Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1916-03-30
THIRTY KILLED
FORTY INJURED;
TRIPLE WRECK
Three of New York Central Pas
senger Trains Collide With
Each Other
TWENTIETH CENTURY
ESCAPES DAMAGE
Ploughs Through Wreckage at
Terrific Speed-Block
System Fails

Cleveland, March 29.--With a toll
of at least 30 persons dead and 40 or
more injured federal and state Off
cials and officials of the railroad com
panies began today an investigation
into the cause that led early this
morning to one of the most disastrous
wrecks that has occurred in this state
in dozen years, and one of the worst
in the history of the New York Cen
tral railroad. e.-a
Three trains, including the 10th
Century, the New York Centraps Pal
atial Filler, and two sections OF No. 81,
known as the Chicago-Pittsburg Limit
ed, castbound, came together in a col
lision near Amherst, O., 81 miles west
of Cleveland
Three Trains Collide.
Reports generally credited were
that the first and second sections OF
NO. Sc were proceeding at q rapid
pace and at some points were only a
mile apart. When the first section
crashed into the second section, the
goth Century Limited train crashed
into the two trains, and the three
were thrown into an indescribable
The great coaches and engines of
No. sc were toppled over and wreck
age was piled high in the air. Four.
teen coaches overturned.
goth Century Unscathed.
nf, + hot q II nj
its impact with the debris from the
other trains, emerged almost unscath;
ed and proceeded on it's western jour-
ney, it's passengers uninjured except
for a shaking up. A pail Of fog from
Lake Erie had settled down over nor
thcrn Ohio and the night was Of al.
most inky darkness. ..,..
w. F. Schaff, district superintend.
ent of the New York Central lines,
said today:
Towerman Blameless.
THE towerman can have nothing to
do with the cause of this wreck. The
explanation lies between the engin-
eers and the block signal system.
1--WE tested out the block signal sys-
TEN this morning after the wreck, and
found it working perfectly. After the
wreck, Engineer Hess, with his fire.
man, A. A. Haight, and the brakeman
of the goth Century Limited, walked
back to the signal which Hess drove
by. They all said they found the sig
nal was red, or blocked then.
Terrible Confusion.
REPORTS of terrible confusion fol.
lowed the wreck.
Many of the injured pinioned in the
wreckage called pitiously for help as
uninjured passengers, half.clad, quick
ly emerged and Joined with trainmen
and others in the rescue work A bon
fire from some of the Wreckage
brought the nrst rays of light on the
scene of desolation and death. Fire
men from Amherst were among the
first arrivals and soon succeeded in
quenching the flames.
Passengers on the goth Century
Limited, who escaped injury, uespite
the fact that the train of eight coach
es plowed through the wreckage Of
two sections of an eastbound train at
high speed told of the catastrophe on
arrival in Chicago today.
No Panic.
There was no panic on the Limited,
the passengers said. The electric
light continued to glow, and the oc-
cupants of the sleeping cars were en-
aDled, after they were jostled awake
in their berths, to arrange temporary
relief for the persons injured in the
collision.
Henry p. Runkle, director of the
German Austrian-Hungarian Relief SO.
ciety, attributed the escape of those
aboard the goth Century Limited to
the terrifiec speed of the train carry.
ing it. through the debris before the
carc had fimo tn tin over