The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1907-07-25
.THIRTY-ONE PEOPLE
HURLED TO DEATH
WITHOUT ONE MOMENTS WARN
ING.
TWO TRAINS COLLIDE
With Fatal Result. Ono an Excursion
Train Carrying People For Their
Annual Outing.

AIdlH Marrying f00ple kOT IAcll
Annual Outing.
Salem, Mich, -Thirtyone people are
dead and seventy injured as the result
Of head-on collision between a Pere
Marquette express train to Detroit
and west-bound freight, in cut
above a mile east Of Stlem.
The passenger train Of eleven cars
carrying the Jere Marquette shop EN-
ployers Of Iona and their families t,
the Michigan metropolis for thir an
nual excursion was running at high
rate of speed, probably fifty miles
an hour down steep grade. It struck
the lighter locomotive Of the freight
with such terrific force as to turn
the freight engine completely around.
Only few of the feight cars were
smashed, and it was only hour work
to remove all traces of them from the
scene but behind tue two wrecked
locomotives six cars of the passenger
train lay piled in hopeless wreck.
Four Of the passenger coaches re-
manned on the track unchanged and
were used to convey the dead and in
jured to Iona; one coach was entirely
unchanged, with only its forward
trucks off the rails. These were the
rear five cars. The two coaches mex!
ahead of these were telescoped. The
next car forward stood almost on
end, it's forward end resting on the
roadbed and the rear end high in
the air upon two telescoped coacheA
Of the baggage car not enough re-.
manned to show where it had been
tossed. Portions of the baggage car
and of the locomotive tender and
freight cars were piled in a tangled
mass Of debris.
James Boyle farmer, was work.
ing in a field four hundred feet away
from the track when the two trains
approached from opposite directions.
The freight was moving slowly up the
heavy grade and had just reached the
curve when the passenger approached
at high speed. Boyle saw the pas
senger engineer shut his steam off,
and saw the crew Of both engines
jumped before the crash. He ran to
the tracks where he found the injured
passengers running forward and joined
with them in pulling out the injured.
The dead were placed in q row
alongside the track and the injured
were made as comfortable as pas
sible until the arrival Of the wrecking
trains from Saginaw, Detroit and
Grand Rapids made It possible 10
send them to Iona and Detroit.
The excursion train left Iona
crowded with men, women and chill
dren at 6 am. Pere Marquette en-
ployes to Detroit. Every family had
its lunch baskets and many Of them
were eating when the trains crashed
together. The impact was terrific
and a number Of passengers sitting
near the windows were thrown
through the window to the ground.
There was a panic Among the passen-
gers for moment. Then, as the peo
pie realized that they had not been
hurt they rushed toward the friends
in the wreckage. Mothers ran scream
ing up and down the aisles, while
many young people were calling for
their parents.
JAS. Eddy, young man fro mIona,
was sitting in a seat with his mother
and when he regained his sense after
the crash she lay dead beside him.
They were in the fifth car and young
Eddy said that he could see the
freight approaching around the curve.
The moment the trains came to-
gether," he said. I was soaked with
water from the tender Of the engine
which was torn to pieces. The air
was full Of flying objects and when
| rega!ned my senses was pinned IL
the wreckage i looked around for
my mother and there she was dead
One Of her arms was cut off and lay
q couple Of feet away, and she was
horribly mangled I managed to re-
lease myself and drag my mother out
Of the wreck"
The crash of the colliding trains
was heard for great distance up and
down the tracks. Physicians were
summoned to the scene from all the
surrounding country
The Emperor Of Corea signed the