Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1906-02-21
THREE DIE IN 4 WRECK.
ZEN OTHERS INJURED AND ONE
DYING IN A HEAD-ON COLLISION
NEAR GAINESVILLE.
RESULT OF A MISTAKE
One Man Caught Under Debris and Work
of Hours Fails to Save Him
Baraboo Sends Wreck Crew.

GAINESVILLE, Wis, Feb. 15.-[Spe
clal. I-Three are dead, one is dying and
ten are injured in a head-on collision be-
tween a Northwestern passenger train
and a special freight last night, just
south Of this city.
The Dead and In ured.
The dead are:
LAFFERTY, THOMAS, Baraboo, engi-
neer.
MAHER, JOSEPH, Janesville, fireman.
BERMISH, -, Baraboo, fireman.
The injured:
George Devans, GAINESVILLE, conductor; cut
on mead and shoulders.
- Briscoe, engineer Baraboo; foot
Mrs. Crosby, Sycamore, and six other
R. A. Peck, conductor, probably fatally
hurt.
The cause Of the wreck, it is said, was
the result Of a mistake in orders by the
freight
The body Of Fireman Bermish was still
IN the wreck at midnight, and there was
no hope that he lived. The wrecking
crew from Baraboo worked for hours to
save him. He was taken out dead early
today.
Both of the trains were going at full
speed when the collision occurred, and
before the engineers on either Of the
tIuAuS UdU llule TO reverse Iucll lSFSAo
the engines had met and the crews OF
each were buried in the debris.
Few People on the Train.
The passenger train which runs from
De Kalb Ull.) to GAINESVILLE consists only
Of combination smoker and baggage
car and passenger coach. According to
Mrs. Crosby, who was seriously injured,
there were only six or seven IN the tram
besides herself.
Both the engine and tender of the
freight went over on their sides in the
crash, as did the engine and tender Of
the passenger train. Neither Of the cars
on the passenger train left the track.
Only the prompt action Of the tralnmen
and farmers Of the neighborhood saved
the passenger coach from burning.
The freight train was as small as the
passenger, consisting Of only an engine,
tender and caboose. All Of the freight
train save the caboose was ditched.
Help from Several Places.
AS soon as the passengers We're taken
from the coach and the dead and injured
firemen removed, one of the trainmen OF
the passenger train who had escaped
rode at top speed to GAINESVILLE in o
farmers sleigh for physicians. A relief
train was made up in the local yards and
Drs Pember, Farnsworth, Palmer and
Wood went out to Monterey, the suburb
ing train from Baraboo was also sum-
moned.
Lafferty, who was one of those killed,
was the engineer of the passenger train.
He lived at Baraboo and leaves wife
and two children. Joseph Maher, fire.
man on the freight, leaves a wife and
three children at GAINESVILLE.
The special from this city returned at
once and the dead were removed to Ry-
ans undertaking rooms and the injured
to the local hospital.
Supposed Cause of Accident.
The accident, it is said, was due to
carelessness. The freight, which was
bound for Belvidere by way Of Alton,
was supposed to wait, it is said, for
Chicago passenger train. Instead the
train pulled out, thinking that the
Dekalb train, heard in the distance, was
met while going at a good speed around
a curve at Monterey.
Mrs. B. Crosby, who was the most
49,, &c +Io