The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-07-12
CENTRAL Filler WRECKED
Switch Open and Locked at Mentor,
Ohio, the Cause
CARS DESTROYED BY FIRE

A Score of Passengers Injured ana over
q Dozen KiIled-Act Of Heroism by
One Farmer-FIre Apparatus, Doctors
and Nurses Soon on the Scene From
Neighborlng Towns.
Mentor, Ohio.-The. Twentieth Cen
tury Limited, %east-bound. the new
eighteen-hour fier from Chicago. ILL.,,
to New York City over the Lake Shore
and New York. Central Railroads, was
wrecked and partly burned opposite
the passenger station of the Lake
Shore & Michigan Southern Railway
in this village at $50 p. N. Eleven
of the passengers and trainmen were
killed and eighteen or twenty injured.
The identified dead and injured are:
The Dead.
BENNETT, JOHN R., lawyer, New
York, burned to death.
BLAIR, -, brakeman, Detroit, Mich.
FRENCH, 49,, colored barber.
MCKAY, D.
MORGAN. T. R., Secretary of Well
man : Seaver Morgan Company,
Rocky River.
MICKEY. W. D., New York City;
identified by Y. NJ. G. 4. card.
GIBSON, J. R., Chicago, ILL.,, passen-
ger.
RODGERS, -. fireman, New Ro-
chelle, New York.
TYLER, ALLEN, engineer, Colling-
wood, Ohio; crushed under engine.
WALTERS, N. B., baggage master.
Hamburg, N. Y.
One unidentified man.
Injured.
ARTHUR, ALVIN, Milwaukee, Wis.
BRYANT, ]. F., Toledo, Ohio.
BRECKENRIDGE, Mrs.
BEDSMITH, s. c.. New York City,
slightly.
CORDUA, R. c., salesman, Brooklyn,
N. Y; slightly.
HEIDI, A. P, London, England, Of
Otis Steel Company.
KENNEDY, J. A., San Francisco, CAL;
slightly.
LANGDON, J. H., Chicago, Ill; prob
ably MORALLY.
MORGAN. T. R., Cleveland, Ohio.
RODGERS. -, Dayton, Ohio.
WELLMAN. G. H., Cleveland. C''o.
WRIGHT, H. H., Chicago, ILL.,; ~.Ig.
Missing.
GRAHAM, -, fireman of train.
This was the fourth trip Of the new
6ier. The train left Cleveland, twenty
miles west of Mentor, a few minutes
late, and was running at full speed,
about seventy miles an hour, when the
accident occurred.
In front Of the passenger station here
a new switch had just been put in.
When the engine struck the switch it
left the rails, dragging after it the
first three cars Of the train, and dashed
at full speed into the Lake Shore
freight station on the opposite side OF
the track from the passenger station.
The engine dashed into the freight
house and turned over on its side,
pinning the engineer in the wreckage
and killing him instantly. From the
| Goals of the irebox fire started at
! once, and the first two cars Of the
train-the combination baggage and
smoker and a sleeper-were destroyed,
together with the freight station.
The people of Mentor focked to the
scene within q few minutes after the
accident occurred. Among the men
were uninjurcd there were many deeds
of heroism, Women wed with the men
in the work of rescue. When the work
was begun one man in o~veralls, whose
name is unknown, heard q moan near
the engine.
Snatching a blanket from one Of the
women, he wrapped it around his head
and shoulders and rushed into the hiss
ing steam and heat. For a few mo.
ments it was thought that he was lost,
but he soon appeared. dragging out
n of the wounded passengers. There
was a cheer from the crowd, and when
the doctors had taken care of the pas
| sengers he calmly held out two scalded
hands and arms, and laconically re
marked:
"Doc, 7 reckon there is a little oil
coming to me-"
The doctor dressed his wounds and
some one asked him his name. "Oh,
I'm Just q farmer and happened to be
going through the town." he replied.
you're & hero" remarked n of the
women.
NO." he said, when his arms were
bandaged, "Just a farmer" and getting
on his wagon he drove homeward,
holding the reins in his burned and
bandaged hands.
Pullman Conductor O'Neil checked
up his berths and found that there
were exactly siXty-seven passengers
on the train. Of this number at least
twenty must have been in the com
bination car.
Every doctor and nurse in Paines.
Vile and the entire Fire Department
J went to the scene.
The question of the open switch was
quickly solved. Train hands reported
that Immediately after the wreck they
inspected the switch and found it
locked open. H. G. Broadway is the
railway agent here and A. c. Liner the
night operator.
Broadway said that when he left the
Il o.. --. l. AZ %ho ~u,ftoh