The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1907-05-16
SINNERS DIE
IN TRAIN WRECK
Ihirty=One Killed in Dis
aSter in California.
SIXTEEN FROM READING,
NaS0nS and Relatives We're Re
turning From Convention.
SOgE VICTIMS WERE ROASTED ALIVE

Il
Train Was Running at Terrific Speed
When Locomotive Turned a Somer.
s1uit and Was Buried In the Sand.
Cars Were Dashed to Pieces On
Fiery Mass Of Steel - Most Of the
Ceaa Were In the Dining Car.
wonen Painted at Awful Sight
Santa Barbara Cal. May Is. 81
Thir,y-one dead and a score injured
comprise the casualties OF the wreck
At Honda of the Ismaelia special train
Of New York and Pennsylvania Mobiles
Of the Mystic shrine. who were return
ns home from the annual meeting Of
se Imperial Council OF the Ancient
Arabic Order of the Mobiles OF the
%, size shrine at Los Angeles.
Tae train. carrying las Shriners and
friends from lsmaeiia Temple. Buffalo:
Rajah Temple. Reading. Pa. and
ncishhoring cities. was rushing nor.h-
ward 80 miles an hour on the South
I eIn Pacific coast line when the
/ locomotive struck a defective switch
ar the sand-swept seacoast siding OF
| Honda. near the waters Of the Pacific
! ocean. along which the railroad runs
| for 100 miles north OF Santa Barbara
| The locomotive turned a somersault
into the yielding sands. The cars
sv iried through the air and landed on
the fiery mass OF wrecked steel. The
coaches We're crushed TO debris and
took fire. The flames were soon ex-
tincuished by uniniured persons from
the two rear coaches. The bodies OF
26 victims now lie in Santa Barbara.
and i've more are az san Luis Obispo.
The injured. many OF whom are terri
bly, hurt. and some OF whom may die,
are iu two sanitariums at san Luis
Obispo.
The Dead.
Following is the list OF the dead at
Santa Barbara;
J. Douglass Nipple potentate Rajah
Temple. II. X. Gittelman. A. /. Roth
c. Gilbert Steite. Mr.. and Mrs. S. )
snyder. George Hagerman. W. Benton
Stoltz Harrison Hendel Mrs. william
W Essick Miss Nora Stoltz. Mr.. and
Mrs. Thomas Brumbach. all OF Read
ing Pa.
Unidentified woman. probably Mrs.
Mary c. Evans. Reading. Pa.
Mr.. and Mrs. l. y. Ellengoben. Al
| lentown. Pa.
NJ. and Mrs. John W. Cutler Bling
hamton. y Y.
Mrs. Henry J. Fisher and Miss Cora
Young Cleveland
Howard Meyer Hazleton. Pa
A. d. WATSON, Buffalo.
Charles :. Henry. Lebanon. Pa
Charles NJ. Lowing. Pullman conduc-
tor. Buffalo.
c. W. Austin. New York, tourist
agent
The following dead are at San Luis
Obispo.
Richard Essicl. oliver F. kaufman
and Henry Miller. all of Reading
The Injured.
Among the injured at San Luis
Obispo are.
Former Mayor Howard A Hartzell.
Easton. Pa. not serious.
Mrs. Hendel and daughter Helen
Reading. Pa, not serious.
J. Calvin Honeditz. Reading. Pa.
left leg fractured. scalp wound.
Martin Henry. Shamokin, Pa.
scalded
William Boyd. Reading. Pa. seri-
ously scalded
Mrs. Fred Greenwood, Binghamton.
y. Y, leg broken.
Cars Smashed to Pieces.
The wreck occurred an hour and 40
minutes after the conclave visitors.
forming a merry party. had left Santa
Barbara. where they had spent all the
morning sightseeing. The locomotive In
| leaving the rails tore up the track
/ twisting the huge steel rails into fish
| hooks The baggage car half bruied
| itself in the sand on the right side of
the locomotive. IL was smashed almost
into kindling wood.
The dining car in which were 81 per-
sons eating luncheon. leaped into the
air and fell directly on the demol-
| ished locomotive. Nearly every per-
son in the dining car was instantly
! killed. Scores were scalded by steam
escaping from disconnected pipes. The
rear coaches rushed on the first wreck
age, tanning il on those who might
otherwise have escaped. Several. pin
Toned in the debris, were roasted
alive.
A last call for luncheon had Just
suonded only a few minutes before the
disaster.
Rajah Temple. Of Reading. Pa. oc-
cupied the last car on the train. and
Rajah Shriners were the last ones &c
go forward to the dining car. The
car was thus filled almost entirely
with Reading people when the wreck
occurred.
An instant after the smash the In.
jnred jumped from the train to rendel