Washington State journal and Adams County news. [volume] (Ritzville, Wash.) 1906-1907, 1907-05-15
FEARFUL
WRECK
MORE THAN 30 PEOPLE
KILLED IN SMASHUP.
SHRINERS WERE ON WAY HOME
FROM GATHERING At LOS
ANGELES, CAL.

Santa Barbara, CAL, May 12-At
least % persons are believed to have
persisted in a disastrous wreck on the
Coast line of the Southern Pacific Sat
urday afternoon when a special train
carrying three delegations Of eastern
Shriners returning from a week of
merrymaking at Los Angeles, left the
track at Honda. a station SO miles
north of here, and piled up on the
sandy beach.
The engine and diner, with three
coaches. were heaped in hopeless con-
fusion on the sands, and terror was
added by the wreckage taking fire,
although the flames were quickly ex-
tinguished by the survivors, passen-
gers and trainmen. Many were scald-
ed and burned while buried beneath
the shattered cars.
From north and south aid was
rushed at once by special trains. Doc
tors and nurses from Santa Barbara
and San Luis Obispo raced to the
scene of the wreck. Two carloads of
dead and wounded were hurried into
San Luis Obispo shortly after 9
o'clock and while the bodies Of the
dead were turned over to volunteer
corps of Masons. who had learned of
the disaster to their brethren, the in
jured were hurried to hospitals and
private houses, where cots and beds
awaited their coming and where doc
tors and nurses were Immediately in
attendance.
Shriners' Special Train.
The wrecked train, which constitut-
ed a portion of No. 1, the northbound
Coaster" left Santa Barbara at 1910.
While travelling on the schedule Of a
regular train it was actually a spe-
cial, known as the Ismallaia special
and carrying among others, represen-
tatives Of Rajah temple Of Reading,
Pa, and Ismallaia temple of Buffalo,
N. Y, and AL Koran temple of Cleve-
land, Ohio.
Two irreconciliable statements have
been made as to the cause Of the
wreck. In one of them it is said that
drifting sand along the track formed
an obstruction with which the engine
of the Ismallalia special collided. The
other report, received just before mid
night from Lompoc, ascribes the disas-
ter to switch rail broken or improp-
erly placed. According to the Lompoc
correspondent, who viewed the wreck
and obtained the statements of sur
vivors, the engine, travelling at the
rate of so miles an hour, struck the
projecting points Of the switch rail, ran
along the rail for about 40 feet and
then bumped over the ties for over a
dozen yards, finally plunging into the
ditch. The tender was flung over the
engine by cars behind. The baggage
car and the diner, which was evidently
the second car, plunged under and
over the engine, and following these
were two heavy Pullman sleepers.
The greatest loss Of life occurred
in the diner, which seems to have been
filed with passengers. Not a person
Ia this car escaped death. The doomed
passengers were carried into closed
contact with the engine, buried under
the cars that came behind. and for the
most part scalded to death. The bodies
taken to San Luis Obispo, almost with
out exception, are horribly disfigured
and almost unacceptable.
Potentate Nipple a Victim.
The most prominent among the dead
Shriners is J. Douglass Nipple, poten-
tate of Rajah temple, Reading, Pa. A
number of the dead are from Reading,
at least eight. A man named Henry,
from Lebanon, Ohio, was killed out
right, and Mr.. and Mrs. J. w. Cutter,
residence unknown, also are in the
list of dead. Mrs. Fisher of Cleveland
was killed; also Miss Young of the
same city. Nipple was a conspicous
figure at the Los Angeles conclave.
Other Reading Dead.
The Reading Shriners dead besides
Nipple are:
v. StOffe.
Harry Hendle.
Oliver Kaufman.
George Hagerman.
J. Benton Stolts.
Harry Miller.
A. L. ROther.
Charles Lowing Of Cleveland.
A tourist agent named Austin.
s. A. WATSON Of Buffalo.
It Is known also that at least five
other persons are In the wreck. ].
Douglas Nipple, potenate of Rajah
n