The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1907-07-26
TWO TRAINMEN
BURN To death
ENGINE AND CARS COLLIDE ON
BRIDGE WITH NO CHANCE
FOR ESCAPE.
Engineer Searfoss and Fireman Par
ker are imprisoned in the Wreck
and are Slowly Cooked to Death
by Escaping Steam.

Minneapolis. July 24.-Trapped in
wreck high in the air on the Belt Line
bridge, crushed by a flying locomotive
tender which made them prisoners
in a burning engine cab, Sylvester L.
Searfoss and Alfred Parker, engineer
and fireman on a Minneapolis & West
ern switching train, were instantly
killed early today in a collision at the
east end of the bridge.
The train backed into a string or
runaway cars that had rolled on the
bridge, the conclusion hurting the ten
der from its trucks into the engine cab
and jamming a carload of oil up on the
trucks of the tender. The crashing or
the oil barrels threw the infiammable
LIQUID over the engine and into the hre-
box, where it ignited, and in an instant
the flames enveloped the wrecked pile.
Parker was that moment stocking the
engine, and the crash came while the
firebox door was ajar. Both he and
Searfoss were hurled against the hot
boiler head and held there by the ten
der They were undoubtedly killed by
the force that threw their bodies
against the boiler head, but the tender
bent the cab forward and blocked the
exit so that there would have been no
chance of escape from the flames had
the men survived the first shock. The
engine remained on the bridge, hum
dred feet above the road and resi-
dences on the East Side flats, and ap-
proach was so difficult that the bodies
remained in the cab for five hours.
Contrasted with the awful death Of
the two men was the mysterious escape
of F. B. Dawley, a switchman, who was
in the door of the engine cab The
horror of the situation affected hts
mind for a time. and he has no reeo,-
lection whatever of the manner In
which he left the cab.
The wreck occurred at $50 a. M, as
the night shift was finishing it's work.
Occupants of the houses under the
bridge were just arising, and hearing
the crashing of the cars and wrench
ing of the rails, they fled from theft
houses in terror Looking up, they saw
indistinctly the great engine, the ten
der and the oil car lettering on the
edge of the bridge. Destruction threat
ened their homes and the lives of their
neighbors, and some of them fastened
to get their most valuable belongings
out of the houses. Those who had not
arisen were warned by neighbors, and
in a few minutes the houses were va
cant.
A Milwaukee switch train had, a few
minutes before the wreck, passed over
the same track, hauling train of about
forty cars to the university transfer,
to deliver them to the Great Northern
road. The train had broken in the
middle, leaving twenty cars behind
These backed down the grade and six
of them were on the bridge. The Mil
waukee train crew took the remainder
of the train to the transfer, intending
to deliver the cars and return with
the engine for the others. Before they
could do this the ether train had left
the Minneapolis & Western yards. the
engine backing and pulling train of
twenty cars loaded with wheat
Philip Grady, who was in charge OF
the Minneapolis & Western train, said
he telephoned to Bert Gaudette in the
signal station at the university switch
and received word that the track was
clear. Accordingly his train RULED out
at the usual speed.
The tender blocked the view and as
Parker was busy firing and Searfoss
was engaged with the locomotive
mechanism, they found no time to
crawl up and look back. They had
every reason to believe the track was
clear and they were running on orders,
according to officials of the road. Daw-
ley was standing in the cab and the
other switchmen We're sitting on top
of the cars at the rear of the train
None of them noticed the cars that
blocked the tracks.
By the time the engine reached the
east end of the bridge the train had
attained good speed The tender rammed
the nearest car, which was loaded with
oil. The trainmen on the cars were
thrown on their backs and barely es-
capped falling from the cars to the
housetops far below.
Dawley, the switchman in the cab.
did something at that moment but can
not now remember what he did. In
some way he got across the grade
distance Of twelve feet from the en-
CINE and separated from the bridge as
by a chasm 100 feet deep. He may
have leaped to the footboard crawlei
from there over the top Of the burning
car, but he doesn't know