Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1907-01-04

erick express, crowded with passen.
gers, just as the passenger train had
pulled out from the station bound for
this city.
The wrecked train was filled with
Sunday excursionists and others re.
turning to Washington from their
country places in Maryland.
Engineer Hildebrand, who was in
charge of the dead" train and who
was arrested shortly after the disas-
ter, declares that on account of the
dense fog he was unable to distin-
guish the signal light at Takoma Park
block station. Tower Operator Phil
lips declares that the danger signal
was in it's proper place and that En-
gineer Hildebrand's train passed the
tower station going at speed Of
from 50 to. 60 miles an hour.
{, Many Die Under Debris.
The scene after the accident was
sickening. Bodies had been hurled on
every side and it was after midnight
before all the dead had been collected
and placed on the special train to be
brought to this city. Nearly all the
residents of Terra Gotta worked re-
moving the dead and reseuing the
injured from beneath the masses Of
debris. They toiled under great diff
culties, for many of the injured were
,wedged beneath the wreckage, and
numbers of them died before they
could be rescued. The many acts Of
heroism and self-sacrifice that were
performed will never be known.
A detachment of 40 policemen were
sent from Washington and nearly so
physicians from this city and the
suburbs responded to a general call,
but long time elapsed before the
doctors were Oh hand to relieve the
injured.
For more than three hours after the
fatal crash occurred the police and
citizens were still taking bodies from
under the great pile of wreckage,
which was strewn FOR fully quarter
OF mile along the track. The res.
cuers took out several bodies which
had been ground to pulp. Catholic
priests administered the last rites to
many Of the dying. Women and chill.
dren Joined in the work, and every
thing possible was done to relieve
the sufferings Of the injured.
200 Persons on Wrecked Train.
X, More than 200 persons crowded the
wrecked train. The crash, owing to
the fog, came without seconds
-uo rpino Tho tI,rao raor ,,o.,o,rax
coaches were torn to fragments in an
instant. The horror of fire, however
was not added Most of those killed
met death instantly, and when the
FIRST help arrived their bodies were
scattered along both sides of the track
for $50 yards, lying just where they
had been thrown when the engine tore
the cars asunder.
The absence of fire rendered it pos
sibie to save many Of the injured who
were pinned beneath portions Of the
wreck. The cries and groans of the
injured were teartrending. The thick
white cloak of tbs fog closed around
the horror and mercirutly hid for a
while the extent of the disaster,
Strange Feature of Crash.
A strange feature of the wreck Is
the fact that neither the engine, the
tender, nor any of the empty coaches
OF the colliding trains left the track.
Despite the havoc which 1t wrought,
the engine of the second train, rum
ming so miles an hour, was only slight
~ injured, and neither the engineer
Nor the fireman sustained any injury.
J, Both remained in thsir CAB and were
injaesd upaer arrest a sosn @ ths