The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-04-24

jamestown, N. Y, April 2O.-Eight.
persons are dead and ten injured, three
Of them seriously, as the result of .
collision between a passenger train and
a freight on the Erie road at an early
hour today near Redhouse, N. Y.
Of the dead, only one man, Robert
Hotchkiss, of Meadville, a brakeman
has been identified. Seven bodies. ap-
parently those Of three men, three wo-
men, and a child, were burned beyond
recognition in the fierce fire which fol-
lowed the wreck. The women are said
to have boarded the train at Youngs-
town, and to have come from Pitts
burg.
R. S. McCreary, a mail weigher OF
Meadville, Pa, and Frank Barhite OF
Jamestown. a travelling salesman, are
missing, and it is likely two of the I'M
identified bodies are those of the two
men. The injured are:
H. Pulsifer, of New York city, badly
bruised.
c. w. Messick, of 22S Adams street,
Chicago, back badly injured.
Anna st. Sci, of Brooklyn, N. Y,
shocked and very sick.
| H. f. ClemOner, mail clerk, of Gerry,
n. T., ribs fractured and body bruised.
John Drougouan, Of Duluth, bruised
| and badly cut.
Mrs. Foote, eighty years old, of ST.
Paul, Mimi, bruised and shocked.
S. A. Cooke, negro porter. of Sum-
merville, N. J., leg fractured.
E. G.. Gabler, express messenger, of
Marion, O., leg cut off, probably fatal
ly injured.
R. T. Bell, fireman, back bruised.
Mrs. Foote, E. Gabler Firemen
Bell are in the hospital at Salamanca.
The others were able to proceed to their
destination.
The wrecked passenger was known
as No. 4, running from Chicago to New
York, and was made up of engine No.
$40, in charge of Engineer Samuel Cook
and Fireman Fred Bell, of Meadville,
one combination car, two day coaches,
three sleepers and two private cars. IL
was derailed by striking a freight
train, which was taking a siding at
Redhouse. The wreck at once took
fire and the combination car, two day
coaches and two sleepers, together
with several freight cars were con-
sumed.
There is some dispute as to the cause
Of the wreck. The passenger train was
running east and the freight which was
W~estbound had orders to go into the
siding at Redhouse and wait for the
passenger to go by. The siding is
about a mile and a half long. There is
a tower of the block system near the
west end. The freight was drawn by
two engines. Some trouble was ex-
perienced in entering the siding and
the foremost engine was sent in along
the siding with a flagman to hold the
express. 1t is alleged that the opera
tor in the tower, Lawrence Vale, a boy
of II years old, saw the light of the en-
CINE of the freight which was bring
ing up the flag, and %supposing the
freight was behind it, Vale then dis
played a white signal to the passenger
train Indicating to the engineer that
he had a clear track.
The engineer on the passenger train
failed to see the fiagman sent out from
the forward engine of the freight train
and saw only the clearance signal from
the tower. The train ran toward the
east enc of the siding at high speed
and collided with the second engine Of
the freight train just as it was about
to clear the main line. The passenger
engine and some of the coaches
crashed into a small wooden structure
used as a feed store and school house.
The first half dozen cars of the freight
were wrecked. They were box cars
loaded with coal The coal filtered in
amongst the wreckage, creating an in
tense heat. All but three of the cars
of the express followed the engine and
the whole mass of wreckage was soon
in flames. The tracks were strewn for
rods with burning wood and coal, and
heaps of twisted iron work.
Number 4 is one of the fast trains on
the Erie. The two private cars at
tached to 1t today were coupled by
ficials of the Queen and Crescent rail-
road. and J.. L. Frazier, general super
intendent Of the Clover Leaf. All es-
capped uninjured.