The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-08-23


The second express car in the train
was in charge of Messenger j. d.
Cassidy of Kansas City. The front OF
this car was thrown upward in the
air and out to the right of the track
still farther than the first express car.
1t is at right angles with the track,
but is on the outside of the smoking
! car. The front end of the express car
is at least eighty feet from the track
and is outside the fence of the right
of way.
Behind the smoking care are the
two day coaches, and behind the day
coaches was the one chair car.
The smoker and two day cars were ut
least II feet from the track, but as the
chair car did not get far away it was
hauled back onto the track by an en-
gine at IL o'clock today. The trucks OF
the chair cars were not so badly DAM
aged as they were ON the other cars,
and it may be repaired at compare
lively small expense
The trucks of all %hs other cars, how
ever, were Scraped from their places as
the cars tore and plowed their way
through the rock and dirt to the side
of the track. Three pairs of trucks are
caught in heap underneath the 'front.'
end of a single car.
On the right hand side, the cars are
embedded into the earth from two to
four feet. All the steps to the plat
forms are torn away and the steel rods
and braces and pipes were torn and
bent like paper.
With the exception of the crushing OF
the platforms of the smoking car, and
the splintering of the vestfbules ana
the tearing away of the steps, the pas
Senger cars stood the accident very
well and are intact. The flooring was
not broken through in any place nor
did anything break through the sides
of the cars or the windows
1t is hard to comprehend how the
train could undergo such an accident
with no loss of life.
The track was torn up for a distance
of 200 yards but a steel gang was put
to work at once this morning and at
noon the gap was supplied with new
rails. The old ones were twisted and
bent SO that they could not be used.
With the assistance OF the Wreck1nS
crane all the trucks and debris near the
track were cleared away and trains are
passing the scene of the wreck this
afternoon.
]. D. Cassidy, the messenger in the
car which was thrown farthest, was
hurt the least. He accounts for this
fact by being in the rear of the car
when the accident occurred.
To a reporter for the State Journal
who visited the wreck this morning he
said:
Il was standing in the rear of the car
when 1 heard the first sounds of the
accident. AS the car was pitched for
ward I grabbed a post in the partition
and held on. The stuff piled in the car
was thrown to the forward end, and
haQ not Deen IOr the IacC Iadl L
held on to the partition it is likely that
would have been buried underneath
the debris. AS it was L was, jerked
lose when the car came to a standstill
got through pretty lucky, though.
This is the second wreck experience for
me. 1 was in a little smashup on the
Strong City branch one time"
The wrecking gang will stay with the
work until the wreck is cleared up. It
is announced that it will take two or
three days to get the cars on new
trucks and into the shops here. The
track has been repaired and traffic will
not be delayed, however.
j. f. Lytle, of Topeka, route agent OF
the Wells s-Fargo Express company, is
in charge of the express company af-
fairs at the wreck. He will load all the
express into cars and bring it to To-
peka where it will be sorted in the old
Santa Fe freight depot.
The express packages were pretty
badly shaken up. and portion of the
shipments were demolished.
Had the derailment occurred half
mile nearer Tecumsehs where the
track skirts the edge of the river
bank, the train would have gone in
the river.
The sleeping cars in the rear of the
train left the track, but they were
easily pulled back on the rails. They
were taken to Lawrence last night
and sent to Ottawa where they were
set in one of the trains to California.
The train had on board more than
a hundred passengers and their es-
cape from death was miraculous.
Aside from being shaken up consid-
erably they suffered no serious in
juries.
The doors of the cars were not
jammed so that they could not be
opened and the passengers had no
difficulty in getting out of the cars,
although they were all tipped to one
side.
The officials at the Santa Fe hos
pital stated this afternoon that the
four injured persons were resting
and that with the excep
ton of Maddux, the negro tramp,