The Oskaloosa herald., 1907-07-25
VICTIMS NUMBER
TH|RTY-THREE NOW
BANNER HIGGINS DIES IN DE.
TRoIT HOSPITAL TODAY.
DAY OF MOURNING In IoNIA.
One Out Of Every Fifty Of Towns In.
habitants Either Killed or In
lured - Business is
Suspended.

Detroit, Mica, July 22.-Ban1ei
Higgins, aged rs, died her today
making the thirty-tnird death due L
the Pere- Marquette wreck. An ever
one hundred were injured, forty Of
whom are being cared for in this city
and sixty at Ionia Many can no
| live.
Sunday was a day of grief AM
mourning in Ionia, which is located
1870 miles west of Detroit. Mayo.
John N. Bible says he estimates thai
one in every fifty of the city's inhab
italts was either killed or injured.
All of last night members of a cit
liens committee were at work visit
ing the homes of the dead and iljur
ed and arranging for medical atten
ton and assistance. All of the city.
normal activities have practically
been suspended and every one is de
voting attention to the wreck victims
A Most Pathetic Case.
One of the most pathetic cases of
suffering is the Hass family, which
lost its father and two sons. They
were the breadwinners, and a widow
and six children are left nearly desti-
tute by the death OF Charles, Herman
and Paul Hass.
Not until Sunday was the identity
of all the dead positively established,
and an accurate list made up. All but
five victims whose nalAes are on the
death roll lived in Ionia!
How the Disaster Occurred.
The passenger train, Of II cars, was
bringing the Pere Marquette shop EN-
ployes of Ionia and their families to
Detroit for their annual excursion. 1t
was running at high speed down a
grade when 1t met the freight train
head-on.
The locomotives were smashed and
behind them six cars of the passenger
train lay piled in a hopeless wreck.
Four of the passenger coaches re-
manned on the track unchanged and
were used to convey the dead and In
| jured to Ionia. One coach was I'M
damaged, with only its forward truck
off the rails. These were the rear five
cars The two coaches next ahead of
these were telescoped. One of these
was the smoker, where most of the
victims were riding.
Engine Crew Jumps; One Dies.
The freight train was moving slow
ly up the grade in the cut when the
excursion flyer bore down on 1t. l.. B.
Alvord, engineer of the passenger,
saw the crash was inevitable, and
after setting the air brake jumped,
with his fireman, Knowles. Alyord es-
capped serious injury, but Knowles
died of his hurts. E
After the first frenzy of terror sub
sided the uninjured passengers began
to give succor to those who were hurt
and remove the bodies of the dead,
which were seen on all sides, pinned
down in the debris.
Fear that the wreckage might take
fire lent speed to their efforts.
Freight Crew Blamed.
Responsibility is put scuarely onto
the crew of the freight train by Of
| fcials of the road. One of them, who
arrived at the scene of the wreck soon
after the accident, took from the crew
Of the freight the orders under which
1t was running. They clearly showed
the position of the passenger excur-
sion train and that the freight had en-
croached on the other trains running
| time.
The special train was due at Salem
at $40 a. m. and at Plymouth at $50
a. m. 1t passed Salem on time.
The time card of the special was
telegraphed to the freight crew in the
form of train order, and this order,
with the signatures of the freight
train crew attached. was recovered by
the officials.
The freight crew explained that they
forgot about the special"
A Second Marquette Wreck.
Zebewaing, Mich, July 22.--In tn,
| second wreck on the Pere Marquett,
railroad in "a hours, two trainm9i
were killed near here. An engine anC
one car were diIched by runainl
through derailing device. Albert ]
Kelley, conductor, and John O'Leary
engineer, both of Saginaw, were bur
| led under the coal from the over
| turned tender AMI suffocated.
| .s