The Washington herald., 1922-08-07
Fatal Missouri Train
Crash Blamed On
Flyers Engineer.
FAILED TO NOTICE
SIGNALS, is CHARGE
Last Body Recovered
From Debris-10,000
Visit Scene.

eiSht uedu ana lJd injured, twenty
i've critically, comprised the toll TAX
en- by the rear end collision of two
Missouri Pacific trains at Sulphur
Springs. Mo-. early last night. a
eheck-up revealed today. Most of the
dead and injured were brought to
st. Louis. where the latter crowded
the various hospitals of the city.
Failure Of the engineer of train No.
4. the fast passenger steel train
which crashed into No. 80, the local
standing on the track, to heed q
block signal. was the cause of the
disaster. according to John Can
non. assistant general manager of
the road.
The block signal, warning that
the track was not clear, was un-
noticed by Matt Engel Glenn, of
st. Louis, engineer of the fast
train, according to Cannon. Glenn,
81 years old. and engineer for 81
years without a black mark against
his record. jumped from his cab
just before the crash and was
killed. Edward Tinsley, also Of
st. Louis. fireman of No. 4. re-
mained at his post and was serious
ly injured.
Last Body Recovered.
that the block signals were work
ing properly. and were set against
the approaching No. 4. Tho infer
ence. therefore, Is that Engineer
Grenn of the limited should have
brought his train to a halt.
Two o'clock this morning saw the
last body recovered. With bob
bling lanterns a compact group of
men came down the track to the
little station bearing on a litter
the blanketed inert figure of the
last victim to be found in tho
splintered wreckage.
Work was then started on clear
ing up the debris and when the sun
came up beyond the broad sweep
OF the Mississippi 1t was well under
way. From the front of the engine
Of No. 4 was pulled one of the two
coaches of the accommodation,
which was little damaged. Next
came a compressed bale of splinters
wedged against the nose of the en-
gine. which had once been a rail-
way car.
10000 Visit Scene.
Scattered trucks which had car
ried cars were assembled. The four
coaches of the accumulation train
which had been knocked from tho
trestle and the embankment were
picked up. The baggage car Of the
limited train. whose steel oars had
bulged from the compression of the
blow, was drawn from its precarious
perch on the trestle over Glaize
Creek and practically fell to pieces
as it was pulled away. By o'clock
this afternoon only piles of splint-
cred wood were left to tell the story
of the catastrophe.
Ten thousand people visited the
scene of the wreck today. Their
automobiles crowded the roads lead
ing to Sulphur Springs. The host
of the curious swarmed over the
station area, examined the wrecked
cars and trooped through the muddy
bed of the creek to miss nothing.
The division local with a Saturday
crowd from Hoxie. Ark, Poplar
Bluff, Mo-, and other points, was
running about two hours behind
schedule. On board were people
from out in the State coming to st.
Louis for the weekend. Others
were st. Louisians returning to
spend Sunday at home.
Impatient at Delay.
The train was due in st. Louis at
6:35 p. m. 1t was after o'clock
when 1t pulled up at Sulphur Springs
to take on water. A few of those
on the coaches which had cleared
the trestle when the train stopped,
impatient at the delay, got out TO
take a brief turn up and down be-
side the train, a relief from the
crowded cars.
No. 4. a limited, out of Fort
Worth. with passengers from Texas
and the larger cities along the line.
was running about on time and
must have left Riverside, not four
miles down the track, while the To-.
cal was standing still. From the
water tower ran an empty side track
which would have meant safety to
the train on the main line.
A picture of the accident can be
reconstructed from the accounts OF
survivors.
Four Coaches Tumble.
A blast from the whistle of the
speeding limited, rushing on beyond
the curve of the track around the
bluffs, caused a few OF those who
had alighted from the local train to
look back nervously. They had been
watching the play of colors from
the setting sun in the river which
swept by a short distance away.
Catapulting around the curve
came the limited train. the nose
of the giant engine first and the
cars swinging behind It, A shout.
A man rushed down the track by
the halted local. his distorted fea-
lures and AMAZED eyes telling the
story of his apprehension.
Then there came a screech of
tortured brakes above the roar of
the oncoming trains cries. and al
most Immediately a crash, the very
noise of which seemed to shake the
peaceful hills overlooking the river
and the winding track. Four
coaches of the standing train tum-
bled down the embankment from
the tracks and the trestle across
Glaize Creek. knocked aside as
lightly as toy, cars In a wreck
staged in the nursery for the de-
light of children.
Jumped Before Blow.
Where the day coacnas Of the
local had stood across the trestle
now stood the proud steel cars of
the limited f1ier. The locomotive
had plowed its way through more
than half the length of the halted
continaed on Page Tpo.