The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-07-21
THIRTY ARE DEAD
AND SCORES INJURED
Freight Crashes Into Passenger Train Loaded
With ExcursiOnists on Pere Mar
quette Road

, Road.
~ the Failure of the Crew of the
hey Orders.
James BooIe. bruised about body
and cut in hand
Unidentified man, cut over eye and
chin; unconscious: will probably die.
Mason Hannah, cut about hands and
head
John II. Watson, 50.
Arthur q. Walton. IS.
Frank Walevitz, ST.
Mrs. Frank Walevitz. 40.
John B. Anderson. AZ; condition Sc
rious.
Hilda Anderson. Is.
Mrs. Olive Turner, 30.
Running at High Speed.
The passenger train Of eleven cars,
carrying the Pere Marquette shop en-
plOyes of Ionia and their families To
the Michigan metropolis for their an
nuaI excursion, was running at high
] H.
down a steep grade. It struck the
lighter locomotive Of the freight train
with such terrible force as to turn the
freight engine completely around. The
wrecked locomotives this afternoon
lay side by side, both headed east
ward. Only a few Of the freight train
cars were smashed, and il took only
a few hours work to remove all traces
of them from the scene. But behind
ru-p rr-vopIrod locomotives civ
cars of the passenger train lay piled
III q hopeless wreck. -Four of the pas
sengeT coaches remained on the track
unchanged and were used to convey
the dead and injured to Ionia: one
coach was entirely unchanged, with
only its forward trucks off the rails.
These were the rear five cars. The two
coaches next ahead of these were tel
escOped. The next car forward stood
almost on end after the wreck. it's for
ward end resting on the roadbed.
Fireman Knowles died on the relief
/ train en- route TO Detroit, bringing the
list Of dead to thirty, with a possibili-
ty that more bodies might be found in
the wreckage and that several of the
injured may die.
Freight Crew Blamed.
Responsibility is put square upon
the crew Of the freight train by Off
Gals of the road One Of those who
arrived at the scene of the wreck soon
after the accident secured from the
crew of the freight the orders under
which il was running. and which
clearly showed the position of the pas
senger excursion train, and that the
freight had euCrOached upon the other
trains running time. The special
train was due at Salem at $40 a IN,
and at Plymouth at $50 a. m. It
passed Salem on time. The time card
of the special was telegraphed to the
freight crew in the form of a train
order, and this order, with the sigma
lures Of the freight train crew at
tached was secured by the officials.
The freight crew left the scene early,
but railroad officials say they ex-
planned simply that they had forgot
ten.
The collision occurred at 9:13 o'clock,
and the freight train could have
reached Salem at 9;10 to be within
their orders.
The excursion train left Ionia.
crowded with men, women and chill
dren, at o'clock this morning. It
was the annual excursion of the shop
men Of the road to Detroit.
Heartrending Scenes.
Every family had its lunch basket,
and many Of them were eating when
the two trains crashed together. The
impact was terrific, and a number Of
passengers sitting near the windows
of the rear end Of the unchanged
coaches were thrown through the win
dows to the ground There was a
panic among the uninjured coaches
for a few minutes. Then, as the IN
injured people realized that they had
not been hurt they rushed from the
cars to the rescue Of their friends and
relations who were pinioned among
the Wreckage ahead of it. Families
were scattered among different cars
and there were frenzied searches for
missing relatives. Mothers ran
screaming up and down searching for
their children, while many of the
young people were as frantically call
ing for their parents. S. Dennahy, a
young man of IOnia, was I'm the last
coach while his sister was in one of
the middle coaches, and his father and
mother were in one of the most Sc
riously damaged cars.
Found His Father Pinioned.
I'VE felt the jar when the air brakes
were applied" said Mir. Dennehy. land
then before anyone had time to stand
up or leave his seat, came the crash
of the collision. In the confusion Of
the moment | did not realize that the
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