The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-11-02
SCORE KILLED IN WRECK
Trains on the Missouri Pacific Co..
Tide and Telescope.
ABOUT SIXTY PASSENGERS HURT

Only n Pullman Car is Left Uniiurt After
Collision of Ere ght With Express
Near warrensburg. Mo. Accident
Occurred in Deep Cut at Day Break
Trains Were Cunning at High Speed
W%arrensbnrg. Mo.-Ovcr a score OF
persons were killed and sixty injured
by 4 head-on collision Of Missouri Pa
cific trains three miles east of War
~rensburg. The trains were the second
section of a passenger train from Wicl-
ita for st. Louis and an extra freight
train. Most Of the dead were residents
of Missouri and Kansas, as are the III
jured.
The passenger train. consisting OF
two day coaches, 4 Pullman car n a
caboosc, was loaded with Worlds Fair
cXcursiQnists from Southeastern haIi-
sas and Southwestern Missouri. The
Wichita passenger train had been cut
in two at Pleasant Hill on account or
the heavy load and q locomotive at
tached to the front car without 4 bag
gage car us 4 buffer.
The extra freight had been side
tracked in Montscrrat for the first Sec
ton of the Wichita train, which car
ried signals that a second section was
following. A local passenger train
passed. The freight crew thought 1t
was the second section Of the Wichita
train and pulled out Of the side track.
Three miles west the freight met The
second section.
The impact telcscoped the tender Of
the passenger locomotive and the front
car, which was full of passengers, and
it was here the sacrifice of life took
place.
The passenger conductor, f. L..
Barns, ran all the way to Warrensburg
to report the wreck. Every physician
in WarrenSburS and hundreds Of citi-
zens FASTENED to the scene to assist
the wounded. Twenty persons were
killed outright and nine died within q
few hours.
The dead We're placed on fat cars
and brought to Warrensburg. A. Cor
oner's jury is now seeking the person
responsible for the wreck.
: The conductor of the freight train
says he was doing while his train was
in Montserrat, and when the local train
passed Horton, the engine driver be-
lieved it was the second section of the
Wichita train, and, thinking the track
clear. pulled out on the main line.
Both trains were running at a good
rate of speed when the wreck occurred.
Dawn had hardly begun to break, and
neither crew was aware of the APP
proach of the other train until they
were almost upon each other.
The spot where the wreck occurred
was in 4 narrow cut. and this fact.
with the darkness, added to- the diff
Guilty of the situation. The tracks were
on 4 down grade, on either side of
which there was a steep rise. Both
trains had put on extra steam to carry
them up the opposite hill, and when
they met ut the curve at the lowest
point they were running at a terrific
rate.
The heavy freight train pushed the
passenger engine back into the first
t.ul. llC lClluGl VI luC pooSCbSCL Sh
sine literally cut the car in two in the
centre and did not stop until it had
Flowed half way through the car, kill
ing the passengers in the forward end
Instantly and terribly mangling all
within reach.
The next two cars were also badly
damaged, seats being torn up and win
d9ws smashed, but in these cars the
passengers Jared better, all, except a
few, escaping with slight injuries. The
lullman car remained upright and
zone of its occupants were hurt beyond
sustaining a sewers shaking up.
So tightly were the tender of the
passenger engine and the first car
wedged together that it will take unu-
Iual efforts to separate them.
The train crews, with the exception
IF Brakeman Sidel. escaped, the en-.
zine drivers and fircmen sustaining
only minor hurts.