The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-07-30


HADLEY r. ROSSITER. engineer
The Injured.
Mrs. Reginald Reaves, New York,
passenger: internal injuries.
G. A Haslet, Argentine, fireman;
suffering from burns and bruises.
b. w. Pickens, Arkansas City, mail
clerk: internal injuries, severe.
H. +. Artis, porter; finger broken.
- Krues. waiter; knee dislo-
Moore. waiter; hand
crushed
Santa Fe train No. 8 due out of To-
peka at 1O:40 a. m, was wrecked at
the east switch at Wakarusa at HOS
this morning while running al the rate
of 30 miles an hour.
1t is believed that defective switch
caused the engine to leave the rails.
Hadley Rossiter. the engineer, staid
in the cab and applied the air brakes
and thus saved the train from much
more serious wreck, but the act cost
the brave engineer his life. When drag
ged from the cab after the wreck every
bone in Rosster's body was broken and
he was badly mangled.
Fireman c.. A. Haslet also staid in
the cab, but escaped without serious
injury except a severe scalding from
escaping steam. Haslett dragged the
dead engineer from the wrecked en-
gine.
The engine left the rails and turned
over in the ditch to the left of the
track. The baggage car was dragged
after the engine and turned half way
across the track. The buffet car was
derailed and torn from its trucks in
the shock of the wreck. The day coacil-
was also derailed, but was not badly
wrecked
At the point of the derailment there
was a ditch on both sides of the
tracks. 4Sf
The passengers in the chair car and
the Pullmans were badly shaken up
by the force of the derailment and the
sudden stopping of the train.
Mrs. Reginald Reaves of New York
city. en- route to Los Angeles. was bad
ly bruised and became unconscious
from the shock of the wreck. When
brought into Topeka at 2 o'clock this
afternoon Mrs. Reaves was only partly
conscious. but a hasty examination by
a physician shows that she was not
badly hurt, beyond the shock to her
nervous system. She was standing in
the aisle of a sleeper when the shock
came.
The only other person badly injured
was one of the mail clerks in the bag
gage car. B. w. Pickens of Arkansas
City. who suffered twisted knee and
several bad bruises.
The relief train from the scene OF
the wreck reached Topeka at 2:10 this
nd at ha
by the ambulance from the Santa Fe
hospital and the death wagon from an
undertaking establishment.
: The passengers piled off the train
Nas soon as it stopped at the depot
platform. Many of them had been bad
ly shaken up by the shock of the de-
railment and were still in nervous
but thankful state of mind over theil
narrow escape from disastrous wreck
The engineer evidently saw danger
ahead on the track or something wrong
with the switch. for he applied the all
before the train left the rails. Thi:
was the unanimous statement of the
passengers.
Said one man, en- route from Chi
cago to Los Angeles: Il felt the
shock of the air brakes a second OF
tNO OclOTc the train le1L the rails. ThS
engine went into the ditch and turned
over. The baggage car was jamned
head first into the ground clear across
the ditch and one end of the car re-
mained on the roadbed in such fashion
that 1t lay across the track The buff
fet car suffered the worst. II was torn
off its trucks and partly demolished.
was In this car, and it is a miracle
that many of it's OCCUPANTS were not
killed or badly injured.
I'VE were thrown all over the car
and 1 believe that one of the walters
and a porter were slightly injured ]
was bruised a litte, but not enough tc
amount to anything.
"The woman in the rear Pullman
who was hur' was not standing up
She was thJown from her seat and
badly bruises, but We did not think she
was seriouly injured. She is an old
lady, and uttered a severe shock.
''I saw the fireman drag the dead
engineerfrom his cab. It seemed that
every bne in his body was broken.
1.-THE firman was scalded about the
face ad neck. but he was the gamest
man lever saw. He refused all as
sistane and helped in the work
aroud the wreck"
It's the firm belief of the passen-
gersthat the nerve of H. r. Rossiter.
thedead engineer. who set the air
brkes, saved the train from a terrible
week and great loss of life and in