The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-08-25
Passenger Train Stops to Repair
Defective Brake.
Another PlOws Half Way
Through the Rear Sleeper.
FIRE FOLLOWS WRECK
Occupants OF Car Are Crushed,
Burned or Scalded.
Report of Warming Torpedo Was
Heard Too Late.

Durand, Mich, Aug. 25.=Probably
eight persons were killed and eight
injured, three probably fatally, when
Grand Trunk train No. crashed into
the rear of train No. IA, stalled on the
track two miles east of Durand late
last night.
Only one body has been positively
identified, that of Mrs. Alma Wood
ward of Montreal, an invalid, who was
travelling with a nurse and her son,
Clifton A. Davis. One of the other
that of the nurse, Miss Swinger, of
Bellfield, n. D.
Dr. Fair of Durand, surgeon of the
railway company, asserts that the
charred bones so far recovered should
represent six persons. 1t is believed
that the charred bodies are those of
TOUR women, one child and one man
The engine of No. ploughed it's
way three-quarters of the length of
the sleeping car, Nebraska" the last
car in train No. IA, catching 1S per-
sons asleep. The fire box of the COL
liding engine then dropped out and
the coach in a few minutes was bIaz-
Ing from end to end.
AS the flames ate their way through
the splintered timbers the cries of
the injured ceased and the flames de-
TERED the passengers of the undam-
aged cars and the farmers who hur-
ried from their homes to assist in the
work of rescue.
The two trains were sections of the
Montreal and BAston express and left
Chicago yesterday afternoon. No. IA
passed through Durand at 1902 d. m.
and No. at 1926. The air brakes of
engine No. IA went wrong and two
miles out of this city Engineer Mitchell
stopped the train and with his fire.
711u rot i
to make repairs.
Warning Not Needed.
Brakeman G. r. Graham of De-
tro1t was sent back to place a torpedo
on the track and flag the expected
second section, but No. came rushing
on at speed of 40 miles an hour and
ripped its way through the Pullman
car. The shock of the collision sent
the whole standing train little for
ward and the engineer and fireman
underneath the stalled engine were
badly hurt.
Brakeman Graham declares that he
placed the torpedo a mile from the
rear of No. 1 4. but that No. paid no
attention to it. Engineer Spencer's
story is different. s.s
1--WE were almost upon No. IA when
We struck the torpedo he says. 81
heard it all right, but there was no
time to stop. / jammed on the brakes
and called to Nelson, my fireman, to
jump L made leap and landed in
the ditch. Nelson did not get away
fast enough and was caught. Both my
ankles were crushed and 1 could not
move.
'1The tail lights of No. IA were not
burning and the torpedo was placed so
close to the train that 1 did not have
time to STOP
The crew of No. IA, except the en-
gine crew. are said to have been. hired
during the recent strike and retained
after the settlement.
Engineer Spencer of train No. 4,
when interview at Durand today, said :
''I only recall hearing one torpedo ex-
plode, then I saw the white light
streaming out of the rear door of the
Pullman. 1 knew what was going to
happen and jumped
G. r. Graham. rear brakeman of
No. IA, said that he carried red Ian
tern when he went back to place tor
pedoes on the track and tried to wave
No. down. but failed to get a re-
sponse until after the torpedo went off.