The Morgan County press. (Wartburg, Tenn.) 1916-1926, 1921-09-30
AZ KILLED,
100 INJURED
IN COLLISION
N. Y. CENTRAL LIMITED CUTS
THROUGH CANADIAN EXPRESS
AT PORTER JUNCTION, IND:
Volunteer Firefighters From Country
side Form Brigade and Attack
Flames, Saving Many From Being
Burned to Death.

Porter, Ind. - Forty-two persons
are known to be dead and more than
100 injured as the result of the wreck
of two passenger trains. New York
Central Train No 151, New York and
Boston to Chicago, ploughed its way
through Michigan Central Train No.
20, Chicago to Detroit and Toronto,
demolishing wooden day coach and
killing or injuring practically every
person in it. The scene of the wreck
is a lonely junction point bordering
on the sand dunes and about fifty
miles from Chicago. 1t is at the exact
spot where the Hagenback-W cir
Gus train was demolished and approx
imately eighty persons killed several
years ago. The circus train was run
ming on the New York Central tracks
and the Michigan Central train crash
ed into it. Two hours elapsed before
the arrival of the first relief train,
and only the efforts of volunteer fire
fighters prevented many of the injured
from being burned to death. The acct
dent was caused, according to railway
officials, by the Michigan Central
train disregarding the stop signals at
the intersection of the two roads, and
was thrown upon the New York tracks
from the derail switch. The Michi-
gan Central train should have stop
ped and allowed the New York Cen
trail train the right of way. Both the
engineer and fireman Of the Michigan
Central train are being held pending
an investigation.
When the Michigan Central train
hit the .derailing switch at the cross
ing it plunged along fhe ties for more
than three hundred feet and stopped
with the wooden coach, which was q
combination passenger and baggage
car, directly in the path Of the oncOm-
ing New York Central train. The
heavy engine struck the coach at an
angle, ground it into splinters, left the
rails, plOughed a great hole in the
earth and turned over on its side. The
fireman was pinned beneath his engine
and scalded to death, and the engineer
died two hours later from his injuries.
Most of the injured were passengers
on the New York Central train who
were thrown from their seats by the
sudden application of the emergency
brakes when the engineer saw that
crash was inevitable. The dead were
practically all passengers in the de-
mOlished day coach and were mostly
residents of nearby points. All of the
coaches of the Michigan Central train
were overturned by the force of the
impact. Clouds Of steam from the
wrecked engines ObScured the scene
and made The work of the passengers
who hurried to the rescue of the in
iured difficult. Soon tongues of flame
began to lick over the Wreckage. Wa
ter from length of hose obtained
from crossroads POStOffice was play
ed on the fire, which was soon eXtin-
guished. A telephone operator notified
nearby residents and scores of farm
ers came from miles around to help
in the relief work. Twenty-seven
bodies had been taken from the wreck
age. and officials declared that they
did not expect to find many more.
Twenty-three of the bodies were taken
to ChestertOn,, Ind, a mile and half
from the scene of the wreck. The i'll
jured were removed on relief trains TO
Michigan City and Gary Ind. The un-
injured passengers were removed to
Chicago.