Omaha daily bee., 1905-06-23


pie coming 10 help me and the impression
that my arms and hands were bleeding
member nothing more until | was aboard
the train coming to Cleveland.
omciaI Report of wreck.
The following official report Of the wreck
was tecgraphed today by Vice President
w. c. Brown of the New York Central
lines to President w. H. Newman at New
York:
at S:S5 p m, at which time the switches
were all set for the main line. No. 20 fol-
lowed No 10 nifty minutes behind it and no
trains passed Mentor In either direction be-
| tween the time No. 10 passed there and the
arrival of No. 26.
The operator was on the platform, with
Leuders, both Of whom live in Mentor,
when No. 10 passed, after which the opera
about the time No. 26 was due, when he
| again went out on the platform and saw
No. 26 coming two or three miles away.
The operator says that lie looked at the
| swltchlights and they were white and the
| switches were properly set for the main
| track. lie then returned to the office.
II this is correct, between that time and
| someone threw the switch for the sidetrack
| and locked II in that position.
| Sets Fire 10 Freight House.
No. 26 headed in the full length of the
train on the house track, the engine leaV-
! ing the rails abouLfour coach lengths from
/ the switch, crashing into the freight house,
! setting il on fire and turning the engine end
| for end and telescoping the composite car,
! which took fire from the burning of the
house.
The conductor OF No. 26 Immediately ex-
| amined the switch and called the attention
| of General Passenger Agent W. j. Lynch
| of the Big Four, who was on the train, to
the fact that it was set and locked for the
switch is not damaged and worked per-
fectly after the accident; The composite
! car, which was teescoped by the engine
| was burned NO other cars in NO. Z6 q train
Every possible effort is being made to To-
cate the party who misplaced the switch.
No. 26 was on time and as a matter Of
fact was running at a slower speed than
No. 10 when it passed through Mentor as
The result would have been the same had
any other of our through trains encoun-
tsgnedj ned 'p'" w. C. BROWN.
Mail Was Valuable.
| CHICAGO, June GA highly important
class of mail was carried by the wrecked
Twentieth Century limited. Numerous in
quiries were received at the postofftce here
today to discover whether any of the mail
had been saved. The train carried nothing
but first-class matter usually of an urgent
character and the postoffice department
made special provision daily to catch the
train in order to reach the larger cities east
| of here in the quickest possible time. I'M
portant letters and documents could be
mailed up to within fifteen minutes of train
| time, when the last pouch was shot through
! a pneumatic tube into the Lake Shore sta
tion at La Sale and Van Buren, streets and
then loaded into the baggage and mail end
| of the buffet car 1t was this car which
seems to have suffered destruction not only
direct but by flames. Anxiety was mani
| Tested in many inquiries which came over
the telephone to the postoffice today from
ter to the flyer" The train usually car
ries from fifteen to twenty pouches of this
class of matter.
Will Resume Old Schedule.
| NEW YORK, June 22,-The Twentieth
Century limited on the. New York Central
Lake Shore line will be restored to twen-
| ty-hour schedule instead of the eighteen
hour schedule now in force.
| President Newman made this announce
| ment this afternoon, and said that he did
not believe last nights accident was due to
| the speed of the train, but it was his judg-
ment that the twenty-hour schedule should
be restored at once.
S. c. Beckwith, who died today as a re-
suit of injuries sustained in the wreck,
was well known in newspaper advertising
circles. He was president of the S. -.
| Beckwith Special Advertising agency,
|
born at Cornellsville, Md, fifty years ago
and is survived by a widow and two
| brothers.
II. II. Wright and T., E. Naugle of Chi
cago, two of the men KILLED in the wreck,
were known in Omaha. Mr.. Naugle, one of
the biggest railroad timber and lumber men
of the country, used to live in Omaha. Mr..
Wright was secretary of the Featherstone
Foundry company and was in Omaha a
great deal during the progress of the strike
involving the foundrymen.
Local railroad men discredit the idea that
the wreck of the Twentieth Century Linn
tied will have any disparaging effect upon
the fast-time trains, the eighteen-hour run
from Chicago to New York. pointing out
that the wreck was In way due to the
fast time of the train, but the direful neg
ligence or criminal action Of someone other
than any of the trainmen. 1t is pointed out
that the switch was locked open and that
this is not an ordinary accident. There are
: local railroaders who think the disaster
} may have been due to a plot carefully laid
and executed.