The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1903-12-31
TRAINS CRASH HEAD-ON
Frightful Wreck on Pere Marquette
Road Due to High Wind.
p ARE DEAD AND % INJURED
Red Signal Light Blown Out During
Blizzard Caused Collision Which Re
dueed Trains to Broken Timber and

NV SlGudi |'9NN 0'SWH wv ~
Blizzard Caused Collision Which Re
dueed Trains to Broken Timber and
Metal.
Grand Rapids. Mich, Dec. 2S.-The
death list resulting from the head-on
collision between two Pere Marquette
railway passenger trains. near East
Paris. stands at %. with 20 persons in
jured, several OF them probably IA
tally.
The dead. all OF whom are from
cities OF Michigan. are: Mr.. and Mrs.
L. J. Baldwin, Louis Baldwin. Lester
Williams. Mrs. Daisy Giles, Burt
Myers. Walter Jordan. Joseph Hullom
(colored). Austin /. Wager. Charles a.
Stoddard. Charles A. Deyine. William
Heinrich. F. NJ. Gillet, Allen II. Wells,
Frank Burns. Peter w. Wierengo.
George Palmer, William Smith and
four unidentified men.
II was the most disastrous wreck in
the history OF the Pere Marquette sys-
TEN. and instead OF being caused by
mans carelessness or mistake. il Is
charged to the high wind, which ex-
tinguished the red signal light in the
order board at McCord's Station.
where the westb0und train was ex-
pected to stop and receive new orders
Two minutes before the train rushed
by McCords the light was burning
says the operator there. but in that
brief interval the blizzard that was
raging extingulshed Il. and train No.
flashed by the station to crash into
sastbound train No. near East
Paris The trains, which were two of
the finest on the system. were reduced
to pile OF broken timber and metal,
with the dead ana injured crushed
and pinned down by the fragments of
the heavy cars.
Five cars and two heavy locomotives
we're jammed into a space ordinarily
occupied by three coaches. and the
wreckage was strewn across the rail-
way right OF way from fence TO fence.
When train No 5. bound west.
whizzed by McCord's instead of stop
ping. the frightened operator notified
the dispatcher. then found that his
red light had been extinguished. He
reported this fact The collision was
Inevitable.
There was no chance Of the fast
running trains seeing each other
through the driving blizzard in time
TO even show down, and in a few min
utes word came from the conductor of
No. 8 that they had crashed together
and that there was an awful loss Of
life.
Great cast steel side rods bent into
many shapes. and even the steel tires
Of the big driving wheels split and
sprung from the wheels. landing in
some cases 10 feet from the engine. /
The boiler OF engine No. 397 turned /
over several times. and the very force /
OF the twisting Impact seems TO have /
been the means of saving the life Of I
Engineer Waterman. He was flung 40 I
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.
No. s, east-bound, was composed Of .
a mail and baggage car. combination .
smoker, buffet parlor car, day coach .
and diner. The baggage coach. caught .
between the engine and the heavy .
train, crumpled up ike pasteboard, /
only the roof remaining partially I'M
broken. The big blind mail coach.
heavily bulkheaded. took the brunt OF
the blow, withstood the crash and COM
municated it TO the smoker. The
smoker was swept clean as the mail
car telescoped its entire length, and
turned over at the north side Of the
track. The smoker in turn crashed
several feet into the parlOr car and
Il was at the rear end OF the smoker
and forward end of the cafe car where
all the passengers were killed and
wounded Within a space OF six feet
square. the bodies of two women, a
boy and a man were taken out
When the engines met one turned
over and lay with its nose
In direction opposite to that in
which It had been travelling. The
other climbed the wreckage of the
first. its boiler torn from the trucks,
standing erect in the centre of the
debris.