Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1903-01-01
MANGlfD IN WRECK
JWENTY.EIohT LIVES CRUSHED
s OUT IN AN ONTARIO Die.
AsTEA.
TERRIFIC nfAD-0N COLLISION
THIRTY PERsoNs RECEIVE sER,.
Gus lNJuRlEs ALI villa
.... RECOVER. ...@ .-
OPERATOR IS 1flD RESPONSIBLE
RAGING BLIZZARD ADDS TO THE
HORRORS OF The Do.
AsTER.
OPERATOR IS atlD RESPONSIBLE

London, Ont, Dec. 30.-In the head.
on collision Frid&y night near Wan.
stead :n TIA :sr.rd Trunk railway be-
tween ! wsst.bnun1 passenger train
1ne esst t:etGkt, twen.y-eight per-
sons were .K,l.fA md tk!,.y were in
jureA. ,.-e
3: Watle severa1 ct the injured are still
In . serious ot addition. It is expected
that al will recover 1~...
Many Of the dead were mutilated
and the snow about the wreckage was
crimson with blood.
The Pacific express was two hours
late and running at high speed when Il
reached Wanstead. The freight was
trying to make siding. but failed.
When tho through train struck the
freight there was a disastrous crash.
Nhe locomotives reared their pilots
high in the air and tumbled into the
ditch. The baggage car of the express
train te1escoped with the smoking car
and here the death list was made
The Pullman sleepers did not leave
the rails and their occupants escaped
except tor bruises:
Blizzard Adds to Horror.
The darkness of night and the rag
Ing of \ blizzard added horrors to tho
wreck Fortunately, the fire horror
was averted.
In the binding snowstorm neither
engineer saw the other train approach.
Ing, apparently. The shock was aw.
full. The trains came together square
" head-on. In second the baggage
and express cars of the passenger
train telescopei into the day coach
This day coach was reduced to splint-
ers and fragments back to the last
three windows. u
It was crowded with human beings.
and the resultant loss Of life and In.
jury was narrowing. For three hours
or more, wounded and MANNED passen-
gers we're pinned underneath wreck
age, crying piteously for help while
they suffered from exposure to the o.
Ohents.
Exposure undoubtedly hastened tho
death of some Of the more seriously in
5ured. The bodies were taken from the
wreck frightfully mangled, some of
them almost beyond recognition.
Operators Story.
Andrew Corson, the operator at
Watford, the frst station east 'of the
wreck, whose failure to deliver orders
to Conductor McAulitie of the express
train, to pass freight 1t Wansttaa, j.
said by the Grand Trunk OF,
Acials to have caused the wreck, yes
terday afternoon made his first state
ment since the wreck. He says he re-
ceived the order for No. ), the express,
to pass the freight at Wanstead at
p;48 o'clock, but declares positively
that q few minutes later Dispatcher j.
g. Kerr at London, called him and
ordered him to bust" or cancel the
order. He said: -@..
About 9:z5 o'clock, after calling
Wyoming and ascertaining that the
freight wAs there, the dispatcher called
me rapidly half dozen times. When
answered on the wire he told me to
bust this order. I wrote bust it.
across the order just as No. was
coming in. After the train had started
and was out of reach the dispatcher
learned the freight had loft Wyoming.
I told him
.s Could Not Stop
No. :, as it had left He Immediately
began calling Kings Court Junction,
the station between Watford and Wan
stead on the railroad wire, and tried
to raise them on 4 commercial wire.
We both failed to do this, however,
until the express had passed the juno
tion."
Corson admitted that he knew It
was against the rules OF the company
20 cancel = train order without send.
Ing z substitute for 1t, but he said that
the dispatcher was his superior officer
and he tiisiiked to question his order
or dispute his authority for taking tNs
action.
The order book In the local Grand
Trunk once does not show that the
order w1B busted" or Cancelled, as
Corson claims. According to the book
It was still In force and should have
been delivered to the conductor of the
express.
Kerr has made no statement, not
even to the railway ofdcials, and will
not until he takes he stand 1t the in.
quest.
a.,L.,,s, .Kiirsjs