Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1907-07-23
AWFUL SCENES ENACTED
Mon, Women and Children
Crushed in the Splint-
cred Coaches. Few Es-
Gaping Injury.
Terrible Ending to a Happy Days
Outing by the Employees Of Pere
Marquette Road.

Salem, Mich, July 22-Twenty-
nine excursionists were killed and
100 more injured, many of them ia.
tally, Saturday morning when a Pere
Marquette excursion train of II
coaches from Ionia, carrying nearly
1000 employees of the Pere Marquette
shops there, and their families, was
run into by local freight train at
Washburn Crossing, about two miles
east of here.
Long List of Dead.
The dead, all of whom are from
lonia: VIII Dot, 1onia; John Patter-
son. Charles Macaloni, AL Hebert,
Martin Kilduff, Mrs. Abraham Eddy,
Herman Naff, N. ]. Cornell, John Rog-
ers. Willie Grams. boy; John Tafel,
Mrs. August Richter, Ned Gallagher,
Lee Alvord, Conductor F.. E. Bixley,
Fireman Knowles, Den Rogers, Fred
erick Latham, Frank Smith, Conduc-
otf q. r. Pixley, Charles Hess and
his two sons. Charles McCauley, ST.;
L. K. Merrill, Albert Trautwine,
James Wizard, Harry Reynolds, Ho-
mer Smith. Fred Fitzgerald, William
Steiger, Kansas City, who was work
Ing in Ionia, bred Vaughan, South
Bend, Ind
Coaches TeIescoped.
Three of the coaches were tele-
scoped by the terrific impact of the
heavy freight train. and the fourth
and fifth coaches were smashed into
natchwood. Although there were
probably $50 children among the ex-
cursionists 1t is a strange fact that
few Of them were severely hurt. Near
~ all of the dead and the injured are
men. Passengers on the wrecked
train say that the passenger was run
ming about 40 miles an hour when the
trains met.
Wreck Occurs in Cut.
The banks alongside the track at
the crossing where the collision oc-
Cured are ten feet high, and the
space between them for several hun
bred feet is literally filled with wreck
age. The railroad wreckers are max
Ing all the speed that is possible in
clearing 1t, but even with the assist
ance Of steam cranes at each end, it
will be IL hours before it can definite
~ be stated whether all the bodies
are out. The passenger engine was
completely wrecked and its crew
killed. but in some miraculous manner
the engineer and fireman of the
freight engine escaped with their
lives.
A majority Of the killed were men,
who were seated in the smoking car.
Farmer Saw Wreck.
The trains met in a cut which is
In tho arch Of four-mile long curve
In the track, and the banks run up
for ten feet above the rails at the
point OF collision. E. E. Smith, a farm
or living near the crossing, was at
work In his field, and saw the two
trains bearing down upon each other.
Both Of them dashed into the cut and
out Of his range of vision. Just the
tops Of the smoke stacks were WIS.,
ably as they rushed along under the
ten feet banks to destruction. He
saw the stacks come together and
then the two engines reared UP above
the banks and fell back as the roar
of the collision came to his ears.
shrieks Filled the Air.
Almost before he realized what had
happened the air was pierced with
screams of the wounded and dying
people, staggering out from the
wrecked cars. Mr.. Smith with dozens
OF other farmers in the neighborhood,
rushed to their assistance. Many of
the farmers brought bedding and
bandages for the injured and as the
hours wore on, sent to their homes
for food for the suffering people. The
scene about the wreck as the wreck
ers delved among the shattered cars
was pitiful. Men, women and children
weeping and moaning wandered about
searching for missing friends and rela-
t,ves.
Scores Injured.
In addition to the rs to 100 people
who were severely injured, there are
scores more who were cut and bruised
by being thrown about in the unin.
5ured cars when the trains collided.
Nearly every person in the first half
dozen coaches needed some medical
attention. The most severely hurt
were first looked after by the sur
geons. Their wounds were hastily
dressed, and hemorrhages stopped,
after which they were carried to the
wrecking train from Detroit and laid
on cots to be brought to Detroit hog
pitfalls for further treatment.
Probing Banks Condition.
dallatin, Tenn, July 19.-The doors
OF the Peoples National bank are
closed pending an investigation Of
the condition Of the bank. Some r..