The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1907-09-05
NINETEEN KILLED,
FIFTY INJURED.
INTERURBAN EXPRESS AND TRAc.
TIoN CAR COLLIDE.
BLUNDER OF THE TROLLY CREW
Cause of Accident-No WARMING and
Few of the Passengers Have
Chance To Escape.

Mattoon, ILL.,, Aug. 31.-Nineteen per-
sons were killed, and about fifty in
Jured in a head-on collision between
an interurban express train, consist
ing OF motor car and trailer and a
traction car on the Mattoon & Charles
ton electric line. The crash occurred
on sharp curve one mile west of
Charleston, III. A confusion of orders
received over the telephone is said to
have caused the wreck The cars ap-
preached each other at a high rate of
speed and the impact was so terrific
that the motor car and trailer were
telescoped by the traction car. There
was no warning and few passengers
had time to escape by jumping.
The passengers, nearly all of them
en- route to the Coles county fair, at
Charleston, were crushed or manned
where they sat in their seat. Some of
these who escaped death and were
able to talk say the scene at the wreck
was grewsome. The dead and dying
were jammed together in a mass
Women were shrieking with pain and
children were crying for unconscious
mothers, who were among the dead
When the news of the wreck reached
Mattoon special cars were hurried 10
the scene and the dead and injured
were brought to the morgue and hos
pital here. Some of the injured are
in critical condition, and there is
little hope for their recovery.
The dead: Neil Fugate, Carys, ILL.,;
Thomas Weakley, Mattoon, ILL.,; Will
liam Nelson, North Okawa, H.; Chas.
Nelson, son Of William Nelson, aged
s years; Howard Cole, Cooks Mills,
ILL.,, aged years; Harold Cole, brother
OF Howard Cole, aged 8 years; Zack
Van de Venter, Mattoon; Edward Rey-
nolds, Paradise, H.; Albert Smith.
Mattoon, H.; w. A. Price, North Mat.
toOn, H.. Douglas Logan, Humboldt;
Edna Walbalm, Cooks Mills, Ill.,, died
in a hospita; Mrs. William Cole, Mat
tocn; Roland Perlys, Mattoon; Jack
Riley, Mattoon; Porter Myers, Hum
boldt. three unidentified bodies.
Seriosuly injured; Albert Mapes,
Mattoon; G. G. Armstrong, badly
bruised and internally hurt; Mrs. G.
G. Armstrong and two children, badly
bruised and cut; Charles Joseph, Sails
bury, Ind, side and leg cut, also hurt
internally; Mrs. L. NJ. Price. Mattoon,
shoulder and face cut and bruised;
Samuel Boyer, right leg broken and |
back bruised; Porter Myers, Hum
bodt, injured in back and hips; James |
Casstev$ns, Gays. leg broken and cuts
and bruises; Mrs. William Cole, |
Cooks Mills; F. W. Davis, aged SO;
Olec Miller. North Okaw, may die; A. |
c. Ealy, Mattoon, badly hurt; G. H. |
Jones, ribs broken; c. R. Curtis, Mat
toon, left arm broken and badly
Mrs. Alex Langston, badly
hurt; Mrs. Sarah c. Phillips, badly
bruised and hurt internally; A. J.
Phillips ribs probably broken and serl.
ously hurt; Otto Tower, Humboldt,
leg broken and otherwise hurt; Chas
Redman, Mattoon, right arm broken
and bruised; Grace Young, legs crush
ed; Mrs. ]. c. Monroe, and two little
boys, badly hurt; Will Jones, badly
hurt: William Swift, Gays, seriously
injured; S. F. Enos, Mattoon, both
legs broken; Jerome Goss, Mattoon,
back badly hurt; Charles Jones, ribs
broken and injured internally; Mrs
Charles Jones. legs badly injured.
Telephones are placed every few
miles, at which orders are transmitted
to the conductors and motormen of the
cars passing over the road A mis-
Of one Of these tele-
phone orders Is said to have caused
The disaster.