Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-07-21
Indescribnble scenes of Horror After
CrnSh-COnches Filled with Em-
pIoyes ON "a Pleasure
Trtp.

I
train. who did not obey his orders The
shock of the collision was tremendous
that a number of passengers in the un-
wrecked cars were thrown out through the
open windows. The seriously injured wSN
taken to Detroit hospitals.
List of the Dead.
The dead. all of whom are from Ionia;
WILL, DOT
JOHN PATTERSON.
CHARLES MACALONI
AL. HEBERT.
MARTIN KILDUFF.
MRS. ABRAHAM EDDY.
HERMAN NAFF.
N. J. CORNELL.
JOHN ROGERS,
WILLIE GRAMS, n boy.
JOHN TAFEL.
MRS. AUGUST RICHTER.
DAN ROGERS.
FREDERICK LATHAM.
FRANK SMITH.
CONDUCTOR e. B. PIXLEY.
CHARLES HESS AND HIS TWO SOM
CHARLES MCAULEY, SIR.
l.. X. MERRILL.
ALBERT TRAUTWINE.
JAMES WIZARD.
HARRY REYNOLDS.
NED GALLAGHER.
HOMER SMITH.
FRED FITZG GERALD.
WILLIAM STEIGER, Kansas city, who
was working in 1onia.
FRED VAUGHAN. whose home was
South Bend Ind.
/. CORWIN.
:. KNOWLES. fireman, died on way to
hospital.
Eight Hundred on Train.
There were 800 people crowded into the
eleven coaches of the train. many of them
women and children, all bound for a holi-
day In Detroit. They left their homes in
Ionia at 8 o'clock this morning The wreck
occurred on a perfectly straight, level
piece of track The heavy freight and
passenger trains came together with
enormous force. and six of the eleven pas
senger cars were entirely wrecked. When
the uninjured persons recovered from the
shock and crawled from the wreckage
they at once began extracting the dead
and injured. Messengers were rushed to
this village and to Plymouth and all the
doctors from this place and neighboring
villages were hurried to the scene. Farmers
who heard the crash came to the rescue
also.
special train was made up in the
yards at Detroit and sent to the wreck, q
distance of forty ,miles. with doctors,
nurses, surgical instruments Snd cots. BY
the time this train arrived there were
several scores of people waiting to re-
ceive medical attention and over score
Of bodies had been extricated and were
lying on the grass beside the tracks.
Passenger Describes Horror.
Mrs Minnie Densmore Of Ionia, a pas
senger on the wrecked train, describing the
horror, said:
my husband and myself We're In tho
sixth coach, right behind the first five
in which the greatest loss OF life occurred.
There was terrible crash, and the train
came to a sudden stop, throwing us out
Of our seats. Instantly our car filed
with terror-stricken people, trying to
fight their way out. No one knew just
what had happened, but every occupant
Of the car seemed to feel instinctlvely
that there had been n tragedy and seemed
to be filled with fear Their clothes were
torn and they inflicted severe bruises on
one another In their mad efforts to get
to the ground. That was before they real
ized that our car was not damaged and
that they were not in danger themselves.
When we got out of the coach we found
the engine and the first five cars piled up
beside the tracks, while shrieks OF pain
and cries for mercy filled the air"
The first five cars were well filled and II
is in these that most of the bodies were
found.
The engineer Of the train from Ionia was
L. b. Alvord. He and his fireman jumped,
and It is presumed by the passengers that
they escaped with minor injuries
Conductor Bixley of Ionia is among the
missing. Nineteen bodies taken from the
wreckage before the relief train came in
from Detroit"
Freight Grew at Fault.
After arriving here with the wrecltinR
train from Detroit and looking over the
situation, General Superintendent Trump
says the blame for the wreck lies with
the crew OF the freight train, which wns
a westbOund local. They had orders. Mr..
Trump says, to wait at Plymouth for the
excursion train. which had the right OF
way. Instead they proceeded on towards
Salem.
Many freight cars were also piled up in
the heap OF wreckage, which Is so great
that II will take twelve hours TO clear the
track. II may be several hours before II is
definitely known whether the twenty-five
bodies now recovered comprise the entire
list of dead. The surgeons at the scene
are giving attention 10 the injured who are
being placed on the special train from De-
troit and who viii be taken there and
placed in hospitals,
DETROIT. July 2O-rhe Union station
here is filled with relatives and friends OF
the excursionists who were on the wrecked
Tonia train, anXiously waiting for the hos
pital train to ARRIVE.
At 1:O o'clock the twenty-ninth body had
been brought from the wreck OF the Pers
Marquette excursion train. and such prog
ress had been made by the wreckers THAI
they said II was improbable that any more
bodies would be found. Many Of the in