The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-04-13
RAILWAY FREIGHT
CRASHES into
EXPRESS
-Four Persons Dead, Two
Fatally Hurt and Several
Slightly Injured in Col
lision on the Inter-Colo-
NAL Railway Near Wind
sor Junction.

HALIFAX, n. s., April 12-Four
persons dead. two fatally hurt, at least
one missing and several others slight
ly injured, is the record of head-on
collision on the Intercolonial railway,
which occurred just before midnight
last night near Windsor Junction, sew
enteen miles from Halifax.
The poles and telegraph lines along
the roadside were wrecked and this
city cut off from communication with
the outside world for hours.
The trains in collision were the Ca
madam Pacific express from Montreal
and Boston for Halifax, and a fast
freight from Halifax for Montreal The
conductor and driver Of the freight
had orders to take the siding at Wind
Sor junction and let the express cross,
but for some unknown reason Driver
Copeland, of the freight, ran past the
junction on the main line and met the
express two miles beyond. 1t is
thought that Copeland may have lost
control of his train, which was made
up of seventy-five cars. The freight
was running twenty five miles an hour
and the express, which was two hours
late, was travelling about forty-fve
miles an hour.
The dead are
EXPRESS DRIVER WILLIAM WALL.
EXPRESS FIREMAN MICHAEL OAK
LEY.
FREIGHT FIREMAN HILL.
ERElGHT BRAKEMAN THORPE.
The fatally hurt
Freight Driver Copeland.
nish. isl tramp named M'ofeady' OF Amigo
The express consisted of postal and
"a Crgv
coaches, in charge of Conductor Nc
| Clafferty. The freight was an unusu-
| ally heavy train, in charge of Conduc-
tor Haynes.
Both trains were hauled by new and
powerful locomotives, and they crash
! ed together on a level piece of road
| skirting a lake. The engine crew Of
! the express and Fireman Hill, of the
| freight, died almost Immediately after
! the crash. and Brakeman Thorpe was
| instantly killed.
The driver of the freight is in the
hospital with broken spine and can
not live. A tramp had been caught
stealing ride on the train, and had
been put off each time by the train
| hands, but managed to swing on again,
| and was finally taken into the cab out
| of danger.
! The brakeman of the freight, who
| was killed, was in the cab, having gone
forward prior to reaching Windsor
Junction to be in readiness to drop
| off the train when it slowed up and
! open the switch to let the freight in
on the siding. When the speed of the
| freight was not reduced approaching
| the junction Conductor HAYNES saws
he realized that nothing short of a
| miracle could prevent collision. There
/ was no bell cord to send a warning to
I the driver, and the conductor ordered
| brakeman to drop off the rear end
of the freight and telegraph the next
! station, Wellington, to hold the express.
! The message was too late. The express
| sped past Wellington station as the
| operator received the warning signal.
! He dashed out on the platform, wildly
waving lantern, but the train disap-
| peared down the line in the darkness.
A few minutes later the collision oc-
Cured.
The locomotives locked together and
remained on the track. The postal and
| baggage cars went over the emban<-
| ment down into the lake. Two railway
mail clerks in the postal car were shat-
en- up. Their car landed right side up
and began to fill with water, but they
| escaped by climbing through window
| in the roof and wading ashore. The
men in the baggage and express car
/ mad like experience, except that q
heavy safe broke loose in the fall and
smashed through the side of the car.
| The passenger coaches were consider
| ably damaged, but remained on the
track. Several passengers were thrown
down by the shock or cut by flying
| glass.
Driver Wall, of the express, was
caught in the mass of twisted iron, and
was scalded TO death by escaping
steam. Fireman Oakley was thrown,
or jumped, from the cab and was
drowned in the lake, where his body
was found in six feet of water Fire
man Hill was burned to death. and
| Brakeman Thorpe was killed outright.
| Another brakeman Of the freight train
| Is missing, and the lake is being drag
| ged for his body