The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-03-09
Passenger and Freight Trains
 in Headend Collision FREIGHT CREW 10 BLAME
Passenger Train Was Queen and cres- cents Which Left Here Monday Niqht-Southern Freight Said
 to Have Caused Wreck.

Five men were Killed ana seVeidi oth- CTS were more or less seriously injured yesterday morning in head end collision between southbound Alabama Great Southern passenger train No. 1, which left Birmingham Monday night and northbound extra Southern freight train at Kewanee, Miss. about l5 miles north of Meridian.
 The dead are: Pat H. Larkin engineer No. 1, residence BIT North Twenty-Third street. Birming- ham.
 Robinson Riggs. mail clerk chatta- nooga-
 David D. Nicholson, mail clerk, Tusca- loosa.
 ". M. Davidson, mail weigher, chatta- nooga.
 Negro Fireman Autrey, Selma, freight train.
 Injured;
 Engineer Case of freight train-body and head badly bruised; not fatal
 Henry Banks of Birmingham, negro fire man on the passenger train right arm broken, right shoulder dslocated and serious body bruises.
 M. Brown, negro brakeman on freight train, seriously scalded and badly bruised may die.
 Fault of Freight Crew.
 It is stated officially at Alabama Great Southern headquarters that the wreck was the fault of the crew of the freight train, which Is said to have left Meridian without finding out if the passenger train was in, or at least failing to make any allowance for the passenger train.
 Baggagemaster H. K Wakefield, Con ductor J. B. Capehart and Express Mes senger J. H. Hinds escaped without inju- ry, save few scratches which amounted to nothing.
 The collision occurred about $50 o'clock. Train No. 1 was running about 2:40 min utes late. It was due in Meridian on sched- ule time at $40 o'clock yesterday morning but did not leave Birmingham until about :45 o'clock. The freight train was an ex- tra running on the Alabama Great South ern tracks from Meridian to Troy between which two places the two roads use the. same track.
 Fifty Miles an Hour.
 The passenger train was running about fifty miles an hour, and the freight train, which was very light, was making good time when they came together in cut. The passenger train, which is one of the heaviest which comes through Birming ham, climbed up on top of the freight train and partially telescoped it. The dead and injured were caught under the debris
 
 ed. The first class passenger coaches, the sleepers and diner did not leave the track and no one on them was injured. As soon as the news of the wreck reached Birmingham. Superintendent Griggs sent out wrecking trains from Meridian and Birmingham, and a relief train from Meridian. The road was clear ed and 1t was possible for trains to pass about g o'clock last night.
 Wreck on Fire.
 Those not injured in the wreck went to the assistance of the injured and help ed to remove them from the debris, which was on fire This was very difficult and it was some time before all the injured and the bodies of the dead could be taken from the wreck, which was on fire.
 The bodies of the dead are en route to Birmingham, where those of Engineer Larlxin and the negro fireman Banks, will be sent to the undertakers. The bodies of the other dead will be sent to their homes. Most of the injured were cared for in Meridian.
 Engineer Larkn.
 Engineer Larkin was one of the best known engineers on the road He has been running through Birmingham for a long time and is we'll known He was considered a good and reliable engineer and only a short time ago prevented a serious wreck by sticking to his post He was lightly injured at that time He leaves brother, mother and sister,
 Mir. Nicholson had been in the mail ser- vice for twenty eight years, and was well known along the entire route He recently took the run of John T. Stock ton, the mail clerk who was shot and killed by Jim Paris. a negro desperate who climbed into the mail car for the purpose of robbing 1t. He lived at Tusca- loosa and had some property there He was preparing to quit the service.
 Robert Griggs, the other mail clerk, leaves a wife and three children at Chat tanooga. He was born at Selma and was graduate of Auburn. where he was a class mate of pr. Mason, county phy- sician. He had been in the service about seven years.
 All the blame of the wreck Is laid on the Southern freight train crew, which it is said did not have orders to leave Meri- dian, and did not have the right of way. Orders show that the Alabama Great Southern train had the right of way.
 ACCOMPLISHED WOMAN.