Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-03
Passengers Work HeroleaIIy

BY the light of the flaming wreckage
passengers who were uninjured worked
heroically to save those who were
pinned fast beneath the mass of splin-
tered timbers and twisted iron work.
The lack OF tools to work with in chop
ping away the sides of the cars was a
great hindrance to the early rescue
work.
| In an hour and half from the time
of the wreck the first relief train from
Mcfarland. Kas., bringing surgeons and
helpers reached the scene. In the mean
time the rescue work was being pushed
by volunteers, while surgeons for miles
around promptly responded to the calls
for their services.
two wrecking trains soon arrived, and
all of the dead and injured that had
been taken from the wreck were
brought to this city, where the injured
were placed in hospitals.
Two injured Mexicans died on the
way to Topeka, and Link, the negro
porter, died at the hospital shortly af-
terward. When Link was rescued 1t
was necessary to tear his leg from his
body to extricate him from the wreck Z?
age.
Knew Collision Was Coming
Five minutes before the trains
crashed together the operators for
hundreds of miles along the line of
the Rock Island SYSTEM knew that
the collision was certain, as Byrnes
had wired from Volland that he had
let No. 30 pass, but there was no earth
ly means Of preventing the disaster.
At o'clock the railroad company
completed a track around the wreck
age and the line was open again.
The exact number of dead will never
be known, as the bodies of a num-
ber of MeXicans were destroyed
by the flames and the charred bones
crushed to ashes by the removal of
| the wreckage.
Jack Slater of Harrington, Kas., the
| engineer of train No. 90, saw the other
trains headlight as the engine came
around the curve and jumped, after
applying the brakes, escaping practi-
cally uninjured. His train had been
brought to almost a standstill before
the crash came.
Conductor Jumps Out of Window
Conductor william Griles of train
No. 20 was sleeping in a seat in the
smoker when he felt the emergency
brake applied. Divining the cause he
hurled himself through a window and
escaped with a broken collar bone.
Rock Island engine No. 1884, which
pulled train No. 20 this morning, is
the same locomotive that drew the
Rock Island passenger train which was
wrecked at Willard, Kas., in January,
1904, resulting in the loss of nearly
twenty lives. The two wrecks occurred
at points less than thirty miles apart.
The same engine has been in three
other wrecks in the same locality.
| 1t is not known to certainty that
julius Barmeister of Davenport, Iowa,
is dead but there is practically no
| chance that he is alive.
He was one of the party of eight
homeseekers from Davenport who were
riding in the chair car. Shortly before
the collision he had gone into the
smoker and since the wreck his COM
panions have been unable to find any
| trace OF Barmeister or his body. 1t Is
believed he wa; burned to death and
the corpse charred beyond recognition.
Two Cannot Recover
At local hospitals tonight all of the
injured are reported to be doing well
with the exception of Bara and Alvar-
rio, two MeXicans, who cannot recover
Miss Sadler of Mcintyre, Iowa, a
professional nurse, was on the ill-fated
train at the time of the collision She
was only slightly bruised and rendered
service of incalculable value caring for
the injured before the arrival of the
Lynes, the operator, is still in Jail at
Alma tonight The people of Wau-
baunsee county are all in sympathy
with Lynes and an effort to convict
him of manslaughter, If made, will
probably fail.
Twelve bodies burned beyond recog-
milton lie i'm a boXcar in Alma, Kas.
tonight. They will be buried tomorrow
afternoon.
A charred body, supposed to be that
of a woman, has been taken from the
wreck. Various pieces of jewelry,
blackened by the flames, We're found
together with a few long hairs sticking
to the charred bones.
Two inquests will be held, one at To-
pelSa and on" at Alma. An inquest at
Topeka is made necessary by the fact
that at least two of the victims died
after being brought to this county.
Both inquests will be held this after
noon.