Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-01-05
THREE loWANs KILLED AND SEW
ERAL INJURED IN ROCK
ISLAND WRECK
OTTUMWA MAN is HURT
W. y. Neil, South Side Real Estate
Dealer, sustains spraired Leg
Operator Lyons at voIland, Kan. is
Blamed.

William j. Neil of this city was in
Jured In the Rock Island wreck near
Alma. Kansas, yesterday. Mr.. Neil
was referred to in the dispatches as
w. j. Nest. According TO the tele-
graphic reports Mr.. Neil's injuries are
not serious, a sprained ankle being
the worst feature.
Mr.. Neil, who is we'll known South
Side real estate man, left Ottumwa
Tuesday afternoon on the RocR
Island en- route to Billings, Okla,
where The is interested in bank. He
is brother of Mrs. Frank Baker and
Miss Elizabeth Neil of Keb, and of
Mrs. James McCune, who resides near
the Ogg school house southeast Of the
city.
No word has been received from
Mr.. Neil by his relatives as vet.
List of Victims.
A partial list of the idenIiiel dead
follows:
JULIUS BERMEIsTER, Davenport,
Iowa, aged 3S.
: WILLIAM T. MILLER of Soldier
City, Kas.. an Iowa soldier on fur
Tough.
ALBERT LINK, 1899 Pine street,
Topeka, Kas.
FRANK SAVER, New London, Mo-,
passenger.
AZ MEXICAN LABORERS.
w. H. OSGOOD, Marshalltown, Ia.
Among the Iowans injured are:
Anna Vintand, Stockton, Iowa; in
ternal injuries.
Enid Myers, Davenport, Iowa; head
and body bruised.
Gus Boadantier, Davenport, Iowa;
right arm broken.
W. P. Bell. Davenport, Iowa; finger
broken.
James Beatty. Atkins. Iowa; head
CUT
Topeka, Jan. 3.-It is still impossible
to say exactly how many persons per-
1shed In the Rock Island train wreck
yesterday as number Of bodies of
Mexisans were completely destroyed
by the burning of the smoking car.
The conductor says there were sew
-snty-six Mexicans on the train 1t is
feared forty.four Of these were killed,
together with four passengers, all men,
and q negro porter, making the total
Of dead forty-nine.
!. Y taGft$tfe1 S0TouSTo Inquest.
The coroner's inquest will be held at
Alma today. when John Lyons, the boy
telegraph operator, who is blamed for
the collision, will testify. So far as is
known, all women on the train escaped
death and none was seriously injured.
The officials of the company place
the blame on John Lyons, the operator
at Volland, who failed to stop train
No. 20 at his station, after receiving
orders to hold it there until train No.
80 HAD passed. Lyons is being held by
the authorities of Waubansee county
at Alma for investigation.
Lyons fed before the wreck &C.
Cured after first forecasting the col
lision. Five minutes before the trains
met ne called up the dispatcher and
wired him as follows:
No. 20 has gone and I have gone
ALSO"
Then Lyons left his key. He was
later arrested.
lowan Tells Tale.
A charred body, supposed to be that
of a woman, has been taken from the
wreck. Various pieces Of jewelry,
blackened by the flames, were found,
together with few long hairs stick
ing to the charred bones. 1t is believed
all were rescued alive from the chair
cars. but some of the passengers on
train No. 20 declared a woman and
little girl three years old were burned
in chair car. IF. M. Sigourney, from
Iowa. one Of the homeseekers, said:
Il saw that woman and her baby in
that car. Flames were all around her
and she seemed pinned down and could
not get out, and none of us was able
to reach her. Half a dozen men tried
to fight their way into the car but
could not get through the flames, and
we had to stand there and see the
woman and her baby burn to DEATH"
iowan Is Missing.
1t is not known to a certainty that
Julius Bermeister of Davenport. Ia, is
dead, but there is practically no chance
that he is alive. He was one of a party
Of eight homeseekers from Davenport
II