Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-06-06

Minneapolis June 6,-Fighting fol
their lives in Stygian darkness. while
| men and women and little children
screamed and prayed, or clung to ligh'
| brackets that they might not drown
and with their bare hands smashed
glass panes. four Minneapolis women
were plunged into raging river when
Rock Island train No. 1s, northbound
went into a stormwrecked bridge al
Packard, Iowa at a. m. Friday.
Men woke to feel the hiss and plunge
of great railway coach into the river,
realize that in the blacklist night they
had been immersed. imprisoned. Six
were killed or drowned. are missing
and are believed dead and % were in
jured.
Water Almost Roof Deep.
The horror ofsthe battle for life Is
unspeakable, said the Minneapolis pas
sengers today. Women with their child
rem lost to them in the darkness be-
came wildly historical. Inside the
chair car, which was almost roof deep
in water, men and women who could
hear rescuers running along above,
strained every nerve to keep their
heads out of the flood. One child saved
herself by swimming in the aisle.
Minneapolis persons on the train
were;.Mr and MIR. j. F. O'Malley, 1900
Linden avenue. Edith Nelson. sls
Twenty fourth avenue s. H. S. Gilkey
1916 kenwood parkway. Miss Marga-
ret Nc SwigGin, 1904 Pleasant avenue.
Mr. and Mr.. r. B. Dickerson of Leamin-
ton hotel. c. NJ Pratt.
Rescuers Break Open Windows.
Edith Nelson, SIS Twenty fourth
evenue S, who was returning to Min
neapolis from Joliet, H.. was in the
chair car. Miss Nelson was rescued by
Mr.. OiMalley.
L was awake al the time the wreck
happened" Miss Nelson said. Il Sras-
ped light fixture TO save myself from
drowning.
The scene inside the car was terri
BILE Mothers were screaming for some
one TO save their children. Above the
screams of the women and children We
could hear the shouts of the men above,
and in a short time the windows were
broken by the rescuers.
A woman was taken from the car
with an arm and three ribs broken. Her
three children. unnoticed, had fioated
from the door into the stream. She
cried for some one 10 save them, but
without waiting leaped from the
stretcher on which she was being car
RED waded and swan 10 where her
children had caught in the wreckage in
midstream. and brought them to shore.
She was taken. unconscious, to the
hospital at Greene. where the doctors
said she could not live. The three
children were uninjured
Girl Swins Until Rescued
Mary Williams, little Duluth girl,
attending school in Victor. Iowa, was
one Of the pluckiest survivors of the
disaster, according to others in the car
with her
Il know how to swim Mary said.
so when I awoke and found the car
full of water. l just shut my mouth
and swan. | was too short to touch
the bottom Of the car. so l swan in the
aisle where ! had room. Everybody
else was hanging on to the sides Of the
car. and there wasn't any room for me,
so ! had to swim
Il wasn't much frightened. because
! knew that men were walking ON the
side OF the car that was out Of water,
and that they would soon break thru
the windows and take US out 1t
wasn't very long after that that Mr..
O'Malley took me.
After / got outside I sat on the
bank and watched the men bring in the
other people. l saw four dead per-
sons"
J. F. OMailey. who was returning
with his bride from Pottsville, Iowa,
was in the chair car which plunged
into the stream. After rescuing Mrs.
O'Malley by breaking window above
them and lifting her thru, he re-
turned and saved the life of Mary Will