The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-06
TWENTY PERSONS
KILLED In WRECK
press Has Head On Collision with
Cattle Train Near Topeka
Nearly Kled-Relief
Who Tho Crippled Worked Mdefatgaby Over the Injured

The relief train, hurrying back to
Topeka with the injured, left the dead
in the wreck to be taken care of by
others.
A Passengers Story.
Fl. G. Parsons, a reporter of the
Topeka State Journal, who was on the
wrecked Rock Island train, arrived
in Topeka at 8 o'clock this morning
after driving overland from the scene
of the collision. Parsons escaped
with slight injuries while two persons i.
on the seat in front of him were
killed. Parsons tells the following
story of the wreck, his account being
copyrighted by his paper:
The wreck occurred at 1:35 o'clock
this morning, two miles west Of Will
lard, Kan. At least thirty persons
were instantly killed, while several z
others were fatally and a large num-
Der slightly injured. Two cars filed
with passengers were demolished,
both locomotives were destroyed and
four car loads of stock were torn to 3
pieces and dozens of dead animals
strewn over the right of way.
Both trains were running at a
speed Of from fifteen to twenty-five
miles an hour and when the engines
met they were welded together by
the terrific impact. The engineer and
fireman on the freight train escaped
without injury by jumping. The
| fireman on the passenger train was
seriously injured, but the engineer es-
capped.
1t was. in the third car of the pas
senger train, the first coach having
been preceded by a smoker and bag
gage car, that the greatest loss Of life
| occurred.
Cars Badly Crowded.
| I'M
/ by only two or three men, was over
turned and pushed thru the car be-
hind it, which was crowded with pas
sengers, some standing in the aisle.
The first warning given the passengers
in this car was the sudden setting Of
! the air brakes. The lights then went
out, leaving all in darkness. A mo-
ment later a mass of spIintered wood
land iron was crowded down upon
/ them. No one was thrown out OF his
seat by the blow. Most of those In
the forward end of the car were killed
4 instantly Thirty In the rear end Of
4 the coach however, succeeded in es-
Gazing tho no one in the front half
of the car escaped. They were
| crushed down between. the seats by
/ the smoker. When rescue was final
ly possible only three living persons
were taken out by the rescuers, who
were compelled to chop holes in the
side and thru the floor and top of the
coach to reach them.
Only Three Left Alive.
The three rescued from this portion
were a man, a small girl and a mid
dle-aged woman. who were moaning
and begging to be taken out. The
man was removed thru the rear door
| within five minutes after the collision,
/ but died almost as soon as the res
cuers could lay him down. The
woman died two hours later while try
ing to tell a physician her name. Bon
ME, girl 1S years of age, was pinned
down between the two cars, a heavy
stove resting on one foot. Her cries
attracted the rescuers and men, many
of them bleeding from wounds about
the face and arms worked heroically
to get her out. It took two hours of
steady work to relieve her. When
she was taken out she Addressed q
doctor who was bending over her as
papa" The physician did not have
the heart to tell her that she was an
orphan, her father and mother hav-
ling been killed. Mr.. Martin was
killed instantly and Mrs. Martin died
/ ten minutes after being taken out of
i the wreck.
The child was suffering from a.
broken ankle where the heavy stove
fell on her, and severe scalp con-
tusions. She was put to sleep by a
hypodermic injection to relieve her
pain.
Relief Train Arrives.
A dozen or more Topeka physicians
arrived at the scene on the relief train
from Topeka as soon as a brakeman
could run to Willard and notify head
quarters. The physicians went to work
relieving the injured and made no at
tempt for the time being to remove the
crushed and disfigured bodies from the
debris
After daylight the work of remov-
ing the bodies began. The engine of
the wrecking train coupled on the two
cars, a sleeper and chair car, which
were uninjured, and started back to
Topeka with the victims, At Topeka
ali the injured were hurried to hos
pitfalls.
Some Of the bodies found in the
: wreckage were so badly crushed as to
be unrecognizable. Thru a hole
chopped in one side of the car the
body of a gray-haired, heavy-set man
/ were visible.
t Chopped Car to Pieces.
Fires were built along the track at
! short intervals and by the light of
, these the rescuers, in their eagerness
to remove the victims, chopped open
! ings in the wrecked coach until ex-
: hausted, then handed their axes to
others. The entire sides Of the car had
: been chopped away when the work
> was completed. Occasionally the res
: cuers would desist upon an alarm
being raised by watchers. who de-
I clared that the chopping away of the
v coach. was letting the smoker down
s upon the victims. So terrific was the
: force of the collision that the smoker
e left the trucks in it's backward rush,
Y leaving them still upon the track.
a Not wheel in the entire passenger
train seemed to be off the track. The
freight train Jared differently: The
four cars Immediately behind the en-
), CINE were crushed into kindling. Dead
:, and dying cattle Uttered the right OF
q . way. while many that had escaped
= from the cars uninjured ran about
> adding to the confusion.
Physician on the Train.
), On the passenger train, in the
: sleeper, was a young physician, she
# walked with a crutch as the result OF
n some spinal trouble. He was thrown
= down and slightly injured, but was
r the first man to emerge from the
q