Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1905-06-28
VICTIMS BURNED ALIVE.
The Twentieth Century Flyer
Runs Into Ditch.
MANY PERSONS KILLED
Railroad Officials Claim That Train Was
Wrecked Through Malice-Mi1-
waukeean Injured.

Cleveland, O., June 22.-Twenty-one
persons are dead as a result Of the
wreck of the Twentieth Century limited
on the Lake Shore road at Mentor last
night.
Ran Through an Open Switch.
Cleveland, O., June 22-Wbile travel
ing at the rate Of seventy miles an hour,
the famous Twentieth Century limited,
the fastest long-distance train in the
world. ran through an open switch at the
little town Of Mentor, east of Cleveland.
at 800 o'clock last night, causing one Of
tie most horrible wrecks in the history
of the Lake Shore road.
Fire Adds to Horror.
The engine was hurled into the ditch.
A part Of the train was crushed on top
of it and the wreck was partly burned.
The horrors Of the wreck were doubled
III the horrors of the fire. More than q
score of people We're killed and injured
and the famous train was demolished.
The train was crowded, practically all
its accommodations being taken when it
left the city. 1t was behind time and the
greatest Of speed was being made to
make UP the lost time.
The Dead.
MORGAN, THOMAS r., of the Wellman-
Seaver-Morgan company, Cleveland; burned
BENNETT, JOHN R., patent attorney,
New York city; burned to death.
RoPGERs d L. Plat Iron company
WALTERS, N. B., baggageman, Ham
0q TEL d u AE ffaasa e. eo fGas1 o. eng
neer; crushed under engine.
WR RIG f. f., travelling rgdgg man, Ghca-
&C 4 eVffRd snstai n coinwooa
crushed under engine.
WELLMAN, c. H, general manager Of
the Wellman, Seayer-Morgan Engineering
HEAD. Archibald P, London, Eng
land, prominent English steel man.
MICKEY, WILLIAM B., address I'M
BRANDT, f. J., Toledo; trainman; died
BECKWITH, S. c.. New York, adyertis
ing agent; died at hospital.
GIBSON, ]. H, Chicago, travelling man:
BRADLEY, j. A, Akron, lawyer, died at
TRIM HENRY, New York, barber on
TWO UNIDENTIFIED DEAD one of
whom is supposed to be Arthur L. Johnson
Of Comry & Johnson, Cleveland.
ply company in Chicago.
MECKLING, H. c., manager of the
Wheeling COrrugating company, New York
ARBAUGH, d. j., Milwaukee, Wis.
alter at Cleveland.
The Injured.
Aaron Gorham, Norwalk, O.. firemans Sc
verely bruised, not serious.
Unknown; fatally burned.
Unknown; seriously burned.
c. Cordua, Brooklyn n. y; seriously
D. 3. Arthur. Milwaukee, Wis
Unknown man; crushed and burned.
Allen Filler of Ashtabula cut and bruised
Rudolf Ricardau, Brooklyn, N. Y, will
probably die. -
J. II. Langdon, Chicago, reported in eriti
T. D. Count1ss, president of S. B. Chaplin
& Co. Chicago, slightly bruised, niuries
The Missing.
NJ L. Johnson of Comey C Johnson,
Cleveland.
Late reports gave the number of in
jured as twenty-one and Of these fifteen
are seriously if not fatally hurt Prac
tically all the injured were burned and
had to be eXtricated from the blazing
wreckage by rescue parties.
Injured Persons Crazed.
A peculiarly distressing feature of the
rescue work was that the injured were
so crazed when they were taken out
from under the mass Of wreckage that
they could not even reveal their own
identity. despite urgent appeals and en-
treaties made by officials and others.
The order was finally given to search
the living wreck victims in the hope
that Identification might in that way be
established, but even when this was re-
sorted to but three sufferers could be
identified.
Train Deliberately Wrecked.
Assistant General Superintendent D.
G. Moon Of the Lake Shore, on the scene
of the wreck, gave out the following
statement today:
so far as can be learned the switch
was opened and locked open by some
n,ob hi onIr md
evidently for malicious purposes. Train
No. 10. a fast eastbound train, passed
through the same switch forty-five min
utes ahead of No. % and it was all right
at that time. am positive that no 9TH
er train or engine, either freight or pas
senger, passed through the switch be-
tween No. 10 and No. 26.'
More Than Mile Minute
Travelling at a rate of more than
mile a minute, the heavy train was
hurled to it's doom with a momentum
that was appalling. The scene of the ac-
cident was at the Mentor depot. The
switch that caused the trouble is located
about $50 yards west of the depot. AS
the heavy engine struck the switch, the
engine left the main track and swung
violently to the left
For distance of twenty yards the
engine ran on the rails and then, leap
ing from the track, turned on it's side
Just to the east of the depot, The mo-
mentum was such that the heavy tender
was hurled entirely over the engine and
was buried in the depot.
Wreck Set on Fire.
The combination car was hurled with
terrific violence on top Of the engine and
tender and In a moment was enveloped
III flames from the engine.
The Chicago sleeper, which was i'm
mediately behind the combination car,
swung from the track and, crashing into
the depot, was completely buried in the
wreck Of the building The violence Of
lapsed on top Of the wrecked coach. The
hapless passengers in this coach were
crushed and manned in the wreck and
then completely buried in the collapse Of
the structure.
The next sleeper following was off the
track behind and the other remained up
right, on the rails.
ID.