The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-03
e Wreck on Rock ls-
 land. OPERATOR IS RESPONSIBLE Telegrapher is Only Nineteen Years
 of Age. . Allowed tnc. Train to Pass station and for Fi,. Minutes onciais Knew Disastrcus Wreck Was
 Inevitable.
OPERATOR IS RESPONSIBLE


 Topeka. Kas., Jan. 1.-Two white men. a negro train porter. and about thirty Mexican Iaborers lost their lives and ffty-five persons were intur- ed when two passenger trains on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Rail road collided head-on four miles west of Volland, Kas., this morning.
 The trains were No. 29 and 30, run hing between Chicago and Ell Paso. They met on sharp curve. Fire from the lamps in the cars and from the locomotive was communicated to the splintered wreckage and spread rap- idly, consuming five cars Of train No. 2s westbound, and burning several pas- sengers. All but three of those who perished are thought to have been Mexican laborers who were on their way from Columbus Junction, O., to Mexico.
 The officials of the company place the blame on John Lynes, a 19-year- old telegraph operator at Volland, who failed to stop train No. 2$ after re- ceiving orders to hold 1t. Lynes was arrested. By the light of the flaming wreckage passengers, who were unin- jured, worked heroical1y to save those who were pinned fast beneath the splintered timbers and twisted iron work. The lack of tools with which to chop away the sides of the cars was great hindrance.
 In an hour and half from the wreck the first relief train from Mo- Farland, Kas., bringing surgeons and helpers reached the scene. Another re- lief train was from Topeka and two wrecking trains soon arrived and all of the dead and injured that had been taken from the wreck were brought to this city, where the injured were placed in hospitals.
 Two injured Mexicans died on the way to Topeka, and Link. the negro porter. died at St. Ormont Hospital shortly after being taken there. It was necessary to tear his left leg from hts body to extricate him from the wreckage.
 Five minutes before the trains crashed together the operators for hun dreds of miles along the line of the Rock Island system knew that the col- lision was certain, as Lynes had wired from Volland that he had let No. 29 of preventing the disaster. At 8 o'clock tonight the company completed 2 track around the wreck and the line Is open again.
 2 Just before the collision Engineer Me Mahon and Fireman Brown of Number 30, and Engineer Slater and Fireman Sweeney of number 29, jumped. All
 
 Talked As He Burned.
 An interpreter of the Mexicans was questioned as he lay slowly burning to death under the wreckage. He said there were twenty-five Mexicans in their party going from Kansas City to El Paso to work. The most of these were burned to death. Soon after giv- ing this information, the interpreter himself succumoed to the flames One of the Pullmans on Number 29 was oc- cupied by q number of homeseekers en route for the Southwest in charge of l.. D. Higgins of Washington, Iowa. All of those escaped serious injuries. Few of the passengers on Number 80 were injured and no one was killed. Several, however, were badly burned in their heroic rescue work.
 The wreck occurred on a curve and in cut. No. 29 was running slow on account of the heavy grade and heavy train. No. 30 had just reached the top of the hill when the engineer saw the reflection of the headlight of the train ahead. He shut down and the passengers on his train said they were not running more than ten miles an hour when the crash came. No. 29 was not going more than fifteen miles an hour.
 All the dead except one were on train No. 29. As far as Is definitely known, only two Americans were killed, one tramp. riding the blind baggage of No. 30 and one man in the smoking car with the Mexicans. There were thir- ty-seven Mexicans in the car. All ex- cept seven were burned to death, the officials say. Seven were put on the re- lief train, and two died shortly after the train left Mcfarland.
 The injuries were caused more by the emergency brakes than by the wreck fEa1- A~
 The engineer of No. 29 set the brakes, and almost every passenger was thrown out of his seat or berth. Inn medfately came the collision.
 The Mexlcans were pinioned under the seats and the doors were damned so they could not get out, In the chair car also many passengers were held down by the seats. The train caught fire from the gas tanks.
 Gallant Rescue Work.
 The passengers in the rear car es- caped in their night clothes and dressed in the mud beside the tracks. Then came cries for help from the Mexicans and persons pinioned in the chair ear. Every man and nearly every woman on the train helped rescue the unfortu- mates. Seven Mexicans were rescued from the smoker and then the flames drove the rescuers back.
 The injured were removed from the chair cars with less difficulty and ap- parently all were rescued. However. some of the passengers declared that a woman and little girl were burned in the chair car. F. M. Sigourney. from Iowa, one of the homeseekers, said:
 T saw that woman and her babv. The flames were all around her but she seemed pinioned down and could not get out, and none of us was able to reach her. Half 9 dozen men tried to fight their way into the car, but could not get through the flames and We had to stand there and see the woman and her baby burned to death."
 John Lynes, the telegraph operator at Volland, who fled after letting No. 29 get by him, was arrested at Alma, ten miles away. There, after making a statemept before the Clerk of the District Court, he was placed in jail Lynes. who is but l9 years of age, said:
 T had been awake all night and was perfectly sober. About 4 or 5 o'clock this morning the dispatcher gave me four orders; one was for second 2s to