Los Angeles herald., 1906-09-11


to the extreme ends of the tracks.
Hemple Drops Flag
There they remained until Walter
Hempe, one of the promoters of the
scheme walked out on the field. He
held big white table cloth in his
hand and after taking a long distance
look at the two engines, and figuring
on what the junk would be worth, he
waved the table cloth frantically about
his head and turned and sprlnted for
cover.
Both engines started at the same
time the wheels turning and grinding
as the full power was thrown on, with
out any preliminaries. Down the
track they dashed, one going at about
10 miles an hour and the other burn
ing up the track at about a IL mile
rate.
1t was worth the money just to watch
the expressions of the men, women and
children of that crowd as they leaned
forward, their lips slightly parted and
their eyes fixed on the approaching
masses of steel and iron. AS matter
of fact, not more than fifty women
in the audience saw the accident, for
the rest of them put their hands be-
fore their eyes just at the moment of
collision in order to shut out the sight
About fifty yards from the point of
collision the engineers threw on full
speed and leaped from the cabs, the
driver of number "23'' slipping and
rolling over and over in the soft dirt.
Then with whistles shrieking a last
warning the two engines shot forward
and met.
Steam Hides Wreck
For a moment the wreck was partial
ly hidden by the first burst of steam
from the crushed boilers, and then the
splinters of wood and mashed iron
fairly rained about, and a number of
daring photographers, who had ap-
preached too close, made a dash for
safety
For several minutes the grind of the
wheels as they answered the force of
the driving rods could be heard and
the masses of junk twisted and writhed
and the clouds of steam spurted sky
ward, and for once in their lives the
spectators did not think of the admis-
sion fee and all were heartily glad they
came
There will be many people in Los
Angeles figuratively kicking themselves
today because they didn't see the
wreck, even if the engines were old
and decepit, for it was worth travel
ing far to see.
AS soon as the steam died away and
the rush of water told that the boilers
were cleared and the danger of eX-
plosion was over, the spectators made
a dash for the scene of the. wreck.
They galloped across the field in their
mad rush to get there quickly. Mayor
McAleer and his party in an auto
mobile were among the first to arrive
and some of them gathered souvenirs.
AS for the engines, the noses of the
boilers had mushroomed. Number 23
having been going at the greatest
speed received the most damage. The
boiler was crushed in back to the bell,
and as a result the engineers cab was
wrecked and splintered. The front of
Number 13 suffered nearly as heavily,
but neither engine lifted and both
trucks kept the tracks.
Crowd Gathers Souvenirs
There were many in that crowd who
had been in real wrecks, who
had seen their friends and relatives
dragged from beneath the coaches and
wreckage and they knew what a wreck
really meant. 1t was nice enough for
the pretty girls of the crowd to go into
little squeals of excitement over the
crushed and twisted irons and tim
bers, for it was an event suitable for
a holiday, but some had seen victims
burned and scalded to death and they
age.
Following the first good look. the
curio hunters stormed the engines and
every piece of wood, steel or iron small
enough to be carried away was prompt
ly taken and then the crowd cleared
out.
That was the end of the wreck, but
all the way home on the street cars
bursts of conversation from the be-
whiskered contingency could be heard
as follows:
yet, back in the spring of 80, at
Oshkosh. there wuz a wreck an 1 was
thu third feller there. That wuz the
worst wreck I ever seen. There wuz
forty or fifty kilt
But the unfortuna tes who were COM
PEELED to hear did so with grace, for they
had seen a real collision under most
pleasant circumstances and they re-
joiced accordingly