Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1904-01-02

fedged hetWsen ire heavy uplkers ana
|4t WAS O'clock befcr8 aif the Injured
nq1 been renioEod.
EUiiDwing the wreck thieves were o.
tecfpd ropbing the dead end g15pfeh.
TWO women and two colorkd men are
LOW ~ the Dawson Doiice station,
Shaf6eN With this CRIME,
49, fast AS they were recovered from
ne wreck the dead and injured were
placed on trains ana brought here. The
dead Nefe taken To the morgues and
me injured at once removed 10 the
ctate aospitaL
When General Manager Sims arrived
y y scene of the accident he was SO
overcome that he cried. Men and wofn-
en-, who crowded ia the scene. were
compelled to turn away from the afr
tecting sights. When the relief train
reached here thousands Of people were.
at the station.
a large number OF EOnnellsyiile peo-
PIE had gone TO Pittsburg for their
Christmas shopping and were expect
ed home OF the limited.
Louis Hilgot, conductor Of the train,
Was IN the second day coach when the
crash came. No one knew just what
happened to him until afterwards. -.
w. Hill, porter on one OF the slcepers,
said soon as he could get of his car
he went forward and heard Hilgot
eHVuAl47B from the t8p OF MS DUNK,
while in terrible agony
For Gods sake, I am scalded to-
death, bur someone OF you get a red
lamp and flag No. "a or she Will be on
U.S.
Even In the mental suffering ofeyery-
one about the scene. the bravery and
thoughtfulness OF the dying conductor
We're sufficient to bring words Of praise
and c~ommendation.
One Mans Experiences,
Porter Hill, telling 81 his experience
said II Went to the smoking ear and
began getting the injured out That
car was the most awful scene I ever
witnessed Men We're damned into all
sorts Of shapes. They were ON top OF
each other and buried under heaps Of
dirt and seat cushions.
When / tried to lift one man out
round others so tightly wedged into the
same place that several had to be aided
at one time. ! got seven men out be-
badly bruised, some OF them scalded
and In such condition that they would
better have been dead. Some OF these
had lost their yes entirely.
Baggage and clothing of the passen-
gers Were scattered all over the ground.
Some OF 1t vas soaked with blood,
while In the piles could be seen toys,
AEAAAnb Liz DdtAAEAlG tale Oh AAEAHLEnAS
shopping that had come to such q pitt
full end"
In describing the wreck, one trafn-
man said; Half way around the curve
the locomotive struck the big timbers
in its path and began with lightning-
light rapidity to careen, then to roll,
and with the ponderous train crowding
1t fell over on it's side. The instant II
did SO the momentum OF the train be-
hind II sent the tender clear over the
PROSTATE locomotive like a football,
and before IL could be stopped IL was
lying on the water level, twenty feet be-
low. Next came the baggage car,
which went over the locomotive and
lodged with one end near the water.
The smoker OF the train was smashed
like kindling.
sleepers Did Net Telescope.
,'TheNSlaepers We're stiIl crowding bu
not breathing, and swept along, literally
tearing up the steel rails as though
they were MADE Of paper. The first
sleeper, when tt finally stopped, rest
ed directly over the locomotive. The
dining car remained safely on the track
and the steward and crew were NOT
harmed.
when the grinding n crushing Of
steel and wood ceased there was for a
moment dead silence. Then came means
GlAAAA Vi ~ AAaAA NAA0AAA INV AOhN3
wretches who were being scalded or
burned to DEATH"
When asked IL there would be any i'm
Nestigation on the part of the railroad
officials, superintendent Duer said:
II don't thirk Investigation is neces-
sary to explain this affair. It's all too
apparent Pointing to a halt dozen
heavy timbers under the dining coach
he said:
There is the cause OF II. The extra
freight, ~westbound, has dropped those
timbers on the track and proceeded,
unconscious OF the trouble It had left
behind
Engineer william Thornley, was
making up time when he suddenly saw
a dark object On the track. He shut
off steam, opened the sand valve, ap-
piled the air brakes and reversed the
engine, slackening the speed of the
train so suddenly that passengers and
rolled from the seats IN a
mass. The train, composed of two
baggage ears, two day coaches, one
sleeping a and a dining car, almost
Immediately struck the lumber pile
train plowed along for a consider
ADJ distance, tearing the cars to pieces
under the revolving forces, passengers
jumping, screaming and failing from
the wreck as 1t dragged along. sud
denly the locomotive sweryed TO the
left, and the coaches plunged down
the embankment to the edge OF
the Youghiogheny river.
Many persons were pinIoned beneath
the wreckage, n screams of pain and
cries OF distress rent the air,
Many Thrown Into River.
Many persons, although injured, Il.
the excitement struggled from be-
meath the wreckage and plunged into
the river. Others, pinioned beneath the
heavy timbers, pleaded for release.
SO terrific was the force of the wreck
h a nearly every passenger sufered a
moments unconsci6usness. The able
men soon recovered and assist
ed in helping the injured from the
wreck.
Baggagemaster Thomas X. Baum OF
Hazelwood, with his head and BODY
fTightfully cut, crawled from the
wreckage, and, cropping his way along
iI darkness, tagged q w~estbound pas
senger with matches. which ne used to
set fire to his coR He stopped the
Just in time to prevent IL from
plunging into the wreck. Baum coz
when he saw that he had sue
ceeded In stopping the train.
"a tower operator on the Pittsburg &
Lake Erie railroad across the Yotgh-
river saw the cars pile high IN
the air and thenSstnk4 and he informedd