The Wilmington morning star., 1945-01-01
so ARE KILLED
IN TRAIN WRECK
CONTINUED from Page One)

| II
more than 60 were killed, but
railroa dofficials and other au.
thorities sal dthey did not expecl
the total to pass IS.
Relief agencies were taxed to
capacity and preparation OF cas-
uaIty Lists necessarily was slow.
From San Francisco came word
that Southern Pacific Brakeman
| W. S. Duerdon died aboard the
Southern Pacific Limited OF in
iuries after the damaged section
of the train moved on from Ogden
for San Francisco.
The company announced that
Duerdon' body and four persons
who were slightly injured would
be taken off, the train at Elko,
New. around II p m.
The company's news bureau at
San Francisco did not have Duer-
don's home address nor the names
of the four injured.
For some unexplained reason,
railroad officials at Salt Lake said,
the Pullman sleeping car which
was attached to the westbound
train at Ogden, carried its lightest
passenger load in several months.
Normally, it is filled to capacity.
Capt. Arthur E. Smith, public
relations officer at nearby Hill
Field who flew in an Army plane
within 300 feet Of the wreck, said
the engine of the second section
was alrnosts completely inside the
first trains rear passenger car.
At least three care were tele-
scoped in a jumbled mass, ne
said.
Four or five coaches were
sprawled over the double wreck
age, blocking the right-of-Way,
Smith said. At least three slid
down the bank of the rock fill-ln
and rested in the shallow waters
at the edge of Great Salt Lake.
Smith said ne saw scores OF
persons milling about the wr7cA-
age and blankets covering MAJ
victims.
The Arsny's Bushnell General
hospital at Brigham sent ambu-
lances mere to await rescue trains
and prepared to take care OF
military personnel and the civilian
overflow from Dee hospital at
Ogden.
R. E. Edens, superintendent of
the Ogden terminal, said the first
section contained two military
hospital cars which were undam-
aged. Some of the injured were
placed in these and taken west
to Eliza, New, he said.
The rear section was carrying
no passengers and was made up
entirely of baggage and express
cars. Aboard the 18-car front sec
ton were more than 300 passen-
gers.
J. Mcdonald. of Ogden, Utah,
engineer on the rear section loco
motive, was killed. The tourist
sleeper and two standard Pullman
cars at the rear of the first Sec
ton were badly shattered and in
these were the bulk of the casu-
allies, the railroad reported.
Marshlands stretching for miles
prevented ingress or egress ex-
cept by rail.
Railroad officials said the COLI
sion site was about three miles
west of Bagley, right-of-Way
hamlet for maintenance workers.
The wreck occurred on the sew
en-foot fill-in built through the
marsnland east of Great Salt
Lake, A trestle crosses the lake
father west, on the transcontinen-
tai line from Ogden to San Fran
cisco.
Preliminary reports said the
first section was delayed by a
freight train stalled by mecnani-
cal trouble. The freight had
started after making minor re-
pairs and the first section of No.
81 was just getting under way
when the second section ram-ned
into it from the rear, these re-
ports said 1t was estimated the
passenger train was moving at
eight to ten miles an hour when
the express Numbered into it. The
trains left Ogden about II minutes
apart.