Milford chronicle., 1907-05-17
SHRINERS Die
IN TRAIN WRECK
Thirty-one Killed in Disaster in
Lower California
SEVENTEEN FROM READING, PA.

at Honda of the Ismaelia special train
Of New York and Pennsylvania Mobiles
OF the Mystic Shrine, who were return.
ing home from the annual meeting of
the Imperial Council of the Ancient
Arabic Order Of the Mobiles OF the
Mystic Shrine at Los Angeles.
The train, carrying las Shriners and
friends from Ismaelia Temple, Buffalo;
Ra1ah Temple, Reading, Pa, and
neighboring cities, was rushing north
ward so miles an hour on the South
ern Pacific coast line when the
locomotive struck a defective switch
at the sand-swept seacoast siding of |
Honda, near the waters of the Pacific |
ocean, along which the railroad runs |
for 100 miles north of Santa Barbara |
The locomotive turned a sOmersault |
into the yielding sands. The cars
swirled through the air and landed on
the fiery mass of wrecked steel. The
coaches were crushed to debris and
took fire. The flames were soon ex-
tinguished by uninjured persons from
the two rear coaches. The bodies of
26 victims now lie in Santa Barbara,
and five more are at San Luis ObispO
The injured, many of whom are terri
bly, hurt, and some of whom may die,
are in two sanitariums at San Luis
Obispo.
The Dead.
Following is the list of the dead at
Santa Barbara:
J. Douglass Nipple, potentate Rajah
Temple; H. X. Gittelman, A. L. Roth, /
@ ] O..
Snyder, George Hagenman, w. Benton s
Stoltz, Harrison Hendel, Mrs. William l
w. Essick, Miss Nora Stoltz. Mr.. and q
Mrs. Thomas Brumbach, Mrs E. Kah t
Ter, Richard Essick. Oliver F. Kauf S
man and Henry Miller, all of Reading o
Pa. II
Mr.. and Mrs. L. N. Ellengoben, AL e
lentOwn, Pa. u
Mr.. and Mrs. John w. Cutler Bing b
hamton, N. Y. W
Mrs. Henry J. Fisher and Miss Cora
Young, Cleveland. n
Howard Meyer. Hazleton. Pa. ci
A. D. Wasson, Buffalo. h
Charles S. Henry, Lebanon, Pa.
Charles NJ. Lowing, Pullman conduc. m
tor, Buffalo II
c. W. Austin, New York, tourist B
agent OF
The Injured.
Among the injured at San Luis
Obispo are:
Former Mayor Howard A. Hartzell,
Easton, Pa. not serious. y
Mrs. Hendel and daughter Helen,
Reading, Pa, not serious.
]. Calvin Hoffeditz, Reading. Pa M
left leg fractured, scalp wound. kl
Martin Henry, ShamOkin, Pa, IN
scalded. ed
William Boyd, Reading. Pa, seri- IN
ously scalded. sa
Mrs. Fred Greenwood, Binghamton, Iyl
Y. Y, leg broken. La
The wreck occurred an hour and 40 Hi
minutes after the conclave visitors, he
orming a merry party, had left Santa ne
Barbara, where they had spent all the his
morning sightseeing. The locomotive in Sol
eaving the rails tore up the track, att
visiting the huge steel rails into fish ma
looks. The baggage car half bruied to
tself in the sand on the right side of Sc
he locomotive. 1t was smashed almost he
nto kindling wood. hat
4
Ons eating luncheon leaped into the cur
ir and fell directly on the demol-
shed locomotive. Nearly every per-
on in the dining car was instantly Ne,
illed. Scores were scalded BY steam
scaping from disconnected pipes. The 2
ear coaches rushed on the first wreck Tor
&c, jamming it on those who might IN,
therwise have escaped. Several, pin or
)ned in the debris, were roasted mo
live. ra., una
A last call for luncheon had Just a.
londed only a few minutes before the dfe,
isaster. u-Ii -I
Rajah Temple, of Reading, Pa, oc- tLI- 49,
lpied the last car on the train. and 49, 49,.
ajah Shriners were the last ones to - 80.
, forward to the dining car. The al az
lr was thus filled almost entirely NV "
ith Reading people when the wreck n
.curred. Sev
An instant after the smash the in D'9r 81,
red jumped from the train to render ~
d. but they were unable to do much l-Ri' ~
sides extinguish the fire, and they -"
I'd to await long hours before relief a
rived
frightened women, peering through Cow
e windows of the undamaged sleep
g cars, tainted when they saw the Hi
dies Of their friends strewn along Stua
roadside. blood from the wounds 5000
inning the sand drifts all about. Men mair
10 toiled hard at the task or rescue SUM
lapsed. the /
hrs. John w. Cutler, Of Bingham itaril
l. N. y was In the baggage car at resel
time OF the crash to rearrange her TIL
NIX. Her body was driven through caste
floor and the wrecked car had to acts
lacked up before the body could be
eased.
ieorge Hagenman. of Reading, Pa, Ka
used the aid Of his brother mobiles Webs
sr they had dragged him, fatally from