The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-07-15
as entirely stripped when

The engine was entirely stripped when
ii stopped.
Fire started from the gas lights in
the sleepers imm ediateIy. Many
victims, pinioned down by heavy tim
bers and iron that had been torn
from the engine, pleaded for death or
deliverance from the flames. Mem
bers of the fire departments of West
ern Springs and LaGrange were on
the scene within a few minutes and
put out the fire.
Ghouls are believed to have robbed
the dead before they reached the
morgue in LAGRANGE More than a
dozen large diamond sets were miss
ing from jewelry and although most
OF the dead appeared to have been
persons in comfortable circumstances,
dime was the largest sum of money
found on any of the bodies
An official of the interstate COM
merce commission was on the scene
early gathering material for an in
VeStigation.
Coroner Hoffman ordered all bodies
embalmed Immediately and early in
the afternoon impaneled a jury to in
vestigate the wreck
One story of how the wreck oc-
Cured differed from that of Mrs Will
cox 1t was that No. 2, having been
blocked by a signal, had sent back a
brakeman to set torpedoes to warn
No. s.
No. was coming down grade
when the crash came. Persons re-
does said that No. had been given
a signal that the track was clear and
that the crew either had failed to
hear the torpedoes or had believed
they had a clear track.
Conductor Frank Hughes of Hins-
dale, Ill, was one of the first in
jured taken out.
He was held down by debris in one
end of the second Pullman coach.
Il wish I had gone with them,'' he
told his rescuers. But never mind
me; get those other people out"
One of the most pathetic features
of the wreck was the death of Mrs.
Pohlmann and the severe injury of
her husband. They had been married
only eight months.
Mrs. Wilcox hid herself from visit
ors throughout the greatest part of
the day. She said:
after thinking the whole affair
over, I have decided that I was not in
any way to blame for the accident.
1 know that the blocks were set
against the train. 1t was not I 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 I heard No. 4, train in no
way connected with the wreck, pass.
Then, in a few minutes No. 2 thun-
dered by. I thought something was
wrong and 1 began to try to think of
something to do to stop the trains
from running the boards. But before
1 could get my wits together No. s
had sped by. The crash followed"
A statement by P. S. Eustis. pas
senger traffic manager of the Chica go,
& Quincy railroad. sub
Mrs. Wilcox's assertion that
she was not to blame and also corrob-
crates the story that torpedoes were
set by the brakeman of No. 2. The
statement does not fix the blame. 1t
in part:
''It was a foggy morning and while
the block signals were properly ham
died by the operator, the accident was
due to the fact that the engineer of
train No. ran the signal for stop
at Western Springs and stopped his
train about $50 east thereof. The
next block to the west being thus
cleared, train No. followed and thesl
engineer of this train likewise ran by |
the signal 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 |
minutes between the two trains pass
ng the block signal tower.
preliminary Investigations indi- |
cate that had the flagman on train |
No. properly protected his train No.
would have been stopped, but a |
more thorough investigation may
show that the fault lies entirely with I
he engineer of No. 8, who was killed |
n the wreck. It was extremely foggy
1t the time of the accident and it
vas difficult to see signals until
light upon them"