The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1903-11-02
BIG FOUR'S FOOTBALL SPECIAL
WRECKED ON OUTSKIRTS
OF INDIANAPOLIS.
colL|Dts WITH A COAL TRAIN
THREE COACHES DEMOLISHED
AND FIFTY PERSONS BUR.
led IN THE DEBRIS.

Indianapolis, Nov "A special
train on the Big Four bearing 1000
Lafayette passengers, including sew
eral hundred students of Purdue uni
versity. was wrecked at 1920 a. m.
near Riverside Park, on the edge of
this city.
Fifteen dead have been taken from
the wreck and forty passengers were
injured, twenty-four of them seri-
ously.
Among the dead are several mem
bers of the Purdue university football
team. The list of dead follows:
w. H. CRUDE, substitute PLAYER, But.
ler Ind: Walter Furr, member of the
team, Texas; f. c. Roberts. assistant
coach; Walter X. Rouch, Pittsburg;
l., Rouch, Pittsburg; j. Powell. Corpus
Christi. Tex; William Hamilton, SEN
ter rush. Lafayette: Gabriel S. Drol-
linger. beheaded; Sam Squibb. La
fayette; Jay Hamilton, substitute
player. Huntington, Ind; n r. How
ard, Lafayette: Walter Robertson;
Patrick McClair, Chicago, assistant
coach. died at hospital; Sam Truit
substitute quarterback, Noblesville,
Ind, died at city hospital; G. l.. Shaw,
student, Lafayette.
Three Coaches Demolished.
The special train consisted OF
twelve coaches and was running at
high speed.
AT a gravel pit switch near Eight
eenth street switch engine with a
cut of coal cars colided with the pas
senger. The passenger engine and
first three coaches were almost to-
tally destroyed. The first coach was
crushed to splinters, the second tel
escoped and thrown down an embank-
ment fifteen feet high, whi'n the third
coach was overturned and thrown
across the track. The crash of the
two trains threw the coal cars through
the first two coaches, in which were
many OF the players and substitutes.
coaches were crushed into a confused
mass Of wreckage. Under this pile
OF debris were fifty or more students
OF the university.
The uninjured in the rear coaches
hurried to the aid of the victims The
work Of pulling out the dead and in
and passengers, including many girls
from Lafayette, until surgical help
arrived.
Ambulances and special vehicles
for carrying away the dead and in
jured were hurried to the wreck. A
large force continued tearing away
the debris and removing bodies.
The condition of some of the dead
fr}Qhtfn1
beheaded. Others were terribly mutt
lated in other ways.
Crash Heard for Blocks.
The crash of the collision was heard
for blocks around People hurried
from every direction and women who
lived In the vicinity came prepared
with remedies to assist the injured.
All the ambulances in the city re-
sponded to the alarm.
The wounds of the injured men
We're dressed temporarily and they
were hurried away to the hospitals.
The city hospital and dispensary am
balances each carried several loads
to the city hospital. The dead were
removed last.
The work OF rescuing these bodies
required the combined work of the
wrecking crew and many of the city
iremen and policemen. The tender
was raised with jacks and the bodies
were drawn out. The body of Gabriel
S. DOllinger was found almost be-
headed under the wreckage of the
first coach. 1t was rescued with diff
Guilty
The scenes following the rescue of
the dead and injured were distress
ing. Men wept and cried aloud when
they looked upon the faces of their
dead classmates or at the sufferings
OF their classmates and fraternity
brothers. Many of the girls rolled up
their sleeves and knelt at the sides of
the stricken men and bathed their
wounds until the services Of a surgeon
could be secured. All the young men
killed were In the first coach, which
was reduced to kindling wood. They
were found lying tangled and bleed
Ing with the injwred pinned against
them. The coach held about seventy