The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-06-12
81 KILLED., 20 HURT
IN SHR|NERS' WRECK
Dining Car Hurled in Air With 81
Occupants.
VICTIMS scALDED TO, DEATH
Cars Demolished When Speeding Lo-
connective Strikes a Bad Switch
at Honda, Cal.-Reading Tenn
Die Suffers the Worst Leases.

COQOClVc SCTlhcS u Oau o"A@Sh
at Honda, Cal.-Reading Tenn
ole Suffers the Worst Leases.
Santa Barbara, Cal.-Thirty-one
killed and a score injured comprise
the casualties of the wreck at Honda
of the Ismalia special train Of New
York and Pennsylvania Mobiles of the
Mystic Shrine who were returning
home from the annual meeting of the
Imperial Council of the Ancient
Arabic Order of the Mobiles of the
Mystic Shrine at Los Angeles.
The train, carrying las Shriners
and friends from Ismalia Temple,
Buffalo, Rajah Temple, Reading, Pa,
and neighboring cities, was rushing
northward fifty miles an hour on the
Southern Pacific Coast Line. when
the locomotive struck a defective
switch at the ~sand-swept seacoast
siding at Honda, near the waters OF
the Pacific Ocean, along which the
railroad runs for a hundred miles
north of Santa Barbara. The loco
motive turned a somersault into the
Weddings sands. The cars swirled
through the air and landed on the
fiery mass Of wrecked steel. The
coaches were crushed to debris n
took fire. The flames were soon ex-
tinguished by uninjured persons from
the two rear coaches. AS Honda Is
isolated, it was not till late next day
that definite information could be
collected. The bodies of twenty-one
victims now lie in Santa Barbara and
eight more are in San Luis Obisp0.
The injured, many Of whom are tor
ribly hurt, and some of whom may
die, are in two sanatoriums In San
Luis Obispo. .
The wreck occurred at 2.36 o'clock
o. M, an hour and forty minutes
after the conclave visitors, forming a
merry party, had left Santa Barbara,
where they had spent all the morning
sightseeing. The statement that the
train was making a terrific speed
when it struck the defective track Is
borne out by the fact that 1T covered
the sixty-one miles Of crooked track
from Santa Barbara to Honda In 100
minutes. The locomotive in leaving
the rails tore up the track, twisting
the huge steel rails into fish hooks.
The baggage car half buried itself
in the sand on the right side of the
locomotive. It was smashed almost
to kindling wood.
The dining car, in which were thir-
ty-two persons eating luncheon,
leaped into the air and fell directly
on the demolished locomotive. Near
ly'every person in the dining car was
instantly killed. Scores were scald-
ed by steam escaping from discon-
nected pipes. The rear coaches
rushed on the first wreckage, JAM
ming it on those who otherwise might
have escaped. Several, pinioned In
the debris, were roasted alive.
Mrs. John w. Cutler, of Bingham
ton, N. Y, was in the baggage car
at the time of the crash to rearrange
her trunk. Her body was driven
through the floor, and the wrecked
car had to be lacked up before the
body could be released.
Mrs. Fred Greenwood, of Bingham
ton, was with Mrs. Cutler, and also
went down under the tons of baggage
and broken timbers, but she was COW
. cred by an arch of trunks. When
rescuers burrowed their way to where
the two women lay Mrs. Greenwood
reached out and grasped the foot ef
one of the men and shouted:
"I'll not let go until you get me
out"
Then scalding steam enveloped her
and she was terribly burned. She
was rescued alive, however, and was
among those taken to San Luis
Obispo.
When Miss Cora Young, Of Cleve-
land, was taken from the shattered
dining car, she was still alive, but
frightfully injured. Her entire body
had been showered with boiling
water, and when women friends re-
moved her corset the imprint Of the
stays was left deep in the scalded
flesh.
George Hagerman, of Reading,
Pa, refused the aid Of his brother
mobiles after they had dragged him,
fatally hurt, from the wreck.
II am dying" he said; "go help
the women"
Sander Deabold, Of Cleveland,
worked ~heroically, but unavailingly,
to save the lives Of two women pin
Toned beneath the burning dining
car. Burrowing his way down into
the %smoldering, splintered wreck,
Deabold, with a hose which he had
wrenched from a coach connection,
spouted water from an adjacent tank
and extinguished the flames. Then
he reached down, and, after cutting
away the broken timbers that held
her fast, took Mrs. William W. Es-
sick, of Reading, from the ruins. She
was begging piteously for relief when
Deabold reached her. AS he lifted
her from the wreckage a stream of
boiling water poured over her. Wom-
en- passengers sought to remove her
upper garments, but tainted when the
flesh came of with the clothing. Mrs.
Essick died in a few minutes. Dea-
bold was unable longer to endure the
narrowing sight.
1T was the most horrible sight I
ever laid eyes on" he said. when
v e 1 touched her the prints Of the
fingers remained in the almost fluid
flesh"