Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1904-01-06
WRECK ON
ROCK ISLAND
EI Paso Flyer Crashed Into a
Stock Train Head On Near
Willard, Kansas.
TWENTY WERE KILLED
Rock island Officials State Engineer Of
Passenger Failed to Regard
Orders.
copyrighted 1904 by the Topeka State

copyrighted 1904 by the Topeka State
Journall
Topeka. Jan. 6-The Eel Paso fiyel
on the Rock Island road, westbound
which left Topeka at midnight, ter
minutes late, crashed into stock
train, head on, near Willard. fifteen
miles west of here, killing 20 persons
and injuring, as many more. H. G.
Parsons, the State Journal reporter
who was on the train and escaped un
injured, although two persons in the
seat in front of him were killed. gives
the following description of the
wreck.
THE brakeman of the train hasten.
ed to Willard and notified headquar-
ters of the wreck and dozen or more
physicians from Topeka were hur-
riedly dispatched to the scene on a
relief train. They worked until day
light ministering to the injured. With
dawn began the work of removing the
crushed and disfigured bodies of the
dead from the debris.
Some were so badly crushed as to
be unrecognizable. The injured were
placed in the chair car and the sleep
er of the wrecked train and brought
to this city and taken to hospitals.
''The first four cars of the stock
train were crushed into kindling wood
and strewn over the right of the way
by the collision. Dead and dying cat
tie and hogs were scattered in all di
rections and many released from the
cars by the wreck, ran wild.
Question on Responsibility for Wreck.
None of the trafnmen seemed to
know exactly who was to blame for
the collision. The passenger conduc-
tor, who had his leg broken. said as he
lay in his berth in the sleeper, that he
had the right of way and that the
cattle train should have been else
where than on the main line. The Ell
Paso train was running to make up
time and the trains came together on
curve.
Both trains were running at
speed of from Is to Is miles an hour.
The freight was long one. When
the engines met they were welded to-
gether by the impact. The engineer
and fireman on the freight escaped
without injury by jumping. The fire.
man of the passenger was seriously
injured, but the engineer escaped. 1t
was in the third car of the passenger
that the greatest slaughter of passen-
gers occurred. This car was preceded
by the smoker and baggage car. The
shock drove the smoker which was
occupied by only two or three men,
through the car behind it, which was
crowded with passengers. No one in
the front end Of the car escaped. They
were crushed between the seats, only |
three living persons being taken out
by the rescuers who chopped holes in
the car and released them from their
dangerous positions.
"The engine crews hardly had time to
set the air brakes and jump before
the crash came. The only warning the
passengers received was the shock OF
setting the brakes and the sound OF
kissing air."
"A Mrs. Hill, who with her small
daughter. was going to FL Paso, was
in the wrecked car. Mrs. Hill died
while giving her name to the physi-
clan who was trying to revive her. The
child has not yet been found.
Hero Of the Wreck.
"A hero of the wreck was Doctor
Bell of New York City, a young physi-
clan, himself crippled and walking on
crutches. Although slightly hurt as
the result of the collision, DR.. Bell was
the first man to leave the Pullman
which was not damaged. Struggling
heroically forward on his crutches he
assumed charge of the re-
lief work. He ordered the chair car
and sleeper cleared and had the in
jured brought there, where he treated
them as well as he could without medi-
cine or instruments. He saved the
fireman's life by tying an artery with
the aid of a penknife and a piece of
string. He steadfastly refused to dis
close his name and it was only parti-
ally learned through his fellow pass
angers. Ii
The following is the list of identified {
lead: c. A. Wright, Kansas City, II
Missouri; James Griffin Claremont, {
Missouri; w. s. Martin, Dekalb, I'LL !
lois; William Wells, Jacksonville, H.
inois; Gail Fuller, Blockton. Iowa; {
Mrs. Henry Kaiser, Germany. E. E.
Meyers, Buffalo, New York. Fay Full I
er, Z year old girl, E. Rankin, name on
icket. Mrs. Conda Nagle, residence
unknown. II
Most Of the passengers were bound
through to Ell Paso. At 9:15 the train
vas again made up and sent over the
Union Pacific tracks to Manhattan,