Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1906-11-14
PASSENGER TRAIN WRECK
Near Maple Plain Lsst Saturday
Evening.-0pen Switch.


One of the most disastrous wrecks
ever experienced by the Great North
ern, especially in the destruction of
its rolling stock, was that which oc-
CURED short distance this side of
Maple Plain last Saturday evening.
The train which was wrecked was No.
IA, the east-bound afternoon passen-
ger which leaves Willmar at 2:3O
The cause OF the accident was an open
switch and the entire train was de-
rallied and the engine and several cars
ditched. Fortunately there was not
one of the train crew Or passengers
seriously hurt, and the fact that they
escaped with slight injuries seems a
miracle.
The train was id charge of Con-
ductor Flavin and Engineer Denney
was at the throttle. The fireman, who
was pinned under the tender, had one
OF his arms scalded, while the engi-
neer, it is reported, escaped without a
mark.
The following account of the acci-
dent is taken from Sundays Minnea-
polls Journal:
Dashing into an open switch near
Maple Plain, twenty-four miles west of
Minneapolis, Great Northern local
train, No. IA, coming from Fargo,
was derailed at $50 o'clock last even
ing and passengers and train crew
had a miraculous escape from death.
AlthO the train was travelling at a
rate of from thirty-five to forty miles
an hour, it is thought that no fatal in
juries resulted from the accident. The
smoking car was destroyed by flames,
while d passenger coach, nearly filled
with passengers at the time of the ac-
cident, was partially consumed.
Lee Fairbanks, Minneapolis trav-
cling man, Was passenger on the
wrecked train, and arrived in Minnea-
polls hatless and c0atless at 10:3O last
night. ''We were moving along at a
forty clip when the crash came,' he
said. II was sitting in the smoking
car, directly back of the baggage car,
and at the time of the accident I hap
pened to be standing in the aisle. l
heard an awful noise in front, and the
car began to bump. Realizing what
had happened and remembering the
advice OF an old railroad friend, lay
down in the aisle, face down. The car
seemed to bump over the ties for
about five minutes and people were
running over me and screaming. The
gas tank in the front of the car burst
and the flames came up immedi ately
after the car stopped. In some way 1
got out of the car, and then, remem-
bering that I had left my grip inside,
1 went back to get it.
''People were scrambling thru the
windows in their efforts to get out and
when I looked ahead and saw the bag
gage car directly across the tracks,
the locomotive in the ditch, and the
tender demolished, 1 thought that
there must have been fatal accidents.
An investigation proved that aside
from scratches and bruises, all the
) passengers had escaped injury. The
fireman was pinned under the tender
and severely scalded, but the engineer,
who with the fireman, stuck to his
post, turned on the air-brake and
escaped without mark. A way
freight engine from Delano came to
the rescue, but it was too late to save
the smoking car. 1t was burned and
the first passenger coach, which was
pulled away by the freight engine, was
half destroyed"
According to Mr.. Fairbanks, Great
Northern NO. 3, coast bound, had
passed over the tracks not more than
half an hour before the accident and
it is his opinion that the switch had
been tampered with. The engine OF
the wrecked train was thrown into the
ditch at The side of the TRACKS, but
did not turn completely over. The
tender was thrown on it's side and de.
molished.