Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1909-06-21
TEN ARE KILLED
IN A COLLISION
Interurban Road Running Out of
Chicago is Scene of Chastity
Wreck.
M0T0RMAN is RESPONSIBLE
Manager of Road Declares He Dis
obeyed His Orders.
HE is IN LIST OF THE DEAD
Terrific Impact of Cars Reduces Them
to Kindling Wood.
FORTY PERSONS ARE INJURED
Failure of Man In ChSrge of Train
to wait where Directed IL Given
As Cause OF Terrible Affair
List of Dead and Hurt.
Manager of Road Declares He Dis
obeyed His Orders.

SOUTH BEND, Ind, June 2O.--Ten per-
sons were killed and forty injured i'm
wreck on the Chicago, Lake Shore & South
Bend railroad in Porter county Indiana
last night. two of the big electric cars
collding head-on. According TO General
Manager H. u. Wallace. the wreck was
due to dsobedience Of orders by Motor
man George A. Reed, of the eastbound
car, who was killed.
Reed received instructions at Gary is
wait at Wilson, a short distance west OF
Baieytown, the point where the disaster
occurred, for westbound car to pass
The impact Of the cars was so great that
they were reduced to a mass Of wreckage.
List of the Dead.
Dead:
GEORGE A. REED. motorman. Michl-
gan City, Ind, formerly of Villa Grove. Ill.
RAY +. MERRIMAN, married, South
Bend.
EDWARD GILBERTSON. Porter Ind.
A. BARBER, Mishawaka, Ind
+. II. MOORE, residence unknown.
WILLIAM LEON, secretary of the Dow
agiac Motor works. Dowagiac, Mich.
f. A. LAKE, president Dowaglac Motor
works, Dowagiac Mich
H. II. HUTSON Niles Mich.
CHARLES S. WANTsON, Porter Ind.
Those who Were Injured.
The injured were mostly from South
Bend and nearby Indiana towns. The most
seriously hurt are:
Delbert F. Kinney, Michigan City, Ind,
conductor eastbound car; right arm and
three ribs broken, right leg cut.
r. Lyle Kelly, South Bend; head cut and
body bruised.
F. f, Brothers. South Bend; leg broken
Mayer Roderick, South Bend severely
Cordius Kline South Bend; cut on legs,
face and head.
Mrs Guy Stutzman. Mishawaka, Ind.
hole cut in back of head and face cut by
glass
c. A. Slmons, Benton Harbor, Mich;
both legs broken.
Miss Nan Larsen, Chesterton, Ind, In
ternal iniuriea may die
r. w. Louie. Mishawaka, Ind; badly cut
all over body.
Paul Wilson, Michigan City, formerly of
Cleveland Ohio. assistant to General SUI
perntendent Wallace and South Shore
railroad; leg broken, head cut and inter-
nal injuries; not expected to. live.
Miss Name Robertson, Sidney, o.; cut
on head and nose broken.
Going at Fearful Rate.
The eastbound car. running as train No
50, it is stated, was going at the rate of
lllNS llllto an nOuIs 10 make UP lOSt time.
When the crash occurred the eastbound
car was telescoped and almost entirely
wrecked. In this train were all of the
killed and most OF the injured, passengers
on train No. 5S, westbound, escaping with
slight bruises and scratches.
The scene of the wreck Immediately after
the crash was described by eye witnesses
as being sickenlng in the extreme. The two
cars were welded together into a mass OF
debris, in which lay the ten dead and dy-
ing and two score injured. The cries and
appeals for help were horrlfying and caused
a scene of utter confusion for many min
utes. Soon, however, the cool-headed
among the passengers brought order out of
chaos, and while some arranged TO convert
home near by into temporary hospital
and morgue, others turned their attention
to rescuing the dead ana injured.
Darkness greatly interfered with the
progress of the rescuers and, to make mat
ters worse, the nearest telephone was three
quarters of a mile away. Thus, II was inn
possible to procure speedy aid from Mich
igan City. W. H. Parry OF Gary, Ind,
formerly of South Bend, was among the
first to realize the extent of the catastro-
phe. The arm of a man lay near him in
the sand bringing him to a realization OF
the fact that cool n dedness and quick ac-
tion were necessary.
All but one OF the killed were in the
smoking compartment of the car in the
front end. This space, originally used as a
baggage and freight room, was fitted up
for the use of the smokers and was
crowded. Titus r. Kinzie a real estate
dealer, and Cordius Kline, both Of South
Bend, left the smoker less than a minute
before the crash came and escaped with
their lives, although Kline suffered severe
injuries.
Work of Relief Brigade.
Superintendent Welsh of the Interurban
line was in Michigan City when the acc-
dent occurred, When he learned of the coll
lsion he also discovered that II would be
impossible TO run electric cars to the
scene because the trolley wires had been
broken. Three physicians were sent in a
gasoline traction speeder, and three more
dispatched as soon as possible In an auto
mobile When the physicians reached the
scene of the accident they found scores Of
farmers and villagers ehdeavoring to care
for the wounded and to extricate the dead
and dying. They were working under diff
ficulties, the only light being furnished BY
a few lanterns procured from nearby farm
houses All around the wreck lay the in
jured, covered with blankets and COM
forters brought from the nearest homes.
Many Of the wounded were so pinioned I'm
the wreckage that II was necessary TO use
axes to rescue them.
Officials Of the Lake Shore railroad no.
titled the westbOund train 10 take doctors
and nurses at Laporte and South Bend
and put them off at Dune Park. Similar
instructions were given the crew Of the
eastbound train, which brought assistance
from Whiting and Indiana Harbor. The
New York and Boston fast express of the
Lake Shore, which left Chicago at 1880
o'clock, stopped at Dune Park, arriving
al 1880 q "a took aboard the wounded,
who were carried 10 South Bend and La
porte and placed in hospitals.
One OF the heroes OF tho wreck was c.