The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1908-05-01
Two Large Interurban Trolley
Cars Collide Head.On.
SEVERAL SEVERELY INJURED
Fatal Wreck Occurs Near YpsiIantI,
Mich, as a Result Of a Mistake
in Orders to Motormen.

Detroit, April 29.-Two large inter
urban trolley cars on the Detroit,
jackson and Chicago railway, a part
of the Detroit United Railways sys-
tenn, running from Detroit to Jackson,
collided head-on while running about
forty-tive miles an hour twenty-five
miles west of here, near Ipsilanti.
Nine men were killed and about thirty
men and women injured, some of them
seriously. All of the severely injured
were taken to the university hospital
at Ann Arbor. A mistake in orders
on the part of Motorman lisa Fay OF
the limited car. who was crushed to
death beneath his vestibule, is alleged
to have caused the collision. 1t is
charged that he overran his orders.
His home was at Jackson, Mich. The
dead are: ..-..
Motorman lisa Fay, Jackson; John
Paget, Detroit; Charles Carmen, De-
troit; George Howard, Detroit; Jack
MoMullen, tailor. Syracuse, N. y;
Garborino Gronni, Detroit; three I'M
identified men. so.
Four of the injured are in critical
condition in the hospital here. They
are: t~ -. sS-si
Mrs. L. H. Chamberlain, Detroit;
w. s. Stever, Detroit; Roy Williams,
Ann Arbor; an Italian workman.
Among the less seriously injured
are Edward Dewitt, Grand Forks, N.
D., and C. W. Reeve, Vanwert, 0.
Car Filled With People.
The limited car, comfortably filled
with about forty people, left Ypsllantl
for Detroit The running time of the
oar was changed and reduced, so that
Motorman Fay left Ypsilanti 10 min
utes earlier than he had been accus-
toned to. This is thought by some
to have been responsible for his mis-
take. Instead of stopping at Harris
Switch, about two miles west of the
scene of the accident, where, 1t is
said by the officials Of the; road, the
cars should have passed, the limited
rushed by the crossing point at high;
speed. AS it rounded a curve four
miles east of Ypsilanti the LOCAL car.
flashed into view, also running at
high speed 1t was hopeless effort
to trip and stop the heavy cars, and
they crashed together with terrific
impact. Motorman Wingrave of the
local car jumped when he saw that
the collision was inevitahle,s but Mo-
torman Fay stuck to. his vestibule.
The local car was built considerably
higher than the limited, so that as
they met, its body rode up over the
heavy flooring and iron work of the
limited and telescoped it for nearly
thirty feet. Despite the terrific force
of the collision, the wrecked limited
stayed on the rails, while the local
car crashed into its forward end for
half the length.
There were screams of fright from
the limited's passengers as they saw
the local car loom before them and
they we're silenced in the crash. Sur
vivors say that there was a moment
of deathlike stiffness following the
collision and then the uninjured and
slightly wounded passengers crawled
from the wreck, and after few
dazed moments began the work of res
cuing those who were pinned down
under the local car
. Hardly a passenger escaped injuries
of some sort. Bruises and cuts from
broken glass were general among
those who had fortunately escaped
more serious wounds. A relief car
was sent to the scene from Ypsilanti
and carried the severely injured to
the hospital at Ann Arbor.