The Penn's Grove record., 1904-10-14
SCORE KILLED IN WRECK
Trains on the Missouri Pacific COL
Tide and Telescope.
ABOUT SIXTY PASSENGERS HURT

Only a Pullman Car is Left Unhurt After
Collision of Freight With Express
Near Warrensburg, Mo. Accident
Occurred in Deep Cut at Day Break
Trains Were Running at High Speed
Warrensburg, MO.-Over a score of
persons were killed and sixty injured
by a head-on collision of Missouri Pa
cific trains three miles east of War
rensburg. The trains were the second
section of a passenger train from Wich-
ita for st. Louis and an extra freight
train. Most of the dead we're residents
of Missouri and Kansas, as are the in
jured.
The passenger train, consisting Of
two day coaches, a Pullman car and 4
cabooSe, was loaded with Worlds Fair
eXcurSiOniSts from Southeastern Kan
sas and Southwestern Missouri. The
Wichita passenger train had been cut
in two at Pleasant Hill on account of
the heavy load and a locomotive at
tached to the front car without a bag
gage car as a buffer.
The extra freight had been side
tracked in Montserrat for the first Sec
ton of the Wichita train, which car
ried signals that a second section was
following. A local passenger train
passed. The freight crew thought it
was the second section of the Wichita
train and pulled out of the side track.
Three miles west the freight met the
second section.
The impact %telescoped the tender Of
the passenger locomotive and the front
car, which was full of passengers, and
it was here the sacrifice of life took
place.
The passenger conductor, E.. L.
Barns, ran all the way to W%arrensburg
to report the wreck. Every physician
in Warrensburg and hundreds of citi-
Zens fastened to the scene to assist
the wounded. Twenty persons were
killed outright and nine died within q
few hours.
The dead were placed on fiat cars
and brought to Warrensburg. A Cor
Oner's jury is now seeking the person
responsible for the wreck.
The conductor of the freight train
says he was doing while his train was
in Montserrat, and when the local train
passed Horton, the engine driver be-
lieved it was the second section of the
Wichita train, and, thinking the track
clear, pulled OF on the main line.
Both trains were running at a good
rate of speed when the wreck occurred.
Dawn had hardly begun to break, and
neither crew was aware of the ap-
proach of the other train until they
were almost upon each other.
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 tracks were
on a down grade, on either side of
which there was a steep rise. Both
trains had put on extra steam to carry
them up the opposite hill, and when
they met ut the curve at the lowest
point they were running at a terrific
rate.
The heavy freight train pushed the
passenger engine back into the first
ear. The tender of the passenger en-
CINE literally cut the car in two in the
centre and did not stop until it had
plowed half way through the car, kill
ing the passengers in the forward end
instantly and terribly mangling all
within reach.
The next two cars were also badly
eGmaged, seats being torn up and win
dows smashed, but in these cars the
passengers Jared better, all, except a
few, escaping with slight injuries. The
Pullman car remained upright and
none of its occupants were hurt beyond
sustaining a severe shaking up.
SO tightly were the tender of the
passenger engine and the first car
wedged together that it will take unu
sual efforts to separate them.
The train crews, with the exception
of Brakeman Sidel, escaped, the en-
CINE drivers and firemen sustaining
only minor hurts.