Little Falls herald., 1913-11-21
FREIGHT WRECK NEAR SARIEll||

(
|# - Y H
ENGINEER AND TWO OTHERS Is A..
JURED m CoIIIs1oN. rs
TnhATED LOSS s126, 900.
Probably one of the most disastrous
wrecks which have ever occurred Sen
The Northern Pacific railroad this slsie
Of Minneapolis happeaad Sunday night
about IL o. CLOCK near Sartell when the
engine Of freight train Of 80 cars,
carrying stock, collided with The rear
lend of another freight of about SO
( ars, which was loaded with fruits.
Vegetables and grains. AS result 1t
the collision G. E. Hilton Of Afinnearo-
,s, engineer On the stock train, is at
the hospital in St: Cloud, suffering
Iw,t tn a badly bruised ard scalicd si"ct
and possible internal injuries J.'J.
Ccrbett, fireman on the same train, sps-s
tained minor bruises, as did Earl Davis,
a brakeman, who was IN the cab with
the others. That: they escaped with
their lives is considered miraculous.
The loss is estimated at about $685.
600, of which at least $4,000 is the
estimated loss on IA cars and an en-
gine. Among the contents of the cars
which were destroyed by heat and ire
were wheat, barley, fax, baled hay,
apples and salmon. a% :55
! The two freight trains were running
on extra schedule from the coast tc
Minneapolis, and had travelled the whole
distance to- this point with but little
difference in running time, but at q
safe distance apart. Engineer Hilton
had taken charge of the cattle train
at Staples to relieve another engineer,
who had run it to that division point.
When the train arrived at Little Falls
the engineer noticed that the brakes
were working improperly, as he tried
to stop for a switch but the train went
past it without stopping. Complaint
was made at this place about where rhe
stock was being placed and the stock
cars were shifted to the rear end and
the train proceeded toward Minneapo-
lis. Had not this precaution been tax.
en- the slaughter would have been Ter
rihle. "a
Meanwhile the other freight train
was discovered at the head end Of this
to pack it. Had they remained in the
cahoose death would surely have re-
suited, as the car was completely de-
lmolished.
The engineer of the second train saw
the danger signal as he approached Sar.
tell. but had no idea that another train
was on the same track so short dis
tance ahead of them. He applied tho
brakes but they would not work. His
intentions were to run without stop
lping until they reached Clear Lake and
the train was going at high speed.
When the fireman told Hilton that an
other train was on the track ahead he
applied the emergency brakes, but this
too late, and minute later the en-
gine of his train ploughed through the
caboose and a dozen cars Of the other
freight and finally toppled over. The
engineer was pinned unGer some steel
and it was some time before he could
be removed. The fireman and brakes
man were thrown clear of the cars.es>
From this time until late Mon1ay
afternoon traffic was tied up but sew
eral trains took the branch from Little
Falls to Sauk Centre and to st. Cloud
: via the Great Northern. The w st
bound trains took the same course, the
first one to take that route getting in-
to Little Falls at $3.50 Monday evening.
The coast trains went to Wadena via
the Great Northern and then went back
on the N. P. 70 -~=.:'t: ~. -"
A fire engine and 1000 feet Of hose
were sent to the scene of the fire from
st. Paul and water was pumped from
the Mississippi river. About Is cars
were badly damaged before the flames
were extinguished, however, A wreck.
cr was on the scene about 5 Q: clock
Monday morning and the wreckage
was removed from the tracks. On ac-
count Of the terrific heat, some, of the
trucks and other iron on the cars was
badly twisted and may be total loss.
Ed. Luckel of Little Falls, one Of
the train crew on the first train, had
left a vest containing a purse contain.
ing $157. in the cabovse wnen he went
to assist in fixing the hot box at the
other end Of the train. When the wreck
occurred he assisted in removing the
engineer from the wreckage. This
completed he started a search for his
pocketbook and he found it about 1O
car lengths from the caboose.
The wreck and fire was viewed by
great number of people from st.
Cloud and other neigvDoring towns, and
it is estimated that at least SO auto
mobiles were at the scene, some going
from here. s...e-,. -