The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-09-11
FAST MAIL HITS
FREIGHT TRAIN
Three Injured in Spectacular
Crash on o. S. |. North
of City.
FREIGHT CREW BLAMED
MAIL CLERK, TERRIBLY BURNT,
PROBABLY WILL RECOVER.
omclal List of the Injured.


Official List of the Injured.
+ Leland Graham. postal clerk; Sc =
= riously cut and bruised.
John A. Jones, postal clerk; seri- y
= ously bruised and burned.
y Abram Hatch, engineer: shoulder =
= broken and face scratched and =
y bruised.
George Williams. dining car cook; \
= ankle injured.
A. E. Barger. brakeman; back in \
y jured.
G. H Reed, dining car waiter: in =
y jUred about the head
= William Owens, dining car cook; y
hand injured.
! ]. NJ. Cooper. dining car cook; in
\ iured about the leg
\ humber of passengers were Sc y
y verely shaken up by the collision and y
y some suffered slight scratches and y
4 bruises.
+@%%4@
Nine trainmen were injured. several
passengers were shaken and bruised, two
engines demolished, two freight cars and
a mail car burned as the result Of
head-on collision between two Oregon
Short Line trains three miles north OF
Salt Lake, at o'clock yesterday morn
fast mail passenger train running be-
tween Butte and Salt Lake. going south.
and an extra freight train going toward
Ogden. The blame for the wreck has
been officially fixed by the railroad COM
pany on Conductor George ". Young and
the train crew of the freight.
Charles E. Devine was attempting to
reach a siding at Woods Cross to switch
for the passenger to pass His train.
consisting of a car of honey and forty
five empties, was heavy one for the en-
CINE. and he found that he would be I'm
able to get to the crossing in time. The
conductor was informed and a brakeman
was sent ahead to flag the soUthbound
passenger. IN the meantime the freight
train started to back toward Salt Lake.
The brakeman who went ahead to flag
the passenger took no flag with him and
did not go far enough ahead to give the
passenger time to slow down before the
accident occurred
Brakeman Waves Hat.
Passenger train No s was moving at
about thirty miles an hour II was on
time and its crew presumed that it had a
clear track. As the train came around
the bend the brakeman waved his hat
franticaIly. Engineer Abram Hatch. Of
the passenger train saw him, but it did
not occur to him that the signal was any
other than that of recognition. From his
position in the cab the engineer could not
see the freight on the track until he was
almost to it. He shouted to the fireman
to jump. reversed his engine, set the
brakes. and then jumped himself.
At the time the engineer Ieaped he was
within twenty-five yards of the freight
train He rolled several feet after he
struck the ground and was thrown
against a fence The freight crew had
observed the danger and had left their
train Within a fraction OF second after
I Tath OF ON he r,ff
crashed into that of the freight train
! Both engines smashed their pilots and
/ boilers and then stopped with jolt ths-
| derailed the passenger train. sent tbs
mail car on top of the two engines and
! piled up half a dozen freight cars.
Before the passengers were able to re-
cover sufficiently from the jar to leave
! the coaches the wreckage caught fire. The
/ haif-dazed passengers did not know what
/ had occurred and fled panic-stricken- The
/ train crews Of both trains united imme
/ diately after the collision into an emeT-
gency hospital corps.
scorched by Flames.
Leland Graham and John A. Jones. the
mail clerks of the passenger train were
found not far from the engines. lying on
| the ground covered with blood. They were
| at work in the mail car at the time of the
/ collision and when the mail car doubled
! over the engines both men fell through a
/ hole in the car. AS soon as the car fell
/ over it caught fire and both men were
| scorched by the flames. They were res
| cued from the ruins and were wrapped IN
/ blankets and taken to the side Of the
/ track.
/ Shortly afterwards someone found En-
! gineer Hatch lying a few yards away. He
/ was I'm a semi-cOnsCiOus condition and
/ suffered acute pain. The others of the
! passengers who were injured were found
/ to be more frightened than hurt The
] passengers and injured were taken 20
| Salt Lake few minutes later on the Rio
/ Grande Western train, which was
/ tagged.
Within an hour a Southern Pacific
/ wTecking outfit and crew of wreckers
were al work clearing the track The
/ Salt Lake fire department sent a small
| steamer and a chemical TO the wreck on
/ flat cars to aid in putting out the fire
| The coal from the tenders Of the engines
/ had caught fire and the flames fed on the
| broken boards and debris from the cars.
/ A portion Of the car of honey was saved
/ and brought back to salt Lake. Before
the fire was put out the two freight cars
and the mail car were totally destroyed.
Track Is Cleared.
The wrecking crew worked hard all day
| and toward evening the line was clear Of
| the wreckage and the track was repaired.
! The passenger engine never left the track.
/ but the force of the impact hurled the
/ freight engine from the rails. 1t took
4 several hours to replace the freight en-
/ CINE. which was done by means of a
! switch engine and steam derrick.
/ The total loss resulting from the wreck
/ to the railway company viii be close 20
! $1,000. The engines are ruined, while the
two freight cars and the mail car were
/ totally destroyed. The officials of the
Short Line declined to make any state
nnent last night as 10 the wreck It will,
however. be fully investigated. The blame
has been fixed upon the freight crew. but
no course Of action with reference to the
matter has been given out.