The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1910-09-19
OPERATOR BLAMED
FOR WRECK NEAR
CAIRO YESTERDAY
Four Train Men OF Mobile G
Ohio Are Killed Out.
right.
Man Arrested Offers Coroner
q Drink.
FREIGHT CARS ARE DEBRIS.

were killed and one injured in a
head-on collision. on the Mobile a.
Ohio railroad one-half mile south of
Beech Ridge Inside the Cairo drain
age district at 3fS0 o'clock Sunday
morning. The week was one of the
worst that has happened in this
VICINITY for many years. The fol-
lowing is the list of killed and in
jured:
The coroner's Jury adjourned I'M
III 3 o'clock this afternoon. when
more witnesses will be heard. One
witnesses this morning testified that
the operator was duly sober when
be left him that night. The indica-
tons are that the jury viii hold both
the operator and the railroad respon-
ssble for the disaster. The operator
for negligence and the railroad for
permitting such man to hold so re-
sponsible a position.
The Dead.
CLAUDE ROLLINS. engineer NJ.
q o.. home at Jackson. Tenn.
JOHN cRosNoE. fireman M. &
o., home at Jackson, Tenn.
WESLEY Il. STEVENSON, head
brakeman NJ. q b. home at Jack
son, Tenn.
An unknown nd bro stealing a ride
and supposed to hive gotten on train
at Union City. Tenn.
The Injured.
+. A. BURGDORF, engineer st.
l.. a. l. NJ, home at st. Louis.
The dead are ht the undertaking
establishment of Mrs. NJ. Z. Helth
and Engineer Burgdorf is at St
Mary's infirmary.
The cause OF the terrible disaster
is attributed TO Operator Charles Il.
Clark, of S215 Park avenue, Cairo.
who was sent 20 Beech Ridge to re-
lieve Operator Albright yesterday
morning. by all the evidence pro-
duced Clark was asleep and did not
place the signal for the south-bound
|. NJ. extra freight train to stop on
the siding to await the M. g. o..
freight.
Running Thirty Miles an Hour.
were both freight trains. One was
an NJ. & o. freight. First 1872, en-
gine No. 1921, north-bound. with 20.
ears. and the other train was an
extra l. NJ. freight with 10 cars,
south-bound. Both trains were run
ming at the rate of 25 to 30 miles
an hour when they met. They met
on a perfectly straight track. but
owing to a heavy cloud of fog that
hung close to the ground neither
engineer could see the other train
until within 100 feet of each other
and even then the headlights were
but sickly CLEANS of light, and the
trains came together with an awful
crash that practically wrecked both
locomotives and smashed three cars
on the Iron Mountain and FIVE cars
on the Mobile & Ohio, piling them
up in a tangled mass.
| Both Crews Jumped
| The crews on both locomotives
Jumper their engines. Engineer Burg
dorf. on the ]. NJ. train. put on the
brakes before he jumped, then leaped
out the cab window, alighting half
way down the embankment and sus-
itained two bad sprains and is at st.
Mary's infrmary. Fireman A. He'll
ger Jumped out of the cab window
but was not injured. Conductor
Buckner was in the cab of the en-
CINE riding there, as there was no
lcaboose on his train. having lost IL
land two cars at Thebes at IL o'clock
Saturday night in a rear-end COLI
lsion with train on the Chicago a.
Eastern Illinois. He jumped from
1.-THE cab. but sustained only a few
bruises.
Caught Under Debris.
on the NJ. & o. locomotive Engi-
neer Rollins, Fireman Crosnoe and
Brakeman stevenson all jumped
from the cab on sighting the ]. NJ.
headlight, and all were killed in
stantly. The impact of the collision
threw a car load of lumber upon
them. burying them. beneath its
weight The skulls of both of these
men were crushed, and in the case
of Engineer Rollins his body was
also badly bruised. The negro who
was killed was riding the tender OF
the NJ. & O. at the time. His head
was mashed The brakes on the M
G. O. had not been applied.
Great Pile of Wreckage.
Hundreds of people from Cairo
visited the scene of the wreck dur
ing the day. II presented a bad APP
nearance. Both locomotives were
lbadly damaged, the NJ. & o. engine
lheing almost a total wreck. The
continued on rage Four.)