The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1911-10-20

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| speed Engineer Crawford, It is said.
had no orders I'm regard TO No. lO5
| but he whistled and slackened speed.
When the passenger did not answer
he concluded that it was train on
| the adjoining Burlington tracks.
When within a few car lengths of
| each other both crews realized the
| danger and reversed their engines.
| The momentum of the passenger, how
ever, was so great that in a moment it
] was piled high upon the freight en-.
CINE, which had almost stopped. The
crews of both engines jumped and
were not seriously injured.
The impact derailed both engines
| and telescoped the mail cars onto the
passenger coach, in which about forty
| people were riding.
Shrieks aud groans mingled with
the hiss of steam and the cracking
of the cars brought the passengers in
| the Pullman rushing to the front of
| the train. They found the coach a
mass of wreckage at the forward end.
Dead and dying were caught In every
position from the top of the car down.
| The interior of the coach was liter
| ally splintered.
RoWtmann Holds Their Bodies.
| DR.. John Tolliver of Los Angeles, a
| passenger in the Pullman, was among
those who rushed to the front. He
worked heroically to assist the injur-
ed. The first man he found was
Rowtmann, who, blind from blood, lay
| grasping for his wife and child, evil
IDENTIFY not realizing anything other
! than the loss of his family.
| ooh, God" he moaned why did you
not take me with them? | don't want
to live without my wife and baby"
The train crew and uninjured pas
sengers formed themselves into a
band that worked under the direction
of DR.. Tolliver.
| AS soon as the extent of the wreck
was realized by the army officials, a
| call was sent to Omaha and South
Omaha for medical assistance. Drs.
| A. II. Koenig, f. l.. Delehanty and F..
o. Beck Immediately responded, to-
| gether with three nurses from an
Omaha hospital
Train Crews Stories.
| Maj. Dale and Lieut.. Clark of the
army medical corps turned the post
operating room over to the civilian
doctors, who at once began to perform
such emergency operations as was
needful.
1t was said at the Missouri Pacific
station in South Omaha that while
Conductor Gross had signed OFF, for
orders, he had either failed to check
the register for No. 105 or had for.
gotten to transmit the order to his
engineer.
Rowtman Baby Opens Eyes.
| While engaged in the rescue of the
wounded Conductor Traverse came
upon an infant few months old. The
baby seemed dead, and the conductor
placed it in the care of DR. TolliVer
who was working in the coach. DR.
Tolliver, in examination, passed his
hand over the body of the child, when
with a smile the infant awoke and
began to COO. The baby is said to be
of the Rowtman family. 1t was
given in charge of a nurse in the hos
pital.
1t was announced at the wreck that
Division Superintendent J. r. Russ
would at once institute searching in
vestigation into the cause of the
| wreck. Traffic, which was blocked
for several hours, was opened up late
last evening after the wrecking crews
of the Missouri and Union Pacific rail
roads had labored all afternoon.
A special relief train from Omaha
arrived with corps of railroad sur
geons. These, together with another
band of nurses, rendered all possible
assistance.
John Scott engineer of the passen
ger, declared that he heard no whistle
from the freight. He said he was not
going over twenty-five or thirty miles
an hour. Guy Wilson, his fireman
was stocking when the freight appeared
in sight, and did not see or hear any
thing until Engineer Scott warned
him. Both then reversed the engine
and applied the air brakes, after which
they jumped
Engineer Crawford, of the freight
train, wandered about the wreck, pale
and unnerved. With tears in his voice
he repeated over and over his story
of the collision. He blamed Gross, his
conductor, for the wreck He said
that, not having any orders concern
ing the oncoming passenger train, he
concluded it was a Burlington train
on the ut her tracks