The San Francisco call., 1905-02-22
COAST LIMITED DASHES INTO A LANDSLIDE,
CAUSING TWO DEATHS AND MANY INJURIES
LOCOMOTIVE IS OVERTURNED
William LOWPie, Riding With Engineer, CruShe
and Number Of Passengers Badly Hurt

Landslide on the coast division OF
the Southern Pacific Company a mile
west of Santa Anita was responsible
for a serious wreck late Monday night,
when the first section of the north
bound passenger train No. 8 crashed
into the piled up debris, overturned it's
locomotive, derailed several of its cars,
killed outright one man, hastened the
! end of another and injured ten or fif-
teen other persons.
The accident occurred in a deep cut
and at the beginning of curve, at
which point the engine left the track
and was thrown across the rails The
oil tank was twisted about in a diff
ferent direction, the baggage car was
thrown up on the embankment on the
right Of the track, while two tourist
cars and a dining car following were
thrown across the track. Five Pull
man sleepers that completed the train
section remained on the rails, and their
passengers, but for the sudden jolting
of their cars at that unusual hour of
the night, would not have become
aware that a wreck had occurred
The trainmen and passengers in the
forward part of the train had quite a
different experience and that there
were not a greater number of fatalities
or an awful calamity Is regarded as a
miracle. 1t was few minutes after
IL o'clock when the rays of the loco
motive headlight revealed to Engineer
Thompson's experienced and watchful
eye an obstruction a few yards in front
of the train, which was then running
about thirty miles an hour. Before he
could reverse his lever the engine had
plunged into mass of rock and earth
that had been washed into the cut from
the towering walls on each side of the
track. Thompson and Fireman T. G.
Nigrich and the latter's assistant, G..
c. Gale, were thrown by the force of
the collision into the bottom of the
engine cab and were all bruised and
partially scaided by the escaping
steam.
LOWRIE'S DEATH.
Another occupant of the engine cab
was William Lowrie of this city, who
had been experimenting with a boiler
protection compound, and for the pur-
pose of watching it's effect on the
Southern Pacific Company's boilers he
had been making trips up and down
the coast division on the locomotives.
When the crash came, Lowrie. was
standing in the cab with his hand lean
ing on the fireman's seat. The sudden
jolt and the lurching of the engine as
it swung from the track threw him
out of the cab to the ground and as the
engine left the rails and careened over
to the left against the embankment
his body was caught under the side of
the cab and horribly crushed. 1t was
several minutes after the crash before
the engineer and flremen, who had
been partially stunned, were able to
appreciate the situation, and by that
time Conductor E. Mengle and several
of the passengers in. the rear Pullman
sleepers had undertaken to rescue the
injured and pacify the excited occu
pants of the tourist coaches.
Among the first to go to the rescue
was B. Norman of Spokane, who oc-
cupied a berth in one of the Pullman
sleepers, and he was followed by DR..
A. HapperSberger of this city, L. S.
Donaldson of Minneapolis and j. G.
Compton and N. S. Ballinger of Tucson
Hurrying forward Normans attention
was attracted to the face of Conductor
Mengle peering through the glass of
the rear door of the baggage car,
Dwhere the latter had been making up
his ticket account when the accident
occurred.
Mengle was frantically yelling for
help, for the cars had been so badly
wrenched that he was unable to open
the door. When Norman succeeded in
forcing the door open he found Mengle
half dazed from blow on the head
over which blood was streaming down
on his race Ine fresh air of the
night, however, quickly revived him
and showing Moran aside the in
jpred conductor staggered off the car
platform and started for the rear of
the train. Although badly hurt, he
forgot his own injuries in his en-
deavor to insure the safety of his pas
sengers.
The conductor knew that the sec
ond section of the train was rapidly
approaching and foresaw the probable
catastrophe that would result from
collision between the two trains.
"A brakeman must be sent to the
rear" he shouted to Norman and
called to the latter to help him back
to the end of the train. Before he
reached the last car, however, the
brakeman had started out on his mis-
sion and the threatening calamity was
ayerted.
PASSENGERS TERRIFIED.