The San Francisco call., 1903-12-28
Killed Number Twenty-Five
and the Injured Twenty-Five
i'm the Railroad Disaster on
the Pere Marquette Line
MANY PERSONS HAVE
MIRACULOUS ESCAPES
Dispatcher Sees Mistake, Tele-
graphs Information Ahead
and Then in Mental Agony
Awaits Word of Calamity


GRAND RAPIDS, Mich, Dec 81
The death list tonight resulting from
the tBead-on collision between two Pere
Marquette Railroad passenger trains
near East Paris yesterday evening
stands at twenty-five, with twenty
nine persons injured, several Of them
probably fatally.
The dead: Mr.. and Mrs. L. J. Bald
win. Mulliken. Mich: Louis Baldwin,
their son. Mulliken; Lester Williams,
Lansing. Mich; Mrs. Daisy Giles. Low
ell. Mich: Burt Myers, Grandville or
Lake Odessa, Mich; Walter Jordan,
Grand Rapids; Joseph Hulm (coIored),
Windsor. ont; Austin 1. Wager, bag
gageman, Detroit; Charles A. Stoddard,
Detroit engineer No. 6; Charles A. De-
wins, Grand Rapids; William Heinrich,
Detroit, baggaeman; F. N. Gillett, Burr
oak or Portland, Mich; Allen H. Wells,
Big Rapids Mich. Frank w. Wieren-
go. Grand Rapids; George Palmer, De-
troit. American Express agent Of No. 6;
William Smith. Saranac, Mich; four
unidentified men.
LIST OF INJURED.
The injured: Gerritt NJ. Mottman,
Grand Rapids, internal injuries and hip
crushed, dying; Charles West, Saranac,
Mich, both legs broken, left hand torn
of. probably fatally; John Clark, Potts
vile. Mich, skull fractured and nose
broken, seriously injured about body
and hips; Michael Maltburg, Hart,
Mich. badly burned legs, hands and
breast: Charles T. Chambers, Iona,
Mich. injured about head, face, body,
hands and legs; Frank Waterman, De-
trOit. engineer No. ;, seriously injured
about head. face lacerated and internal
injuries; J. C Woodwork, Palm, Mich,
injured about head and body; Edward
WeigeI, Grand Rapids, conductor No. 5,
left leg broken and badly injured about
body. r. +. Gay. Detroit, brakeman,
head. body and right leg injured; Harry
Marcus. New York City, president Of
the T. II. Marcus Company, left leg
fractured and injured about shoulders;
F. b. Moon, Grand Rapids. fireman No.
8. injured about head and body; Mrs
r. Kent. Grand Rapids. injured inter
nally: c. y. Botsford, Pennington,
Mich. mail clerk No s. badly cut about
head. Mrs. II. .. Gray. Grand Rapids,
badly bruised about head ana hips; II.
O. Branch. Sunfeld, Mich, badly in
5ured about head and shoulders; George
F. Crammon, Grand Rapids, injured
about head and legs and cOllarbone
broken: Andrew Sprague, Allegan. in
jured about head; Claud Brown, Grand
Rapids. leg broken; Mrs. H. r. Streeter,
Grand Lodge. Mich, arm broken; How
ard Minor. Grand Rapids, left arm
broken: W. J. Barber, Nuskegan, Mich,
injured about head and face; Rev.
James Humphreys, pastor Church OF
Christ. Lansing, Mich, badly cut about
face: Timothy Quayley, Grand Rapids,
seriously injured about back; J. T.
Gould. Grand Rapids, badly cut about
hands and shoulders; John Ross, Ian
sing. injured about legs and arms;
Henry T Boles. Grand Rapids, leg
badly injured; Ada Kellar, Clarksville,
Mich. left leg injured.
The wreck is charged 10 the high
wind which extinguished the red sig
raj Eight in the order" board at Nc
Cords Station. where the westboUnd
train was expected to stop and receive
orders. When train No. 8, bound west,
,vhizzed past McCords instead of step
ping. the frightened operator notified
the dispatcher and then found that his
red light had been extinguished. He re-
r1orted this fact. and then there was
but one action to take. The collision
was inevitable. The dispatcher's office
called for medical aid and gave orders
TO hold the train over the Saginaw
branch at the station and get the
zyrecking outfit under steam. 1t then
waited for the word it knew must come.
There was no chance Of the fast run
ming trains to see each other through
the driving blizzard in time to even
slow down. and in a few minutes word
come from the conductor OF No. that
they had crashed together, and that
there was an awful loss Of life.
SMASHING OF LOCOMOTIVES.
The westbound engine drove through
No. 6's engine like a wedge, separating
the gear from the boiler and standing
the latter on end like a broken, twisted
shell The running gear was crumpled
UP like so much twine. Great cast steel
side rods were bent into many shapes,
and even the steel tires Of the big driv-
ing wheels were split and sprung from
the wheels, landing in some cases ten
feet from the engine. The boiler of en-
CINE No. 397 turned over several times,
and the very force Of the twisted impact
seems TO have been the means of saw
ing the life OF Engineer Waterman. He
was flung forty feet over the fence at
the edge Of the right Of way. Moon,
his fireman, was sitting on the opposite
side Of the cab, and he. too, was thrown
clear Of the pile Of wreckage.
AS the trains came together the
steam domes of each boiler blew of,
releasing their contents, else there
would have been added horrors from
the blistering steam.
No. 6, east bound, was composed OF a
mail and baggage car. combination
smoker, buffet parlor car. day coach
and diner. The baggage car, caught be-
tween the engine and heavy train, was