The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1907-01-03
APPALLING WRECK
NEAR WASHINGTON
Not Since the Ford Theater Dis
aster Has the Capital City
Received Such Shock.
DISASTER DUE TO FOG
Special Carrying Railroad Equipments
Crashes Into Regular Train From
Frederick, Md, With More Than
200 Passengers Aboard.

Washington, d. c., Jan. IAN ap-
palling disaster, resulting in the death,
as far as can be learned at midnight,
Of thirty-eight persons and the injury
Of about fifty more, soccurred at about
6:2O o'clock on the Baltimore and
Ohio railroad Sunday evening at Terra
Gotta, a suburb of Washington.
Frederick City, Md, local train No,
&c, on the point of starting from the
station, was run into by q train made
UP of eight passenger coaches bound
from the west for washington.
1t Is said that the engineer of the
empty train had failed to see the red
signal, indicating that another train
was in the block, and had plunged
ahead on the mission of death.
Disaster Due to Fog.
Nothing since the Ford theater dis
aster, which occurred about fifteen
years ago, when a large number of
government clerks We're killed by the
collapse Of a portion Of the building,
has produced such a shock as this dis
aster. No railroad accident within a
great many years in the District of
Columbia has approached 1t in magni-
tude.
A dense fog and a drizzling rain pre-
vailed during the day and night, and
the inability of the engineer Of the rear
train to see the signal is attributed to
this. The grade at the place where
the tragedy occurred Is downward and
the track was slippery.
Carried Many c~hurchsoers.
The Frederick train, which is run
on Sundays, is largely for the accom-
mediation of those who have gone in
to the suburbs on Sunday and for the
benefit Of ch%urchgoers who desire to at
tend services in Washington at night.
Presumably a number of the latter
were on the train. The train is sched-
uled to reach Terra Gotta about 6:15
o'clock and was about on time when
the rash came.
At first, owing to the impenetrable
fog, it was impossible to determine the
extent of the damage, n early re-
ports placed the number Killed higher
than those which proved later to be
accurate. When the news reached
Washington people began to go to
Terra Gotta, and many who had rcla-
tives killed n injured remained at
the scene of the wreck until the spe-
cial train conveyed the dead and in
jured to the city.
Taken to Washington Hospitals.
An earlier train thai had beer dig
patched t. Terra Gotta brought the In,
JuIGu, WllOSC WOuIluS Idu USell Hastily
dressed, and they were sent to the va
rous hospitals. Three died on the way
to the city and one death occurred III
one of the hospitals.
The engine OF the rear train is said
to be one of the largest inc latest
types of passenger engines used on the
road. The fact of its size probably
| saved it from total destruction, the
principal damage being confined to The
front of the engine.
Eneinemen Are Arrested.
Because Engineer Hildebrandt is said
to have been a substitute, lie
n his fireman were arrested. No for.
NAL charge has been placed against
them pending an investigation.
The wrecked train was composed o.
an engine, a smoking car and two day
coaches. The two rear coaches were
reduced to kindling wood and the real
of the smoker was telescoped.
So great was the impact that the
: local train was scattered along Tx
track for a considerable distance. Tra1
fic was delayed by the accident n II
was after midnight before the bodies o.
the dead could be brought to the city
Search in Sorrow for Friends.
AS soon as possible the bodies wert
covered and laid aside to await tn,
coming Of the train sent from the CITY
-t manly patllSliS GIN "e1S CIldClGt
as relatives searched amid the fog anc
darkness for the bodies of their lovet
ones, whom they feared were in tn,
wreck.
From the appearance of the bodie,
1t Is believed that nearly all the vic.
TINS were killed outright or died with,
in a few mute after the accident.
OF the dead bodies, some wer,
buried beneath debris. with the resul
that they We're with diff
ticulty.
Fortunately the w~reckage did no
take fire.
Three Miles Out of City,
Terra Gotta is a station about thre
miles distant from the city boundaries
The nearest point from which aid O
any kind could be summoned wa
I Brookland, a small surban town
mile from the scene of the wheck, tn
main communication with Terra Colt.
being by walking along the track or b,
q round about country road which. be
cause of the recent rains, was in
bad condition.