, ILL.,,
and Crashed Toather With
Fearful Force.

Peoria, H., Nov. 21.-Thirty-one men
were killed and at least fifteen injured
in a head-end collision between an east
bound freight and q work train on the
Big Four railroad between MacklnaW
and fremont. Up to the present time
the bodies of tWenty-siX victims OF the
wreck have been taken from the mass
of debris which is piled thirty feet high
on the tracks, while five yet remain
buried under a huge pile of broken
timbers, twisted and distorted iron and
steel.
on a bank at the side of the track lie
the bodies of the victims, cut, bruised
| and mangled in a horrible manner. SO
| far twelve only have been identified,
the remaining being ~unrecognizable
even by those who knew them and are
aware of the fac that they are among
the dead
All of the dead and most of the in
jured were members of the work traln,
| the crews on both engines jumping in
time to save their lives. The collision
occurred in q deep cut, at the begin
ming of a sharp curve, neither train be-
ing visible to the crew of the other
until they were within fifty feet. The
engineers set the brakes, sounded the
whistles and then leaped from their
cabs. the two trains striking with such
force that the sound was heard Tor
miles around.
A second after the collision the boiler
of the work train engine exploded with
terrific force. throwing heavy iron bars
and %splinterS OF wood To a distance OF
200 feet.
List of the Casualties.
The following is a list of the dead who
have been identified:
ROBERT KING, aged 43, fremont, wife
and three children:
THOMAS TROY, so, fremont, single.
WILLIAM EADIIS. so, fremont, wife
and three children.
CHARLES L. MYERS, so, Bloomington.
wife and five children.
GEORGE SMITH, so, Bloomington, wife
and three children.
GEORGE HARMON, 3S, Bloomington,
wife and four children.
JOHN DORIAN, SO, Bloomington, sim
gle.
JOHN SMITH, so, Bloomington, single.
FRED BACHMAN. "a, Danvers, single.
JOHN SHAW, Mackinaw, single.
STEPHEN CULTER, 90, Mackinaw,
single.
TWENTY UNIDENTIFIED DEAD,
bodies mangled beyond recognition.
The injured:
John Ghele, fireman, indianapolis, leg
broken.
A. w. Hastings, conductor, badly
bruised.
Jacob REESE, brakeman, Roanoke, right
arm broken.
w. T.. Harlan, brakeman. indianapolis,
leg broken.
Charles Gennin, roadmaster, leg broken.
Chas. Ford, Farmer City, mike broken.
Herbert White, Roanoke, leg broken.
Harry White, Woodford station, arm
broken and bruised.
Chris Barr, Danvers, ankle broken.
Gustave Thiebald, DanveIs, right arm
broken.
John Duvanel, Danvers. injured inter-
nally; may die.
Conductor John W. Judge, of Indi-
anabolis, who had charge CT the freight
train, received orders at Urbana to
wait at Mackinaw for the work train,
which was due there at 2:40 p. m.
Instead of doing this he failed to stop.
The engineer of the work train, George
Becker, had also received orders to
pass the freight at Mackinaw and was
on the way to that station. The work
train was perhaps five minutes late,
and was running at full speed in order
to make up time. When about two
miles from Minert and entering a cut,
both engineers saw the approaching
trains, and realizing that 1t was i'm
possible to stop, they threw on the en-
Urgency brakes, whistled twice and
then leaped from their cabs.
The two trains. both heavily loaded
and going at full speed, crashed to-
gether. The collision was witnessed
by Russell Noonan, a farmer boy IA
years Of age, who fastened to a nearby
house and telephoned to fremont.
A special train with four physicians
was made up in a few minutes and in
Tess thar half an hour was on the
scene. At the same time another train
arrived from Pekin bearing Superin-
tendent c.. II. Barnard, of the Big
Four, n three physicians. The sec
ond train bore a lot of Turkish rugs,
and these were utilized to carry out
the mangled corpses of the victims.
After working two Jul the remains
Of twenty-six men were taken out and
laid on an embankment near the side
Of the track.
Met With an Awful Force.
!, One of the last bodies recovered was
that of William Bailey of Mackinaw,
who had been thrust thirty feet. into
the air and held in place by two steel
rails, which had been pushed up be-
tween the engine and the tender of the
work train.
The workmen had been gag in
laying steel rails at different, points
: along the track, n three of the six
/, cars were heavily loaded. Brakeman
:. J. N. Hice of the work train was
thrown seventy-fve feet aw y from the
track, n when picked up had his
: right leg broken.
: The injured We're taken to the two ca
bosses of the relief trains, where tenn
porary hospitals We're improvised and
the wounded taken care of.
One caboose was taken to Morton,
4 while the other was taken to fremont
: The dead men are residents of neigh
boring towns, and the scene about the
: wreck were beyond description. Wives
S and children of men who were miss.
o Ing thronged the ground, asking il
81 their husbands and fathers had beer
t killed. Out of the t~hirty-five men, who
e constituted the crew of the work train
+ only four are living, n two of these
are seriously injured. Wreckage is
strewn along the track for a distance
Of nearly 200 feet, and it will be twenty.
!, four hours before it can be cleared.