Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1907-05-16
A Train Carrying 145 Shriners
and Their Friends Struck
a Defective Switch.
WAS MAKING TERRIFIC SPEED
Dining Car Fell Directly on the De-
molisaed Locomotive and Was
Smashed to Kindling Wood.

Nearly Every One In the Dining Car
Was Instantly kiIled-Scores Scald-
ed by Steam From Disconnected
Pipes-Mrs. John w. Cutler of Bine-
hamton Was Killed In the Baggage
Car Where She Was Rearrangine
Contents of Her Trunk-Mrs. Grun-
mond Was With Her but Was Saved
Under an Arch of Trunks - Party
From Reading, Pa, Bore the 6runt
of the Disaster.
Santa Barbara. May IS. - Twenty
nine dead and a score injured COM
prise the casualties due to the wreck
at Honda Saturday of the Ismailia spe-
cial train of New York and Pennsyl-
who were returning home from the an
nual meeting of the Imperial council of
the Mobiles of the Mystic Shrine at
Los Angeles.
The train carrying 145 Shriners and
friends from Ismailia temple, Buffalo,
Rajah temple, Reading, Pa, and
neighboring cities, was running north
at so miles an hour on the Southern
Pacific Coast line when the locomo-
tive struck a defective switch at the
sand swept siding at Honda near the
Pacific ocean, along which the railroad
runs for a 100 miles north of Santa
Barbara.
Coaches Crushed and Burnt.
The locomotive turned a somersault
into the sands The cars landed on
the wrecked locomotive and the
coaches were crushed and took fire.
The flames were soon extinguished by
uninjured persons from the two rear
coaches
AS Honda is isolated, it was not till
late Sunday that definite information
of the wreck could be obtained. The
bodies of % victims are now at Santa
Barbara and four more are at San Luis
Obispo The injured, many of whom
are terribly hurt and some of whom
may die, are in two sanitariums at San
Luis Obispo.
The wreck occurred at :35 O'Clock,
an hour and 40 minutes after the con.
clave's visitors, forming a merry party,
left Santa Barbara. They had spent
all the morning there sightseeing.
That the train was making terrific
speed when it struck the defective
track is borne out by the fact that it
covered the 61 miles of crooked track
from Santa Barbara to Honda in 100
minutes. The locomotive in leaving
the rails tore up the track, badly twist
ing the steel rails. The baggage car
half buried itself in the sand beside
the locomotive. 1t was smashed al
most to kindling wood.
All In Dining Car Killed.
The dining car, in which were 80
persons eating luncheon, bounded into
the air and fell directly on the de-
molished locomotive. Nearly every
person in the dining car was immed-
ately killed. Scores were scalded by
steam escaping from disconnected
pipes.
The rear coaches were hurled into
the wreckage, killing or injuring those
who might otherwise have escaped.
Several persons pinioned in the de-
bris were roasted alive.
Engineer Frank Champlain was
pitched with the cab 25 feet beyond the
engine. He got up and ran mile,
seeking help before he discovered that
his arm was broken and that he was
severely scalded
Only two of the nine men compos-
ing the dining car crew are dead. The
remainder, though cooped UP in the
narrow kitchen and pantry suffered
only cuts and bruises. The last call
for luncheon had been called but
few minutes before the disaster.
Rajah temple of Reading, Pa, had
the last car on the train and it's mem
bers were the last ones to go forward
to the dining car. Thus the car was
filled almost entirely with Reading
people when the wreck occurred.
An instant later after the disaster
those who were not incapacitated
jumped from the train to render aid,
but they we're unable to do much be.
side extinguish the fire, and they had
to wait long hours before relief ar
rived.
Frightened women, peering through
the windows of the undamaged sleep
ing cars, tainted when they saw the
bodies of their friends strewn along
the roadside, blood from the wounds
staining the sand drifts all about.
Men who toiled hard at the task of
rescue collapsed
Mrs. John w. Cutler of Binghamton.
n. Y, was in the baggage car at the
time of the accident, rearranging the
contents OF her trunk. Her body was