The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-11-11
One Train Plnnges Through
Rear Coaches of Another.
Seven Known Dead and Many
Injured the Result.
In MIDST OF SWAMP.
Great DIFF Guilty in Reaching
Scene cf the Wreck.
Fire Followed the Crash and
Was Put Out by Passengers.

New Orleans. La, Nov. 11.-Seven
persons are known to be dead and a
score or more injured as a result of a
wreck this morning on the New Or
leans & Northwestern railway at Little
Woods. IL miles from New Orleans. Be
tween SlideIl and New Orleans, the
tracks of the New Orleans & Eastern
are used by the Great Northern and Il
was suburban train of this road from
Covington that crashed into the rear
of a local Northeastern train from
Hattiesburg, Miss, telescoping the four
rear coaches.
A partial list of the dead follows:
The Dead.
c. E. ROOS, tracker, 40 years of age;
Alton, La
WILLIAM MARTIN, so years of age,
home in SHden, in coal business in New
Orleans.
GEORGE EDLESSON, 40; Sliden.
c. B. LOWRY, Chicago, drummer for
American Creosote works.
- GETAWAY, little child; Slidell.
The Injured.
Fritz Salmen, Iumberman.
A. Quick, aged SO, Hattiesburg; Sc
verely bruised.
Milton Spitzfaden, AIgiers, La; badly
bruised.
Little Woods. a fishing and hunting
camp on Lake Pontchartrain, is so sur
rounded by swamp that the only access
to the scene is by way of the railway.
1t was some time before the news of
the catastrophe reached the city, but
soon as it was learned, a relief train
was made up and rushed to Little
Woods.
When the rescue party reached Lit
tie Woods the scene was one of terror,
deSOlatiOn and death. The wreck had
caught fire and the first efforts of the
passengers and loungers about the
camp had been directed toward sub
DUNG the flames. In this they had
been partially successful, but little
succor had been given to the badly in
jured, and several of these died while
lying about in the smouIdering debris.
Rude bandages had been bound about
their wounds in an effort to stop the
flow of blood and in many instances
the later examination of the surgeons
showed that more than one. life had
been saved in this manner.
Women Act as Surgeons.
None worked harder than the wo-
men passengers in this crude surgery.
Tearing up underskirts, they hastily
bathed the wounds of the injured and
swathed them in bandages that STOP
ped the flow of blood. It was the men
who tore the cushions from the seats
of the wrecked coaches. but it was
the women who tenderly laid out the
injured upon them and gave their at
tention to nursing until the relief
trian arrived. Such was the state of
affairs that was found when the first
train arrived from New Orleans with
surgeons, nurses and medical stores.
Only one physician was among the
passengers of the trains, DR.. Henry
Tartleton of Covington, La, who work
ed heroically in administering to the
most seriously injured and commend
ed the efforts of others in making the
wounded as comfortable as possible
under the circumstances.
In New Orleans conflicting reports
became current about an hour after
the wreck occurred This was followed
by extra editions of the afternoon pa
pers, announcing that many were
killed and injured. Some of those who
reached the wreck assigned them
selves to the task of compiling a list
of the dead and injured, but in some
instances the bodies could not be iden-
titled.