The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-04-21
SEVEN OF THE EIGHT
DEAD REMAIN
UNKNOWN
Aged Woman of st. Paul
and a Duluth Man Injured
in a Collision on the
Erie Railway - Several
Cars Are Burned.

JAMESTOWN, N. Y, April 20. =
Eight persons were killed and ten in
jured, three of them seriously, in a
collision between a passenger train and
a freight train on the Erie railroad
near Red House, N. Y, today. OF the
dead only one, Robert n. Hotchkiss, Of
! Meadville, a brakeman, has been iden-
titled. Seven bodies, apparently those
of three men, three women and a child,
were burned beyond recognition in the
fierce fire which followed the wreck
The women are said to have boarded
the train at Youngstown, and to have
come from Pittsburg.
R. S. McCready, a mail weigher Of
! Meadville, Pa, and Frank Barhite, of
jamestown, a travelling salesman, are
missing, and it is probable that two
of the unidentified bodies are those Of
the two men. The injured include Mrs.
Foote, eighty years old, st. Paul, Mimi,
bruised and shocked, and John Drou-
gOuan, Duluth, bruised and badly cut.
Mrs. Foote is in the hospital at Sala-
manca. Most of the others were able
to proceed to their destination.
The wrecked passenger train was
known as No. 4, running from Chicago
to New York, and was made UP of
Engine No. 545, in charge Of Engineer
Samuel Cook and Fireman Fred Bell,
of Meadville, one combination car, two
day coaches, three sleepers and two
private cars. It was derailed by strik-
ing freight train which was taking a
siding at Red House. The wreck at
once took fire and the combination car,
two day coaches and two sleepers, to-
pafhar with OH
consumed.
Cause of the Wreck Disputed.
There is some dispute as to the cause
of the wreck. The passenger train
was running east, and the freight, which
was west bound, had orders to go into
the siding at Red House and wait for
the passenger train to go by. The sid
ing IS about a mile and a half long,
and there is a tower Of the block sys-
tenn near the west end.
The freight was drawn by two en-
gines. Some trouble was experienced
in entering the siding, and the fore
most engine of the freight was sent in
along the siding with a flagman to hold
the express. 1t is alleged that the OPP
orator in the tower Lawrence Vale,
seventeen years old, saw the light en-
CINE of the freight, which was bringing
up the flag, and supposed the freight
was on the siding behind it. Vale then
displayed a white signal toward the
passenger train, indicating to the en-
gineer that he had a clear track.
The engineer Of the passenger train
failed to see the flagman 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 end 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 of the coaches crashed into
small wooden structure used as a feed
store and schoolhouse. The first half
dozen cars of the freight were wrecked
They were box cars loaded with coal.
The coal filled in amongst the wreck
age, creating an intense heat All but
three of the cars Of the express fol-
lowed the engine, and the whole mass
of wreckage was soon in flames. The
tracks were strewn for rods with burn
ing wood and coal and heaps of twisted
iron work. No 4 is one of the fast
trains on the Erie.