The Oskaloosa herald., 1912-07-18

| One of the most tragic features o
the wreck was the death of Mrs
Pohlmann and the severe injury O
her husband. 1t is said that they hat
been married only few days.
In little room above a business
house in La Grange, Mrs. Wilcox hit
herself from visitors throughout the
greater part of the day. The shades
were drawn and she was trying tc
collect her thoughts. Finally she
said:
After thinking the whole affail
over have decided that was not In
any way to blame for the accident.
know that blocks were set against
the train. 1t was not that erred
Three trains instead of two passed
the signals in violation of all rules
although it may have been that the
engineers did not see the boards.
First / heard No. 4, a train in nc
way connected with the wreck, pass
Then, in a few minutes No. 2 thun.
dered by. I thought something was
wrong, and I began to try to think
of something to do to stop the trains
from running the board. But before
/ could get my wits together No. 8
had sped by. The crash followed"
A statement issued by P. S. Eustis,
passenger traffic manager Of the Chi
cago, Burlington & Quincy railroad,
last night substantiated Mrs. Will
cox's assertion that she was not to
blame and also corroborates the story
that torpedoes were set by the brake
man of No. 2. The statement does
not fix the blame. 1t follows in part:
1T was a very foggy morning and,
while the block signals were properly
handled by the operator, the accident
was due to the fact that the engineer
of train No. 2 ran the signal for stop
at Western Springs and stopped his
train about $50 feet east thereof. The
next block TO the west being cleared,
train No. 8 followed and the engineer
of this train, likewise, ran by the sig
nal at Western Springs, which was
set for stop, and struck the rear of
No. 2, which was standing still, there
being an interval of about nine min
utes between the two trains passing
the block signal tower.
preliminary investigation indicates
that had the f1agman on train No. 2
properly protected his train No. 8
would have been stopped, but a more
thorough investigation may show that
the fault lies entirely with the engin.
eer of No. s, who was killed in the
wreck. However, it was extremely
foggy at the time of the accident and
1t was, therefore, difficult to see sig
nails of any kind until right upon
them"
Engineer Heard Signals.
H. o. Grain of Galesburg, fireman
on No. 8, escaped with slight injuries.
At a local hospital he was able to tell
a story OF the wreck and of how En-
gineer Brownson went to his death
trying vainly to save his passengers,
While we were travelling about
seventy miles an hour, Brownson and
heard some torpedoes exploded" he
said. Il saw a fiagman on the track,
about $50 feet from his train ahead.
"'Crain,' said Brownson, there's a
train ahead and she's covered with
fog. ! am afraid I can't stop in time
to save us, but am going TO try
He did everything in his power to
save the passengers and ourselves.
He put his hand on the throttle and
looked straight ahead. When l de-
cided to jump, turned and looked at
him and, like the good engineer that
he was, he was sitting at the throttle,
fighting for the lives of his passen-
gers, but going to certain death.
81 went clear of the engine and
landed in a field. My breath left me
for a few moments. When | looked
up the cars were burning.
But for the torpedoes, we thought
we had clear track ahead. They
came too late to do any good"
All of the dead were taken to La
Grange and laid on slabs in a barn
Throughout the day hundreds of per
sons called in an effort to identity
the bodies.
Romance is Ruined.
With the Identification Of one oil
the woman victims as Miss Lillian
Kelly, 22 years old, of Boise, Idaho
was brought to light shattered TO
nance.
She was said to have been engaged
to be married to B. F. Klinger OF
South Bend, Ind, who Identified the
body. Miss Kelly formerly lived in
South Bend and recently moved to
Idaho with her parents.
Edward Swanson, 38 years old, was
arrested when he was seen to take
a gold-headed umbrella from the
wreck. He was taken to the village
hall at Western Springs, but later es
capped by picking the lock.
The police are searching for sew
eral men who are said to have robbed
the victims of jewelry and money
It is believed that more than forty
persons were injured in the wreck
A number suffered slight cuts and
bruises and were given medical
treatment for their injuries and hur
ried to Chicago on suburban trains