Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1900-1930, 1904-10-20
TWO TRAINS CRASH
MISSOURI PACIFIC EXPRESS AND
FREIGHT COLLIDE.
Twenty-seycn Are Killed and Many
Others Terribly Injured - Accident
Occurs Near Warrensburg, Mo.
Coaches Filled with ExCursiouists.

Coaches Filled with Excursiouists.
The second section of Missouri pas
senger train No. 80 from Wichita,
Kan, to ST Louis, carrying World 5
Fair eXcursionists, was wrecked i'll a
head-on collision with u west-bound
freight train east of Warrensburg,
sas City, early Monday. The forward
coach Of the passenger train was tele-
scoped and both trains were badly
damaged. Twenty-seven persons were
killed outright and thirty were in
jured, some of them, it is believed, ia
tally.
Travel to the Worlds fair has been
so heavy that all roads recently have
been sending out many Of their trains
in two or more sections. The wrecked
train, which was the second section of
No. so, was made up at Wichita Sun
day night and, as is the custom, it
picked up many additional coaches
along the line in Kansas The last
Mo, at about 4 o'clock Monday morn
ing. All Of the coaches were crowded.
Both trains We're running at good
rate of speed when the wreck occur
red. Dawn had hardly begun to break
and neither crew was aware Of the
approach of the other train until they
were almost upon each other. The inn
pact of the collision was terrific. The
sleeping passengers were hurled in
every direction. Most of the killed
were in the forward coach, which was
we'll crowded with passengers.
The spot where the wreck occurred
was in a narrow cut and this fact,
with the darkness, added to the diff
Guilty Of the situation. The greatest
confusion ensued after the first lull
following the crash and the groans Of
the injured were added to the escap-
ing steam Of the wrecked locomotives.
Relief Hurried to Scene.
It was some time before word was
sent back to Warrensburg and news of
the wreck was spread. Relief trains
carrying physicians were sent out as
quickly as possible from surrounding
towns and everything possible was
done to aid the injured.
1t was some time before the dead
and injured could be eXtricated from
the debris The dead were carried up
the track and laid in rows in an open
space until the relief train arrived,
while the injured were cared for as
we'll as could be.
The freight train was an extra. Its
crew had, according to the story of the
conductor of this train, been instructed
to take a siding and let the passenger
train pass. The first section of the
passenger train had gone by when the
freight pulled out The passenger
train bore no signal of second section
to come, he asserts, and he had no rea-
son to believe that another train was
due.
The scene of the wreck was on the
down grade on either side of which
there was steep rise. Both trains
had put on extra steam to carry them
up the opposite hill, and when they
met at the curve at the lowest point
they were running at a terrific rate.
The passenger train was made up
of three coaches and Pullman, with
no baggage car, the front coach being
next to the tender. The freight train
was a heavy one When the trains
met the heavy freight train pushed
the passenger engine back into the
first coach. The tender Of the passen-
ger engine literally cut the coach in
two in the center and never stopped
until it had ploughed itself halfway
through the car and its passengers,
killing those in the forward end in
stantly and mangling all within reach
in a most horrible manner. Half q
dozen who were not killed outright
were so terribly injured that they died
before they could be removed from the
debris. Many of the dead were almost
unacceptable.