Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1916-04-05
DEATH LIST IS 27
IN BIG RAIL WRECK
Forty Others Hurt in Triple Crash
Near Amherst, 0.
ToWERMAN MAY BE BLAMED
Attempted to Care for Sick Wife and
Attend to Duties Without Sleep
Three investigations Are
Necessary.

Cleveland o., March 31.-State. fed
eral and railroad investigation of the
double wreck on Wednesday on the
Lake Shore railroad at Amherst, o.,
near here, which cost the lives of fully
twenty-seven persons and injured
forty, was begun here.
Railroad officers declare the blame
for the crash which piled up the
Twentieth Century flyer and two other
crack Lake Shore passenger trains III
10 a tangled heap of junk probably
will be shared by two railroad EN-
pIoyees.
The railroad company, in an othelai
statement explaining the wreck, de-
olared the first section OF train NO. 80,
after stopping at the inteTlocking
tower at Amherst, had started ahead
al five or ten miles an hour. The sec
ond section ran into the first. Two
rear cars OF the first section fell over
on the westbound track just as the
Twentieth Century Limited, bound for
Chicago. was approaching. The Tween
tieth Century collided with part OF the
wreckage on the westbound tracks
The Twentieth Century was derailed
except for three rear cars. All OF
the passengers killed or seriously hurt
were In the rear car of the first sec
tion of train No. So
While relief parties we're still dig
gsag dead bodies from the debris ana
doctors and nurses were rescuing
trapped human beings and caring for
manned victims, the Investigations
were begun. Two men stood out as
shaken, tragic figures that had swift
ly become the objects of cross-tire IN
vest,gation. Euckless enough to have
been actors in the heartrending spec
tacle. which sprang out Of the fog OF
early morning hours.
Survivors OF the disaster streamed
into Cleveland as port OF refuge all
day. bringing with them tales OF hor-
ror and of magic escapes.
One is a towerman. Ernst, doing
in his lonely cupola as speeding trains
slid by him--a man trying to perform
his duties of watching over thousands
of lives in the railroads care and I'M
der the handicap OF sleepless hours
caring for his wife. who Sunday had
given birth to a baby The other Is
Herman Hess, engineer Of the second
section OF the eastbound flyer, who
escaped from the cab OF his enigma
after il had plowed into the first sec
tion--a mar who saw no red warning
signal through the fog and relied
upon the mysteriously halted first
train.
These arc the men who became the
center OF an investigation by New
York Central officers. led by General
Superintendent A. S ingalls,, A coin
cidental inquiry was begun by Coro-
ner Carver of Lorain county. while
state Railroad Inspectors Packard and
Heffernan rushed TO the scene TO con-
duet the state public utilities inquiry,
and Safety Experts Belknap, Ellis and
McAdams started for Amherst to begin
a federal investigation .or the inter-
state commerce commission.
out Of the chaos at the spot mile
out OF Amherst rescue parties spent
struggling day taking bodies out of
the debris. Twcntyaix were recog-
cred. but others were believed to have
remained hidden under the tons Of
wreckage strewn over four tracks and
reared thirty feet in the air.
Scattered over many miles are men,
women and children suffering with
serious injuries or minor hurts. They
are ia hospitals in Elyria and l4orain.
a few miles away. in houses thrown
open for succor by people in the vii
lage oil Amherst aud farmers near by.
in Cleveland hotels and ia relatives
homes
Following is revised list OF the
dead;
Dora Roseberg. Toronto. Arpa1
Heltai. New York Walter Easton.
East Philadelphia. Raisin Obdah. In
iianapoiis: Malcincs Binnoe. Indiana
Harbor. Ind, Rev. Gustav Walyi min.
lister OF the Fist Evangelical church.
50 Thaddeus street. Detroit, Fred
Weaver, Detroit; four unidentified: j.
H. Hearn. Gallipolis. o.. D. Frueht-
man, Toronto. b. E. Ash. Olmsted
Falls, O.. X. Thomas, Philadelphia:
Gyorgi Ojinci, indianapolis; unknown
man. unknown man colored, Pullman
porter. evidently II. White. two un.
known women and an unknown man:
Edward Leroy. st. Louis, H. Bruce
Bromley. Hillsville. Pa. Jennie
Dreymmer Cleveland. Charles Mel
son. Chicago.