The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-06-21

enter into a compact in favor of the
train.
In the first place, only the two pri-
vate cars of the officials and the Pull
man cars left the track. Pullman and
private cars are constructed with
steel frames and are able to stand al
most any kind of shock With the
train running at a high rate OF speed
it is hard to tell what would have
happened had the chair cars and
coaches left the rails and d1tched
down the embankment-
In the second place, nearly all OF
the occupants of the Pullman cars
were eating in the dining car at the
time of the accident Had these sleep
ers been filed with passengers the list
of injuries and injured would have
been greater. AS 1t was, the Pullmans
were scarcely occupied
Cause Is Unknown.
Officials of the Rock Island in To-
peka who were in the wreck and who
were on the scene Of the wreck I'M
mediately after the accident are IN
able to give a cause The condltlon
of the track cannot be determined on
account of the fact that the wrecked
cars tore up the rails and ties for some
distance before they leaped into the
ditch.
One theory seems to meet with SER
ious consideration. Occupants of the
dining car state that just before the &C
cident they felt a bump and lurch
of the car. 1t is supposed from this
sign that some part of the dining car
broke loose and wrecked the cars that
followed.
Omcials take little stock in the
''sun kink'' theory. It is claimed that
it was not hot enough for this
Officers Thrown in a Heap.
At the time of the accident Vice
President Melcher and the other Off
GERS were eating dinner in the private
A he 70 HI q
General Manager Sweet, Mr.. Me1cher,
superintendent Rourke. the prisdent' s
secretary and Mr.. Melcher's two lit
tie daughters
When the crash came Mr.. Melcher
was sitting facing the front of the
train. He saw the front end of the
, car rise in the air but too late to give
warning. The car 1eaped into the air
and fell on its side in the ditch.
In one corner were the two little
Girls and the secretary. The girls were
in a heap beneath the chairs. dishes
and table. The officials were thrown
into the other corner of the room With
| legs and arms tangled. General Man
his head and Mr.. Rourke was lying
over the corner of chair.
Vice President Melcher was the first
to recover from the shock. Grabbing
J the typewriter which had tumbled
down near the heap he threw it
| through the glass door above them.
Just then some one from the out
side yelled:
1.-The cars are on fire."
Crawling down the hallway of the
car with the other officials after him
Vice President Melcher came to the
state room occupied by Mrs. Melcher.
Breaking the glass windows above
they crawled in and found her beneath
the bed with the mattress and bed
! clothes on top of her. Mrs. Melcher
was holding the mattress above her
head to keep from smothering, when
rescued.
Then they crawled out of the car
to safety.
But there was no danger of fire
Nothing had caught fire and the 10
connective was ahead of the ditched
cars.
Two of the cars were lying at an
giles from the track down the ten foot
embankment and the other two were
near the edge of the right of way be-
tween two telegraph poles It will oe
| two or three days before they can be
picked up and sent to the shops foI
! repairs.