The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1906-11-15
FORTY-NINE KILLED.
B. & o. Wreck m Porter County
Fire Adds to Horror.


more and Ohio Railroad near Wood
Vile, Ind, forty-eight miles from
Chicago, at 3 o'clock Monday morn
ing. All but two of those killed were
cremated in the fire which followed
the wreck and which destroyed the
train. The only way OF
estimating the number of the dead Is
by subtracting from the total num-
Der known to be on the train the
number of those who were injured or
escaped wholly.
The exact responsibility for the
horror has not been fixed, but it was
due either to the neglect or misun
Outstanding of signals, and thor
ough investigation is promised by the
officials of the road.
Twelve hours after the accident the
injured and survivors, numbering 100
persons, were brought to Chicago
and taken to Mercy hospital, while
the ashes and fragments of charred
bore which represented all that re-
moined of the dead men, women and
children were inferred in the ceme-
terry at Chesterton, not far from the
scene of the horror.
All the victims were immigrants
from Poland, Russia, Bulgaria, Ser
via, Austria and other European
countries, and anything like a COM
plete list of the dead probably will
never be known The wreck was fol-
lowed by agonizing scenes in which
the shrieks of those doomed to death
by fire mingled with the groans and
cries Of the injured and the frantic
lut futile efforts of the living to res
cire fine imprisoned ones
When. the injured and survivors
were brought to Chicago scenes al
most as heartrending were enacted
at the Grand Central station, where
hundreds of the friends and relatives
of passengers on the Inflated train
wept and struggled with the police
in their efforts to learn the fate OF
those for whom in many instances
they had been waiting since early
morning.
The immigrant train, which was
running as the second section of the
regular express from New York to
Chicago, carried 167 passengers, all
bound for Chicago or points in tn
Northwest The east-bound freight
train with which it collided had been
ordered on a siding at Babcock, Ind.
to allow the passenger train to pass
When the first section or regular ex-
| press had passed, the freight crew
either through misunderstanding thai
a second section was following, o.
through failure of the first section to
signal that it was being followed
pulled out on the main track and
started east.
The passenger train was running
forty miles an hour and the freigh'
twenty when they crashed together
on curve near Woodvillle. The EN-
gineers and fremen jumped whe.-
they saw the collision was inevitable
but one of the firemen was so badl,
injured that he died a few hours later
The passenger coaches, filled with
sleeping immigrants and the one ex
press car on the train were thrown
into tangled mass together with
two of the cars from the freight train
and in an instant flames burst fort!
in several places.
Many of the injured succeeded ir
extricating themselves from tn.
wreck and others were rescue'
through the heroic efforts of fellow
Passengers who had escaped uninjur
ed, but many others were imprison
ed in the mass or so badly injured
that they could not save themselves
and their appeals for help filled tn.
night for endless minutes before tn,
ever-increasing volume of fame over
whelmee them.
But for the fire the loss Of lif,
would not have been one-third .
what it was, but the flames spreaC
with such velocity that the rescuer.
were driven back and forced to atan
don their efforts. The thunderou,
roar of the collision was heard FOL
miles, and when, few minutes later
the sky reflected the glare of the con
1agration, farmers and villagers hur
ried to the scene and lent their ait
TO the injured.
Near by towns were notified anC
physicians responded as rapidly a:
circumstances would permit 1t was
O'Clock in the morning before Super
intendent F. c. Batchelder learned
of the wreck, and he at once order
ed wrecking trains started from
South Chicago, with instructions t.
pick up all available physicians er
route. AT $50 o'clock Mr.. Batchel
der boarded a special relief train o
FIVE coaches, supplied with cots
blankets and medical supplies. H.
was accompanied by Drs E. Nelson
| A. w. Mclaughlin, s. d. McLear
and David S. Woodbury. The ear
lier train carried Drs. z. J. Hughes
and ]. G. Davis of Chicago, and en-
route picked up DR.. M. S. de Naut a
4 Walkerton and c C. Robinson at In
diana Harbor.
These, with doctors from Laporte
Valparaiso, and Indianapolis, attend
ed the injured, who were made a
comfortable as possible in the relic
train the most seriously injured wer,
quartered in the Pullman car Eyria
the interior of which soon presented
the appearance of hospital