Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-03-22
Double Train DitChed in Iowa. Cars
Te|escoped--- Men, Women and Chill
dren Ground to Pieces Some
Of the Injured Will Die.

| Marshalltown. Iowa, March 21.-
Forty-five persons We're killed and 40
We're injured, many of them fatally. in
a wreck Az miles north of Green
Mountain Ia. today, of a Chicago,
Rock Island and Pacific passenger
train.
! MarshalltoWn, Iowa. March 2l.-
More than 40 persons We're killed and
almost as many more were injured to-
day in the wreck at Green Mountain
two Rock Island trains running over
the Chicago. Great Western tracks
from Marshalltown 70 Waterloo. Sev
eral of the injured may die.
A number of the dead are SO horri
bly, mangled that identification may
never he possible. Every surgeon in
Marshalltown, Green Mountain and
Gladbrook is doing everything posi-
BILE in emergency hospitals in Marsh
alltoWn to relieve the suffering o: in
jured.
Around the various undertaking
shops the citizens throns with tear
stained faces, each anxious To get
some details of those who are within.
little freight wreck on the Rock
Island last night at Shellburg was the
indirect cause of the Green Mountain
disaster The Rock Island lire was
blocked and it became necessary to de
tour over the Great Western tracks.
Two trains sent from Cedar RAPIDS 10
Marshalltown were coupled together
and the two locomotives placed in
front of them Both locomotives were
running backwards.
The combined train consisted Of II
cars. A Pullman was next To the loco
motives. Then came a smoking car and
dav coach. In the latter were many
women and children. The doubled train
was going about % miles an hour
when it reached cut five miles from
Green Mountain at the ton Of a hill. In
this cut the tender OF the front loco
motive Jumped the track. This threw
the head locomotive into the sides OF
the narrow cut. The clay of the sides
wai soft and the engine went INTO II
and stopped almost instantly. TIE sud-
den atoppage dtched the second loco
motive and the momentum OF the
heavy train crushed the day coach ana
tho smoking car against the heavier
| Pullman. The smoking car and day
coach were telescoped and hardly an
| occupant of either car ESCAPED death
or injury.
While the last 10 cars remained on
the track. the shock threw the pas
| sengers sprawling from their seats.
| Conductor William Worst dispatched
trainmen back to flag a following train.
Other trainmen were hurried to Glad
| Mountain for n9lO,
Uniniured passengers began removing
the dead and injured The dead were
taken to an adjoining pasture and lald
on the grass. A relief train from Mar
shalltown carrying surgeons and Coro-
ner Jay arrived two hours after the
crash BY that time the victims were
| laid out in gruesome rows. The sight
that met the eyes of the surgeons was
horrible The dead were crushed ana
| mutilated, in many cases beyond
recognition. Heads We're severed from
bodies. arms and legs were cut Off.
Here lay bleeding trunk; there a
head with the agony of death still on
| the countenance.
! A second rescue train relieved the
first which brought a load of injured
| to Marshalltown. Coroner Jay was
Fastening in Red Cross ambulance
| to the hospital when he was thrown
to the pavement as the ambulance
rounded a corner and rendered uncon-
scious. 1t is believed his back is brok
en- and he cannot live. The hospital
| in Marshalltown was soon filled. The
other buildings were pressed into SER
vice.
| The removal of the bodies showed
| that nearly all the dead We're in the
day coach and the smoking car. 1t Is
believed only two Of the dead were in
the Pullman.
| SO complete was the destruction Of
| the smoking car that not single mp
right was standing The floor alone
| remained as mute witness of the
| frightful impact of the car ahead. The
| day coach likewise was torn almost 10
| splinters. The baggage car which was
behind the day coach, was damned in
the front, but not torn to pieces.
Before. dark the bodies Of all the vic
tins We're removed. either to 81. Thorn
as hospital or to morgues. Tonight the
scene of the wreck presented still an
| uncanny sight. The Pickering torches
| OF the wrecking crews seemed to be re-
| 1eSteO III the cTiIilstli StledihS tHdt
| dyed the ground on either side of the
| track. BY morning. it is expected that
the track will be cleared and train
service may be renewed. The body of
| Prof l.. W. Parrish of Cedar Falls
teacher in economies at the State
| Teachers College, was one of the first
to be taker. from the wreck Mortally
wounded, he was rushed to the hospital,
but he died in the ambulance
DR.. j. W. Devroy of Chicago and
DR.. Durham of Sioux Falls. were ply
sicians on the train. Although injured
| themselves, they turned their atten-
ton to the injured and worked faith
fully.
l. P. Clark, conductor on the Pull