The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1913-04-10
n. v. PASSENGER
TRAIN WRECKED
MORNING PASSENGER FROM THE
WEST GOES INTO DITCH ON
LAST SATURDAY
WRECK IS CAUSED BY BURR ON TRACK
No Lives Are Lost and Only Three Of
the Trainmen Sustain Injuries
Probably Work of Boys

Probably Work Of Boys
Last Saturday morning the passen-
ger from the west was wrecked about
ten miles west of here, at the horse
shoe curve" three miles west of Volga.
Just after the engine rounded the
point of the curve it left the rails and
after running on the ties for about
forty feet it left the road bed and
plunged down the embankment and
half buried itself in the ditch. The
tender crashed into the cab and the
cars piled up against it, but fortunate
ly did not roll down the ~embankment,
which was about twenty feet high at
that point. The baggage, mail and
smoking cars left the rails, but the
day coach and sleeper remained.
The injuries were few and nom of
them fatal. Engineer Mckay was
%pinioned in the cab by the tender and
was badly scalded by escaping steam,
but his injuries are not expected to
prove serious. Fireman Oviatt jumped
when the engine left the track and
was picked up unconscious, but soon
recovered and was found to be only
slightly bruised. VIM. Martin, the
baggageman, was badly bruised up,
but his injuries are not serious. The
passengers, especially those in the
smoking car, were considerably jolted
up, but lone were injured. The vesti
bules were damned together in the
car and it was necessary for the pas
sengers to get out the windows. A
number of Brookings people were on
the train, including the college de-
batting team and Prof. Ewing who were
returning home from Huron.
The derailment was first reported
to have been caused by spreading of
the rails, but while we were at the
scene of the wreck Sunday afternoon
Trainmaster McCaulley informed us
that it vas due to the placing on the
track Of a large burr. He showed us
how this had been been placed just
at the apex of the curve and when 1t
lifted the wheel to a point where the
f1ange would not hold it to the rail
the outward momentum naturally
threw the engine out of it's course. A
dent in the steel rail shows where the
burr laid and a couple of feet farther
there is a deep mark where the 1ange
of the wheel struck the rail. 1t ran
along the rails on the fiange for owe
thirty feet and then travelled over the
ties for a similar distance before TAX
ing it's plunge down the embankment.
Mr.. McCaulley informed us that after
the wreck two more burrs were found
or the rail within a thousand feet
ahead. 1t was probably the work of
boys who did not realize the gravity
of the o~ffense, as it is a common prac-
tice for youngsters to put small ar
ticles on the rails to have the train
flatten them out, and If the burr had
not been placed just at the curve the
engine would have undoubtedly passed
over it and thrown it off. The practice
is, however, a dangerous one and the
boys who perpetrated this last trick
should be severely dealt with, If they
are caught, as an example to others.
Mr.. McCaulley informed us the
wreck would cost the company at
least fifteen thousand dollars and
probably more The engine which was
one Of the big ones, was badly damned
up and will have to be entirely rebuilt,
at a cost of about eight thousand dol
lars. The baggage and mail cars We're
smashed up considerably when they
damned into the tender and their de-
%struction was completed when it was
found neces airy to roll them down the
embankment to get them off the road
bed. The smoker was torn from the
rear trucks and it sustained other
damage, but the day coach and sleeper
did not suff~ much.
AS soon as word was received of the
wreck the Watertown passenger was
sent out from here and brought in the
passengers and mail and baggage. The
track was cleared off so that traffic
over the line was resumed Saturday
night. The big steam wrecker was
sen out from Baraboo, Wis, and ar
rived Sunday noon. 1t picked up the
remains of the cars and they were
loaded on box cars and SEN east, but
it had a serious time with the big
engine which was buried clear to the
headlight in the ground.
Mr.. McCaulley informed us that 1t
vas almost a miracle that there were
not a large number Of deaths and in
juries. The engine when 1t left the
road bed turned at almost a right angle
with the track and when the coaches
damned into it they were prevented
from turning over. Had the engine
taken a straighter course 1t would
have undoubtedly rolled over and
dragged the coaches with 1t.
The wreck attracted a large number
Of s~ightseers, and when we were there
Sunday afternoon about five hundred
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