Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-19
|fR|GHTFUL DISASTER
Men Responsible for it Are
Silent in Death.
WRECK DEATH LIST %
FURTHER DETAILS OF WESTERN
MARYLAND COLLISION.
Injuries Of Others in Crash May In
crease Fatalities-Blame on
the Freight Crew.
WRECK DEATH LIST %

A revised list or the victims of the aw-
full collision which was reported In The
Star Sunday morning between a passen.
ger train and, freight train, which oc-
CURED on the Western Maryland railroad
at Ransom Station, seven miles west of
Emory Grove and twenty-five miles from
Baltimore. at 5:55 pm. Saturday, shows
twenty-five dead and eleven injured.
vice President +. s. Landstreet of the
Western Maryland says that as all the
responsible men of the freight crew
whose blunder led to the wreck were
Killed the exact cause will probably never
be known. Sometimes railroad crews, he
says, get a habit of unconsciously depend
ing on each other. and the lack of def
nlteiy placed responsibility brings on ac-
cfdents The railroad company will make
thorough investigation.
Flagman George 7. Lynch, one of the
three survivors of the freight crew, gave
warning when his train started. without
waiting for the passenger train to pass
the siding. He was waived aside by the
fireman and concluded that his watch
was wrong. The crew had been sitting on
a pile of ties talking about the schedule
few minutes before, and why the con-
ductor and engineer started is a mystery.
The List Of the Dead.
Those taken from the wreck dead and
who have since died Of their injuries
were:
George B. CoveIl, Baltimore, engineer of
passenger train No. 5; John Grouse, Ia
neytown, Md. engineer freight engine No.
Al: V. o. Derr, Hagerstown, conductor of
freight train: L. B. Rice, Hagerstown, en-
gineer Of freight train No. AZ; James
Groshon. Charles Kelly. Charles T. Mil
Ter, Frank Sweeney. Harry Sweeney, Nc
Clellan Sweeney, William T. Sweeney, all
of Thurmont, Md. railroad laborers: John
St Leger, fireman, Baltimore; Fireman
Knipple of engine No. Al, Baltimore: Fire
man McNanamee of engine No. 43. of Bal
timore; Substitute Fireman Stott ]. Woo
lard. all Of Thurmont, railroad laborers;
Elmer Miller, Nelson Fraley, j. w. Shupf,
Md; Charles Gooble. Thurmont. Md; Dan
lei Myers, Highfield Md; Calvin Benner,
Catoctin; Edward Martin, Thurmont Md,
all railroad laborers.
Those Seriously Injured.
The seriously injured, some of whom are
believed to be beyond the possibility of re-
covery:
John Benner. Catoctn, Md, and Guy
Lynn, Middeburg, Md, railroad laborers,
may die: William Snuff. Thurmont, Md. !;
Milton Stanbaugh, Double Pipe Creek Md. ;
A. W. Willar John Whitmore and William
Hahn, Thurmont, Md, railroad laborers; c.
d. Miller. Hagerstown, Md. mail clerk; B.
Frank Tierney. Hagerstown, Md, Adams
Express messenger; Peter Frehert, Union
bus WilIar and William Sweeney, Thur
mont. Md. railroad laborers.
All the dead were employees OF the rail-
road company, returning to their homes in
the small towns along the railroad to spend
Sunday.
Passenger Coaches Escaped.
The train, which was No. passenger,
west bound. carried a large number of pas
sengers, all the coaches being filed AS
fIa
into the baggage car, the remainder of the
gang Of thirty-ive finding places on the
platforms between the mail and baggage
cars and between the latter and the tender
The passenger train was running at
speed of thirty miles an hour and the
freight was making good time thanks to
the two engines by which II was being
drawn. Just west of the bridge they came
together with terrific force the three en-
gines being piled one upon another fortu-
nateiy in such manner that sufficient
steam connections were broken to relieve
the boilers, and thus prevent the further
horror of one or more explosions.
Roadside Like SHAMELESS.
The fearful impact drove the passenger
tender into the baggage car and demolish-
ed 1t and the mail car. In an instant the
peaceful country scene was changed into
the likeness Of shambles. Along the
tracks on both sides were scattered dead
anu lT]SnIIuliy manSIeQ men. these latter
more fortunate than those who had been in
the baggage car and the engines for
most of them were still pnioned In the
wreckage out Of the immediate reach OF
helping hands.
BY what seems well-nigh miracle, the
damage to the other cars Of the passenger
train was confined almost entirely to brok-
en- windows and doors. and the injuries to
their occupants to bruises from the shak-
ing up and minor cuts from flying glass;
One or two physicians who had been pas
sengers on the wrecked passenger train di-
rected the efforts of the rescuers.
A pitiful feature of the death list Is the
number Of breadwinners belonging to one
family it contains. McClelland Sweeney was
the father Of William and Frank Sweeney.
All three Of them are dead. McClelland
Sweeney's brother Harry was killed and
the latters son William was badly injur-
ed C. T. Miller and his son Elmer. and
the 1atter's uncle. Charles Kelly, were to-
gether when the crash came. C. T. Miller
and Kelly were instantly killed, and Elmer
Miller died later in hospital.
Scene of the Wreck.
The spot where the accident occurred is
a peculiarly beautiful one, though one
which INVITES just such a tragedy. 1t is a
lonely rolling section. and the Patapsco
flows through the hills. lending the tone
OF peacefulness to the striking picture.
From Patapsco station the track begins to
wind about the hills, and in the mile and
a quarter from that point to the scene OF
the accident there are several curves. Be.
low where the trains met the same nat
ural conditions prevail. and the engineers
Of the two engines which collided had no
opportunity, practically speaking. to stop
the gigantic locomotives before they were
into one another.
A small trestle spans the Patapsco and
No. 5. with its load of human freight was
just steaming across the bridge at ter
rife rate when the big freight. loaded with
cars of the Swift Packing Company and
large coal cars, drawn by two engines,
crashed into 1t.
The passenger engine was torn nearly to
pieces while there is hardly enough Of the
tender to identify It by. The first freight
locomotive and It's tender were equally as
badly wrecked. The third engine, its ten
der, three cars OF lard assigned to the
Swift Company and two heavy coal cars.
were literally demolished. All of the ten
ders were hurled from the track and one
Of the engines turned completely over.
A Wonderful Escape.
Conductor Buckingham of the wrecked
passenger train arrived home safely. His
wife was almost frantic. having heard that
hos t,,~t>orA mae a,,ov,o %ha ra1aa Gar