Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-22
Traction Trains in Collision at a
Small Town Near Fort
Wayne, Indiana
ORDERS ARE misunderstood
Conductor, Badly Injured, Stag
gers Along Track and Stops
an Approaching Motor
Associated Pregs1

FORT WAYNE, Ind, Sept. 21.--
Forty-two persons were killed and
seven seriously injured in a head-on
collision between two traction cars
on the Fort Wayne-Bluffton division of
the Fort Wayne & Wabash Valley
line today.
The wreck occurred a mile and a
half north of Kingsland, which is
seven miles north of Bluffton, at a
sharp curve. The cars in collision
were a north-bound local, crowded to
the steps, which left Bluffton at 11:15
a. M, and a south-bound extra car
from Fort Wayne. They met while
both were running at high speed. The
dead:
w. E. Bowman, Bluffton; A. e.
Hyde. Pennville; S. E. Stuckey, Vera
Cruz; William S. Beers, Bluffton;
Lloyd Brown, Bluffton; L. C. Justus,
Bluffton, general manager of Bluffton,
Geneva & Celina Traction company;
s. H. Robinson, N. d. Cooh, Ernest
Grouse, Ralph Walzer, w. D. Burgan,
Oscar Zimmer, Miss Pearl Saylor, John
w. Tribolet, Mrs. Garrett Maxwell.
Garrett, Ind; Thomas Gordon, Harold
Nelson, a son of Lloyd Brown; Mrs.
Hiram Folk, Mary Daugherty, ]. E.
Swartz, Joseph Sawyer, all of Bluffton;
Silas Thomas, f. B. Tamm, Frank
King, Mrs. Frank King, all of War
rem, Ind; r. +. Folk, Washington,
Ind; Jacob Swartz, Uniondale;
Blanche Archbold, Ossian; Charles Re-
Der, Uniondale; John Johnson, Markle;
Jesse Hoffman, Marion; DIR. S. e.
Thompson, Ann Arbor, Mich; Mrs.
Myrtle Harley, daughter of Mrs. Folk,
Bluffton; Daniel de Bach, Petroleum,
Ind; John Smith and Mrs. John Smith,
Montpelier; piano polisher, Bluffton;
John Reed, battery e, Fifth artillery.
New York; Joseph Edins, Hartford
City, Ind; George Gemthurst, Warren,
and Ben Cramer, Frankfort.
ORDERS ARE MISUNDERSTOOD
The collision is presumed to have
been caused by misunderstanding of
orders in regard to the south-bound
extra car taking switch near Kings
land to let the north-bound car pass.
The motormen of the two cars had
no time to set the brakes when they
sighted each other. The heavily loaded
northbound car was crushed and the
bodies of the dead and injured were
strewn on either side of the track amid
the Wreckage. The screams of the in
iured men and women following the
crash of the cars brought neighboring
farmers to the scene.
Conductor Spiller Of the southbound
car, though severely hurt, ran back
toward Kingsland and tagged car
from Indianapolis, which was ap-
preaching the wreck at full speed, and
which otherwise would have plunged
into the wreck, adding to the list of
the killed and injured.
Wrecking cars and physicians were
rushed from Fort Wayne and Bluffton
and the bodies of the dead and in
jured were conveyed to hospitals in
the two cities.
Among the more seriously injured is
Robert Sadler of Los Angeles, right
leg broken.
COLLISION OCCURS IN FIELD
The northbound car was in charge of
Motorman c. Van Dine and Conductor
e. A. Spiller; the southbound car in
charge of Benjamin Corkwell and Con-
ductor Daniel Wilson.
The spot where the cars came to-
gethor was in the midst of a field,
Like a giant missile the southbound
car plowed it's way into the traffic
packed coach coming in the opposite
direction 1t cut off seats an inch
above the floor and packed into mass
the whole interior of the car-seats,
overhead baskets, lighting fixtures.
luggage and the bodies of two-score
passengers.
Word was flashed by telephone to
Bluffton and special ear was loaded
with all the physicians available and
rushed to the scene.
A heroic act that will stand out in
the annals of the wreck was that per-
formed by Conductor Spiller of the
northbound car. Though injured se-
verely he staggered down the track
and tagged a limited train only d
short distance away.