Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1906-11-15
AZ KILLED
IMMIGRANT TRAIN AND FREIGHT
COLLIDE ON A CURVE IN
INDIANA.
MANY BURNED T0DEATH
The Flames Consumed All but Two of
the Dead-Pitiful Scenes In Chi.
eago, Where Friends Await
ed Loved Ones.

Chicago-More than one-half the
passengers on an immigrant train on
the Baltimore & Ohio railroad were
killed or injured in a collision be-
tween the passenger train and a
freight near Woodville, Ind. One hun
dred and sixty-five passengers were
on the train, and of these At were
either killed outright or were burn I'd
to death in the fire which broke out
in the ~wreckage Immediately after the
collision. The names of all of the
dead will probably never be known, as
45 OF the bodies were consumed in the
flames, or were so badly burned that
Identification Is impossible. Thirty
eight people were injured and several
of these will die. Eighty others es-
capped unhurt, but lost nearly all their
baggage and clothing.
Some One BIundered.
The disaster was caused by a blum.
der of some employee of the railroad
company, but just where the blame
lies has not as yet been determined.
The passenger train which was load
ed with Russian Jews, Servians and
Poles, all of them recent arrivals in
this country, and bound for Chicago,
or places in the northwest, was the
second section of a through train from
Baltimore. The engineer of freight
train No. sc, on instructions received
of MoCoo1 Ind u,aifad NJ n e;d;,u 81
Babcock, Ind, to allow the immigrant
train to pass. One report is that the
engineer of the freight train had not
been informed that the passenger
train was running in two sections;
the other is that the first section Of
the passenger train carried no lights
or signals of any kind indicating that
a second section was close behind.
Collision at a Curve.
AS Don as the first section of the
immigrant train had passed the switch
at Babcock, the freight train, in charge
of Engineer Burke and Conductor
Moste, started eastward. A light snow
was falling, which increased the dark
mes of the early morning, and as the
freight was rounding a sharp curve
just west of Woodville, the second Sec
ton of the immigrant train came in
sight a short distance away, tearing
toward Chicago at the rate of 40 miles
an hour. The two trains cam togeth-
err with unslackened speed, and in the
crash six passenger coaches and sew
eral freight cars were knocked into
kindling wood, and together with the
locomotive went rolling down the ten
foot embankment.
Fire Consumes Dead and Injured.
Fire broke out almost Immediately
in the %wreckage, and although a num-
Der of injured were saved by the des-
perate efforts of the train crew and
surviving passengers, the greater part
of those who were pinned down in the
debris were burned to death. The
flames spread through the wreckage
so rapidly that it was impossible to
save a number of people who were but
slightly hurt, but were held fast by
timbers. These were burned in plain
sight of the throng which stood around
the scene of the disaster utterly I'M
able to lend assistance. The fire cor
tinued until all of the shattered cars
were entirely consumed, and of the
AZ people whose death followed the
collision As were burned to ashes.
PitifuI Scenes in Chicago.
A large number of the relatives of
the passengers on the Inflated train
were in Chicago awaiting their arrival
and when the report of catastrophe
was received, scenes around the Balti-
more & Ohio depot were narrowing.
Crowds of Russians and Poles waited
around the depot all day for news
from Woodville, and when late in the
afternoon, a train came in bearing the
SO injured persons, it was with the
greatest difficulty that the police were
able to open a passageway for the
wounded. The police were memorable,
and all of the injured were taken to
a hospital, where it is believed they
will receive better care than their
friends may be able to give them.