The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1905-03-10
THE TRUTH
SOMETIMES
REACHES THE PUBLIC
a RABOUTTHEPENNA
COMPANY.

Ignores.
II has been repeatedly stated that
i. the Pennsylvania Railroad company Is
the most cold blooded proposition in
the corporation line in the United
States, and facts seem to bear out the
accusation. However, the people of
this country seldom ever ascertain the
the facts through any newspaper pub
lished along the line of the Pennsyl-
.vania Railroad company, at least from
any newspaper that signs one of their
famous railroad contracts which have
since been adopted by a great many
other railroad corporations in this
country. 1t is a contract that binds q
newspaper to insert whatever the COM
pany desires in it's columns and fixes
a nominal compensation, which how
ever the contract states Is not the ac-
tual compensation but that everything
above 1t must be left to the discre-
tion of the company, which really
means that the newspaper is absolute
ly bought. If anything detrimental to
the company appears, the passes are
cut off.
In reference to the recent wreck at
Clifton. number of the newspapers
have been publishing laudatory ar
ticles regarding the way the Pennsyl-
vanla company accommodated the in
jured and furnished news, etc, to the
anxious friends. In this connection
the Cleveland Leader Monday pub
fishes an interview with H. Lindale
Smith, who arrived there in company
with Captain Tanning of Co. C of the
/, Battalion of Engineers Sunday Mr..
Smith was one of the captains party.
He was on the i'll fated train but es-
capped injury, and he gave the follow
Ing account of how the Pennsylvania
company actually acted:
MIR. SMITHS STORY.
after the collision busted myself
In the work Of rescuing the poor fell
lows caught in the wreckage. Fire ex-
linguisher after fire extinguisher was
picked up and put in service only to be
found useless. The delay in the arri-
val of relief train caused much suf-
fering. The first train which put in
an appearance was a train from the
east. 1t was not a train sent out to
the wreck, but a special train. 1t did
not arrive for an hour and a half af-
ter the wreck, and then the crew did
not want to allow us to place any of
The wounded on board. The train was
going through Rochester, and as we
had waited so long without getting
any news from Pittsburg or being able
to learn anything of what the COM
pany was doing in the way of rescue,
we wanted to send some of those who
were suffering the most away at once.
But the crew attempted to go on with
out them.
FORCED TRAIN TO STOP.
"The train was started, but we Jump
ed on board and set the brakes. This
was repeated several times. Then the
men became desperate, and, armed
with crowbars and guns, threatened
the lives of the train crew IL they con-
tinued In the refusal. We were then
allowed to place a number of those
whom we had rescued on board and
they were hurried to the hospital at
Rochester"
The refusal Of the train crew to
take the wounded on board is due to
their belief that relief would soon be
at hand from Pittsburg, which was
only seven and one-half miles away,
while Rochester much smaller town
and but poorly equipped to care for
30 many injured, was thirteen miles
away.
RELIEF SLOW IN COMING.
Mr.. Smith stated further:
''It was three hours later before the
train from Pittsburg finally arrived.
At the, Pittsburg depot another clash
occurred between the men and the rail-
road officials. There was a hospital
but one hundred feet from the depot
ready to receive the injured. The
railroad authorities insisted on taking
all to their own hospital three miles
away, We pleaded with them, telling
them that the men could be attended
to and be resting easy in their cots in
the nearby hospital before the train
could reach the railroad hospital Ar
guments were of no avail and the men
refused to go. but the railroad people
were going to force them
POLICE TOOK A HAND.
Then 1t was that the Pttsburg po-
lice stepped in and said that the men
could go to the nearer hospital If they
wished Ambulances and patrol wag-
ons were at hand and they were load
ed in. ] had a clash with Superin-
tendent Whiting at the wreck. | dis
covered that three bodies which had
been pulled out OF the wreck were
lying at the side of the track un-
guarded. Sightseers were stepping over
them and even on them. appealed to
Car tain Pope. and he Immediately sent
2 detail to stand guard over them.
When the detail arrived they found
the bodies in charge of railroad en-
ploye who declared that no one should