Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-09-26
Merry Makers Returning
From Wedding in Country
Near Neenah, Wis, are
Slaughtered.
BILLBOARD ALONG
TRACK RESPONSIBLE
Cut Off View of Approach
ing Train and Wagon Was
Cut in Two as it Was Driv-
en- Across the Tracks.


day while county officials investi-
gated the killing Of thirteen members
of a hayrack party that was run over
by fast passenger train of the Chi
cago & Northwestern railroad yester-
day. The accident. 1t is said. is due
to large bill board which obstructed
the view of the driver of the team and
the engineer. !.
The eighteen survivors. eight OF
whom were unhurt and three of whom
may die Of injuries, say the accident
could have been avoided but for the
sign board. Nearly all OF the thirty -one
young people on the hayrack were en-
ployed in a wooden ware factory. They
had attended wedding anniversary
at the home of Peter Hanson.
Hanson, Who was driving the wagon,
escaped with slight injury, as did his
team. He said he heard the train, but
that the sound seemed to be DETECTED
by the bill board, so that the unseen
train rumbled as though it were half
mile away. The bill board stood be
tween the railroad and the highway
which crossed at a sharp angle.
The engineer Of the train, which
was running fifty miles an hour, said
after he helped remove six of the dead
persons from the pilot OF the locdm0s
tive. that he did not see the wagon
because Of the bill board.
eaby's Miraculous Escape.
An unusual incident OF the accident
was the way in which the baby OF Mrs.
Joseph Brezinski was saved from in
Jury.
Mrs. Brezinski, holding the child,
sat with her husband near the front
Of the hayrack. A few feet towards the
rear Of the wagon, sat Miss Mary
Swartzbaurer.
After the train cut the wagon in
two, the Brezinskis found themselves
sitting on the ground, slightly shaken
up. The baby was not there. The par
ents ran about in the dim light Of
the morning In frantic search of the
child. Fifty feet from the track, they
found the baby unharmed IN the arms
OF Miss Schwartzbaurer, who was un-
conscious, but not otherwise injured.
The collision occurred at $40
o'clock Sunday morning on the Chi
cago & Northwestern railway at the
Commercial street crossing here
Train No 121, north bound, whirled
through the wagon load of people at a
forty-five degree angle. This peculiar
ity was owing to the fact that the high
way crossing is diagonal.
Was Behind Schedule.
The train, it is said by the passen-
gers, was nearly half an hour behind
schedule. The fact that the engine
stopped on the second corner from the
intersection where the collision occur
red, q distance of more than 800 feet,
is the evidence that the speed was at
least sixty miles an hour. 1t is said,
however, that the fact the rails were
slippery from rain may serve to modi-
fy this estimate.
Practically every person on the wag-
on was an employe of the Menasha
Wooden Ware Co.. and all were invited
to the Hanson farm to attend the we'd
ding anniy orsary Of one Of their fel-
low employees. Mr.. Hanson had con-
veyed the merrymakers to his farm in
the early evening and was taking them
back home, the round trip being COM
pleted except for mile drive when
the collision occurred. On the outgo-
ing trip the hayrack contained forty
persons, but the rig was uncomfort-
ably crowded and on the return trip
an additional wagon was obtained.
Eight Of the party occupied the second
vehicle, which followed about mile
behind.
The Dead:
DOMNICKO KOMNACHINSKI, John;
died soon after reaching hospital.
DRILL, JAS, 16 years cid, Chicago:
hurled over barn.
FINN, GUsTAvE. Oshkosh ;bcdy
found on engine pilot.
FINN, MRS. GUSTAVE; Oshkosh;
body hurried through walls of house.
FOX, STEPHEN; body found on en-
gine pilot.
HARDT, JOHN; died on way to hos.
pital.
RENTZ, CELIA; hurled through
walls of house.
sHEDGCK, JOHN.
sHEDGCK, JOSEPH; died on way
to hospital.
sIEGERT, FRANK; body found on
engine pilot.
soCoLsKY, ANNA; body found on
engine pilot.
soCLosKY. JOSEPH: body found
On engine pilot.
: ZAHATCHSKY, AGNES; body
found on engine pilot.