The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1905-08-15
Trains CRASH HEEB tn tn
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 Were Italian Laborers--Ail Cars
Except the sleepere W ere Telescoped--
Engineer n Hero.
Lorain, Ohio.-Twelve lives were sac
rifced by trainman s blunder in
head-on crash of Nickel Plate passen-
ger train and freight at Kishman's
switch on the shore Of Lake Erie, near
vermilion.
In the path of the approaching flier
the engine crew Of the freight careless
" delayed their train The engine
of the passenger train, running fifty
miles an hour, plowed through the
boiler of the monster freight engine
before it, and the crash broke coaches
into splinters and snapped and twisted
heavy steel
Thirty-nine Italian laborers, pockets
jingling with money after a pay night
and singing and chattering in anticipa-
ton of the return to Italy few weeks
ANLNNs WHY 44O1tiS III lbc oAIOhGl VI
the passenger The impact sent the
car in the rear of the smoker half way
through it, and nine of the thirty-nine
werscrushed to death in an instsnt.
When the crash came c. w. Poole,
veteran in the service of the Nickel
Plate, remained at his post. After
warning cry to his fireman, he told
him that he could jump and save his
life. The crash caught Poole in the
engine cab, and the bleeding and dying
man hung there in the sight of the
panic stricken passengers for many
long minutes before he was released.
Joseph Alexander, Of Jersey City,
| proved by letter found on his body
to be 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. Canlan, also of Con-
neaut The engineer had been given
orders to take the siding at Kishmans
for the eastbound passenger.
According to the Gespatcher's sheet
the freight was to take the switch for
No. 81, the passenger, to pass. Figures
obtained by the appropriated time of
the occurrence of the wreck and the
time the train left Lorain 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 take the
Kishman siding, did not stop at the
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 a fearful
one.
Screams from the injured and fright
ened Italians almost overeame the
noise from the cracking wood and es-
Gaping steam. The two day coaches
were telescOped. 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 timbers of the side of the coaches.
Farmers from the immediate neigh
borhood came to the aid of the train
men and the passengers. The passen-
gers in the three PulImans were only
stunned by the shock They hurriedly
dressed and in scanty attire helped
pull out the bodies of the unfortunates
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 We're 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, F. E. Haefner, was that Of
hero. Held as if by a wedge in the
wreckage of the splntered 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-
stantly 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. had been working at Old
Fort Seneca and were being taken to
Brookfeld, Ohio, to work ON a similar
contract.