Los Angeles herald., 1905-10-17
TWO KILLED IN
WRECK OF OWL
ENGINEER DIES AT HIS POST
OF DUTY
Fireman Is Also Northumberland Is
SeaIded and Not Expected to
LiVe-Accident Occurs
In Fresno
BY Associated Press.

! FRESNO. Oct. 16.-The dead.
ENGINEER WALTER M. COLE.
| FIREMAN H. L. BUTTS.
At county hospital badly scalded ant
not expected to live, is tramp from
san Francisco, A. G. Knickerbocker.
Inc foregoing are the casualties ir
the wreck of the Southern Pacific Oy,
train, No 25, north bound. at the
south entrance of the railroad wards al
Z:SO o'clock this morning. The locomo-
i've struck partly misplaced switch,
twenty-five feet farther 1t left the
TRACK pumped over the cross tiers and
turhed oVer.in hole of it's burrowing.
carrying down to their death Cole and
BUTTS, who stuck to their posts.
In leaving the rails the Locomotives
Dig oil burner, carried the tender with
1t, and also the mail and combination
baggage and buffet car. The tender
turned almost upside down and was
thrown almost at a right angle with
the main track and the locomotive.
Inc mail car, following, tore up the
rails, struck the partly buried tender
and jumped up in the air with the for
ward part of the car high up and rest
ing on the tender
The forward part of the mail car was
twenty feet in the air, the rear part
remaining on the ground. The for
ward trucks were torn from under and
dropped to the earth. The forward
trucks of the engine and both trucks
of the tender were also torn loose, and
all lay mass of twisted iron in a
punch between the main and the side
track which the mail car overhung.
The combination baggage and mail
ia frac oil L,,,+
right. The train was in charge of Con-
ductor Wing" Fillmore
The responsibility for the accident is
placed by the railroad people on the
fact of the misplaced switch. Southern
racine yardmen on the day shift
claimed this morning that the switch
was blocked and opened sufficiently
wide to permit the f1anges of the wheels
or the locomotive to turn her and the
Gender and cars the wrong way. 1t Is
a ball switch, with a spring on the in
side of the track. Railroad men claim
that If the switch had not been pur-
posely blocked open the ball would have
dropped down and carried the tracks
into their proper position by its heavy
weight.
1t required two hours work by the
before the engine was moved
SNiiASAChIlJ " dlIOW lHe DOOleS 10 be
The body of Fireman Butts
was wedged between the seat and the
bottom of the cab. It was not badly
cut or bruised but was fearfully scalded
by the escaping steam. The right arm
was thrown across the face as if to pro-
tect 1t from the terrible flood Of steam
and boiling water.
A half hours more work was re-
CURED to extricate the body of Engf-
neer Cole, who was found sitting up-
right on his seat with his hand on the |
throttle. This was probably the last
act Of his life, and the fact that he
remembered and executed his duty in |
the moment of death probably saved |
the lives of many passengers who |
would have been dashed to death If the |
steam had not been shut off The body |
was frightfully mutilated and scalded |
by the escaping steam. The head was
almost severed by an iron bar from
the tender, which had been driven |
through the cab by the force of the
wreck. The arm of the engineer was
also found trown across his face to
protect it from the escaping steam.
A pathetic feature is that Mrs. Cole,
wife of the dead engineer, was on the |
1890 train from the south, and did not
know her husband was dead until she
went to the wreck She had been tele-
phoned that the Owl train had met
with mishap, but was not told of the
The railroad authorities declare after
IN investigation that they have in
lubitable proof thot the switch lock
was criminally tampered with.