The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1907-07-26
PERE MARQUETT's
AWFUL WRECK
THiRTY-ONE KILLED AND ONE
HUNDRED CRUELTY
MANGlED.
DETAILS ARE CHASTITY
Excursonsts From lonia Are the Vic
Tins of the Catastrophe and That
City is Stunned BY 1t.
The Scene of Death.

The Scene of Death.
Rushing down the steep grade four
miles west of Plymouth shortly after
o'clock Saturday morning, a special
Pere Marquette passenger train, con-
sisting of ten coaches and a baggage
car, filled with employees of the road
from Ionia, and friends, crashed into
westbound local freight, piling the
trains up in a hopeless mass.
The wreck snuffed out the lives OF
81 persons and seriously injured about
100 others. Six coaches and a bag
gage car were smashed to splinters.
The accident occurred in what is
known as VanSickle cut, the road
making a sharp curve between high
embellishments that block the view in
either direction. The passenger train,
in charge of Conductor e. j. Pixley,
and carrying 500 employees of the Pere
| Marquette and their families on their
annual excursion to Detroit, left Sa-
lem at 9:10 and was due In Plymouth
ten minutes later, according to the
statement of railroad officials.
A local freight, running so as to
avoid the special, which was given the
right of way over everything but first
class passenger trains, pulled out of
Plymouth just about g. Stories as
to how the mix-up In orders occurred
differ. Engineer W. l. Rogers and
Fireman Robert Fitch, both of Ply
mouth, state that the special was for
/ gotten. This is in a measure borne
out by the fact that the freight was
not travelling rapidly at the time of the
collision.
ON the other hand, II is asserted
that Conductor William Hamilton, in
charge of the freight, admitted know
ing that his train was running off
schedule, but believed there was suf-
ficient time to reach Salem, letting
the special pass there.
Where the trains met there is a cut
some twenty feet deep. Never was a
more thorough job done in the way
OF demolishing rolling stock, and the
wonder is that any of those in the six
coaches shattered some of them TO
nnrecognizable masses of debris, man
aged 10 escape instant death.
The Wreck
Penned in like rats In a trap, with
out a chance TO save themselves, the
occupants Of the coaches were thrown
hither and thither In the twinkling
of an eye the trainload of happy ex-
cursionists were converted into a hor-
rible morgue. The deafening roar as
the two engines came together, the
crashing of splintering timbers, the
! hiss of steam, contributed to make a
scene of indescribable horror Pande-
monium reigned Above the crash
there came the groans of the dying,
mingling with the shrieks of the in
! jured IL was all over in a second
/ Those on the trains were unable to
! describe the sensation. There was a
sharp blast OF the whistle a grating
as the airbrakes were applied and
| then came the crash.
The Dead.
William Colt. John Tofel, Ed. Gal
! lagher, Jas. Wizard, Albert Trautweir,
Henry Reynolds, Charles McCauley,
w. ]. Cornell, Frank Douse, VIM.
Evans, Mrs. Richter, Ed. Durling, Chas.
Hess, Herman Hess. Daniel Hess,
Frank Latham, Mrs Eddie, Ben Dur-
! ing, f. Jones, Harry Williams, L. K
Merrill. Don Rogers, Fred Fitzgerald,
man named Smith, Chas. Broad AL
bert Hurbert, z. ]. Pixley, Ed. Cowan,
Harlie A. Knowles, Willard Stager,
! hdnodS SlNS, MI, ShdS. rShlOh,
Grand Ledge.
The Injured.
OF the hundred people injured there
are some who will not recover, others
will be cripples for life, some disfig-
ured and others will go through life
practically nervous wrecks. Fifty
nine of the victims Of the wreck are
cared for in Ionia and there are forty
one in the hospitals of Detroit.
The Blame.
The railroad officials blame the
crew of the freight train for the cal
amity The wounded engineer, Rog-
ers, is now technically in the custody
of a deputy sheriff under orders of
the Wayne county coroner. The prose
cutting attorney was unable to see the
engineer. Conductor Hamilton in a
measure is considered responsible.
Rogers says he lost his orders and
forgot the special. II is claimed that
the freight left Plymouth in defiance
OF the orders.
Bitter Feeling In lonia.
Citizens OF Ionia who tried to reach
the wreck TO give such aid as they
might are very bitter and claim they
were unnecessarily delayed. 1t is
claimed that some whose relatives
were killed were held at South Lyon
till the train with the dead had pass
ed. The city is stunned by the awful