The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1903-01-02
MFUL DISASTER ON
CANADIAN RAILWAY
Passenger Train on Grand
Trunk Collides With a
Freight at Wanstead.
WRECK BEGAN TO BURN
Only by Heroic Efforts of the Passen.
gers, Who Put Out the Blaze With
Snow, Was a Much Greater
Casualty Averted.

Casualty Averted.
~ London, Ont, Dec. ga frightful
collision occurred last night between a
~|estbound passenger and an eastbound
freigh on the Grand Trunk railway, at
Wanstead, a station on the Sarnia
branch, and according to latest reports
thirty persons were killed and thirty
i've injured.
The passenger train was running at
a hight rate OF speed. The freight was
under slow Roadway and was to have
taken a switch at Wanstead to allow
the passenger to pass.
Apparently neither engineer saw the
danger in time to avert the accident,
for the engines came together with a
frightful crash, ~overturning into the
ditch. h baggage and express cars
telescoped into the smoker with ap-
palling results r..
The wreck was complete. 1t is
thought hardly a single passenger in
the smoker escaped injury. The other;
cars of the passenger remained on the
crack. The work Of removing the dead
n injured is proceeding.
The Killed and Injured.
Among the known dead are:
ENGINEER GILLIES Of Sarnia.
The Fireman of the express engine.
H. P. LAWRENCE, Watford, Ont.
EDWARD DEBEAU.
EDWARD BOYSE, Prescott, Ont.
MISS NELLIE GEDDEs, Sarnia.
MIR. BURRELL, london.
NICHOLAS JEFFRIES, London.
MRS. j. B. BARNES, Woodstock, Ont.
ALEXANDER CAMERON, Petrolia.
MIR. SMITH, trainman, Sarnia.
Injured:
Alexander NJ. Stewart, Wingham, n
J. ]. Cuthbertson and wife, Port HUI
con, Mich.
Flossie Cuthbertson, Port Huron.
Mrs. Samuel Cummings, Port Huron.
Hattie Northey, Peterboro, Ont.
Nellie Coutts, Chicago.
Frank E. Baker, London, Ont.
w. N. Morse, wife and three children.
Sarnia.
Thomas Coutts, Chicago.
George Stacey, WanStead.
Edward Deevans, Prescott, Ont.
DR.. Basil Harvey, Chicago.
Mrs. J. NJ. Stewart n child, Oshkosh.
James Banes, Woodstock.
Russell Quinn, Chicago.
Carl Stewart, Oshkosh.
Beatrice Geddes, Sarnia.
John Bierd,S Chicago.
Albert Limont, Wyoming, Ont.
Mrs. W. Colt and Margaret Colt, Lon.
don.
]. F. Shawles, Strathroy, Ont.
". II. Cole and wife, Flint, Mich.
B. x. Mcdonald, Strathroy.
Mrs. T. N. Byrnes, Sarnia.
Ami Sinclair, Komoka, Ont.
Mrs. Pugsley, London
Robert Jackson, Petrolia.
Hobart Stewart, Oshkosh, Wis.
The engineer and fireman of the
freight train are missing.
Car Roof Fell In,
The Inflated express consisted of two
baggage cars, a smoker, two t1rst-class
:oache5 and two Pullnlans. The smoker,
which waSitelescoped by the coach be-
mind it, had the sides knocked out of it,
The roof falling and imprisoning the
assengers. 1t was in this car the most
wful havoc and loss Of life occurred.
The wreck shortly after the collision
taught fire II but for the heroic efforts
Of q brigade Of passengers organized
and led by an old man, the disaster
might have been much worse. BY heroic
efforts this brigade put out the fire,
throwing snoW on the flames with their
hats and hands. They then turned
their efforts to getting out the wound
ed, who had their sufferings increased
by a binding snowstorm and the ther-
mometer nea zero.
The dead and injured arrived in Lon
don by g. special train this morning and
The work Of identifying the dead and
caring for the sufferers is being hurried
as fast as possible.
The accident is said to be due to fall
lre of the operator to give orders to the
express train to meet the freight at the
station. ,
Story of a Passenger.
One Of the passengers describes the
accident as follows: =
- Ky rl r. ~ nj no of oh0I1f f0rtv
miles an hour when, without the slight
est; warning, the two trains met with
terrific force. On examination it was
found the; two engines were in the ditch.
baggage a was thrown on top Of
q first class coach, instantly killing a
great many and pinning about fifty
other passengers in the debris. The
'creams, means and prayers of the in
cured were heartrending. One poor
woman begged that her child be saved,
as she was dying. The little one was
carefully taken from the wreck, and
probably will recover. The mother was
SRfterward released, but only to die in a
few minutes. u4
q thirty people were killed and
Eorty badly injured, some Of whom will
die. The trainmen, as well as every
passenger,%di all they could to relieve
The sufferings of the victims"
Bodies Mangled Beyond Recognition.
The bodies taken from the wreck
were frightfully mangled, some of them
almost beyond recognition. Scenes at
tending removal of the dead bodies
from the Wreckage were pitifuI in the
extreme. Several families were on the
train and the airWas. filled with anxious
cries of those separated from their
loved ones not knowing whether they
aereSkilled or saved.
Miss Nellie Geddes OF Sarnia was
among he killed. She was returning
with her sister, Beatrice, from a. visit
70 relatives in thiE city. Beatrice was
slightly injured and vas brought. back
TO London on one OF the early relief
trains Not finding her sister here she
hecaIse convinced she had been saved
and had gone on to Sarnia, and this
morning Beatrice left for Sarnia, conf
TENT that she would meet her sister