Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-02

lifted the iron from the men and
dragged out the half dead Japanese.
In less than an hour the San Ber-
'nardino relief train, bearing physicians
and nurses, reached the scene of the
wreck. BY this time all the victims
had been taken out, most of them hav-
ing been cared for in the houses of
nearby farmers and at the grocery OF
F. ]. Burgner.
Special Brings Injured
Those who were most severely in
iured, including the engineer and fire.
man, were left at San Bernardino. A
special train carrying twelve less dan
gerously injured reached Los Angeles
at 5:45 o'clock in the afternoon. They
were taken to the Santa Fe hospital.
The story of the crash was told by
j. c. Coonard, who lives at Fifty
eighth street and Central avenue.
at could not see that the train slowed
up in the least before it struck the
freight" he said. "The passengers
were tired with their days sight see
ing and were reclining in the seats.
There was not the slightest warning
of the danger except a slight tremor
second before the crash came. The
back of the car seemed to rise as they
struck and then the baggage car, which
tore it's way through the smoker, broke
through the front end of the coach.
1t is most remarkable that there were
no deaths in the car. A heavy beam
from the enL of the baggage car, evil
dently the only piece of steel in the
car, was drawn like scythe through
the day coach. I saw my wife and
cousin, Mrs. Stevens, several seats
ahead and leaped toward them as the
crash came So complete was the
wreck of the car that fully expected
to find half of the people dead. A mo-
ment after the crash, when several of
the passengers had recovered their
senses, we found that the lives of the
passengers in the day coach had been
saved by the strong steel framework of
the car, which held the roof in place.
The baggage car descended on the
coach after being thrown over the
smoker ahead, and but for this must
surely have killed half the people in
the car"
Coroner's Inquest
A coroner's inquest will be held over
the body of Nagaski today and the
coroner of S. Bernardino county has
announced that he will use every pos
sible means to fix the blame for the
disaster, which at present is very much
in doubt
1t has not yet been learned which
member of the freight crew is respon-
sible for the switch having been left
open. According to statements of the
trainmen of both crews, the switch was
left open through the negligence of one
of the freight crew, and Conductor Nc
Lennon is said to have admitted that
it was one of his men. There had been
shifting Of cars for nearly an hour pre-
ceding the wreck, and as far as can
be learned no definite orde, had been
issued regarding the passing of the
passenger.
Miner Is Injured
]. B. Orsen, a mining man, about 80
years of age who has just returned
from Alaska to enjoy some of the fruits
of his labors of the last ten years, was
one of those severely injured and he
was taken to the Santa Fe hospital.
'I went through all kinds of hard
ships in Alaska, but was never hurt
before, and it's pretty tough on fell
low Just when he wants to get chance
to spend a little of the dust. 1 never
dreamed that down here in this land
where they have everything to make
people happy was going to be knocked
out and laid on the shelf just at the
start"
Orsen was i'm the smoker and re-
ceived the butt of the collision. He
considers himself lucky that he escaped
with his life.