The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-09-06
TRAINS CRASH. HEAD-0N |
Mistaken Orders Cause Bad Accident
Near Lorain, Ohio.
TWELVE DEAD in THE WRECK

Passenger and Freight Collide on the
Nickel plate Koad-Most of the Vic
tins We're italian Laborers--An Cars
Except the Sleepers " ere TeIescoped.
Engineer Hero.
Lorain, OEio.-Twesve lives were sac
rifced by a trainmans blunder in
.head-on crash Of a Nickel Plate passen:
ger train and a freight at Kishman's
switch on the shore of Lake Erie, near
yermillion. - ..-...
In the path of the approaching fier
the engine crewsof the freight careless
ly delayed their train. The engine
of the passenger train, running fifty
miles an hour, plowed through the
boiler Of the monster freight engine
before 1t, and the crash broke coaches
into splinters and snapped and twisted
heavy steel.
Thirty-nine Italian Iaborers, pockets
jingling with money after pay night
and singing and chatterlngin anticipa-
ton OF the return to Italy asf few weeks
hence, were riding In the smoker Of
the passenger. The impact sent the
ear In the rear Of the smoker half way
through it, and nine of the thirty nine
were crushed to death in an;fnstsnt.
When the crash came C. W. Poole.
q veteran in the service Of the Nickel
Plate, remained at his post. After a
warning>;cry to his fireman, he told
him that he could jump and save his
life. The crash caught lP Poole in thea
engine cab, and the bleeding and dying
man hung there in the sight Of the
panic stricken passengers for many
long minutes before lie was released
Joseph Alexander, of Jersey City,
proved by q letter found on his body.
to be a deserter from the Navy, was
crushed in the demolished smoker.
The engineer Of the freight train was
D. w. Derby, Of Conneaut, and the
fireman G.. w. Canlah, also of Con-
neaut. The engineer had been given
orders to take the siding at Kishman's
for the eastbound passenger.
According to The Cespatcher's sheet
the freight was to take the switch for
No. 81, the passenger, to pass Figures
obtained by the approximated, times0f
the occurrence of the wreck and the
time the train left L0rain show it re-,
quired the freight, almost twenty-five
minutes to cover. the seven miles. This
is one of the reasons for the disaster
as advanced by railroad men.
The freight train, ordered to fake the
toI, old nAf ofn Of 10
opening, but proceeded for. some rea-
son unexplained for the length Of a
hundred cars down the, main track.
The scene at the wreck was fearful
one. Z.
(. Screams from the, injured and fright
enedt Italians almost overcame the
noise from the cracking wood and es.
Gaping steam. The two day coaches
were teleseoped. Death came almost
instantly to the few of the passengers
sitting in the rear of the smoker.
The seats were ground into straws
by the force of the collision and the
mangled bodies of the foreigners were
crushed beneath the twisted iron and
the hmbers Of the side Of the coaches.
/; Farmers. from the, immediate neigh
borhood came to the aid or the train.
men and the passengers. The passen-
gers in the three Pullmans: were only
stunned ty;the shock. They .hurriedly
dressed and in scanty attire helped
pull out the bodies of the nnfortunates
In the front coaches.
A trainman said that not one of the
passengers, many apparently men Of
wealth, shirked, but all untiringly aid
ed in the rescue. The bodies Of the
eight dead Italians were pulled
through the windows Of the wrecked
smoker, one by one.
One of the cars but slightly damaged
was converted into morgue, and ten
bodies were kept at the scene for three
hours until the arrival Of the Coroner.
The death Of Engineer Poole was
tragic. The part played by his fire.
man, r.. e. Haefner, was that Of
hero. Held as if by a. wedge in the
wreckage of the splintered cab, the
engineer hung for minutes head down.
ward. Haefner, who had jumped after
calling to his chief, stood near by,
leading the band Of men with axes,
urging Poole to be brave.
Pillows were brought from house,
and after the release of the engineer
he was carefully carried to the bank
at the side Of the track. There for
nearly two hours he lay watching the
work of rescue. Haefner was con-
stantIy at his side until he died.
The band Of Italian victims Of the
wreck were employees Of Kronenberg
& Co.. Of Buffalo, a big contracting
firm. They Lad been working at Old
Fort Seneca and were being taken to
Brookfeld, Ohio, to work on similar
contract.