The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-01-06
NINE KILLED i I'm WRECK
Accident on St. Louis and San
Francisco Railway.
SWITCH HAD BEEN LEFT OPEN
The "Msteor," Going at Full Speed, Is
Thrown From Track Through N.gn-
gence Of Freight Crew - DeraiIed
Train Plunres Down An Embank.
ment-wreckage Takes Fire.

ment-"feckaEe Taxes Fire.
Kansas City, Mo.-The Meteor. the
fast train on the st. Louis and San
Francisco Railway, was wrecked at
Godfrey. fifteen miles south of Fort
Scott, Kansas. The train ran into a
switch, and all except the sleeper was
derailed and turned over.
Nine persons were killed and thirty
one injured. The dead and injured
were taken to Fort Scott. -. ..' I'd.
The dead are all Western men. One
man. whose body has not been iden-
titled, was thrown sixty feet into a
neighboring cornfeld. Two men, one
from Oklahoma and the other from
Arkansas, were fatally injured. Six
teen persons, including Henry NJ. Nc
Donnell, of Lodi, Ohio, were seriously
hurt, and fifteen others were slightly
injured. Most Of the injured were
badly burned, as well as being manned.
The wrecked train was made up Of
two baggage and one mail car, a
smoker, two chair cars and a sleeper.
When the train reached Godfrey it
was running at full speed to make up
time. The crew Of a freight train that
had preceded the Meteor left the
switch open and the passenger train
jumped the track and rolled down q
slight embankment. The sleeper turned
over, and so fast was the train running
that the engine and the forward bag
gage car landed nearly sixty: feet off
the roadbed before the train stopped.
The sleeper remained upright and none
OF the passengers Of this car was in
jured.. ~ = f"' 81 - .
The baggage cars were wrecked and
the smoker was badly damaged, Five
Of those killed were in the forward end
of the smoker and four Of them were
killed instantly. & news agent who
was badly $mangled, died on the relief
train that carried the dead and injured
to Fort Scott.
Engineer B. A. Devices. Of Fort
Scott; Conductor Roy. of Topeka, and
Fireman Bishard, of Fort Scott, were
killed outright, and Express Messenger
John Bell, Of Kansas City, was seri-
ously injured. Others Of the crew, and
almost every passenger on the train,
except those in the sleeper, who es-
capped with a severe shake up, were
injured, some of them seriously.
It was some time before those Of the
crew escaping injury were able with
the help of. the passengers who were
unhurt to aid the injured. A wrecking
crew carrying physicians did not leave
Fort Scott until several hours after
the wreck occurred.
The responsibility for the wreck Is
laid at the door Of q brakeman Of the
freight crew who failed to flag the
passenger train. The engine on the
freight had become dead" and the
crew was ordered to remain on the
main track, and to turn the switch, for
the passenger train, then about due.
The brakeman was ordered to flag the
Meteor. but is alleged to have neglected
to do So. ...f
In the crash the baggage car tele-
scoped the engine and landed in a
cornfefd, while the smoker and the two
chair cars were piled in mass on
top Of the engine. Most Of the injured
were in the chair cars. which took
fire soon after the wreck occurred.