Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 272, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 November 1912 — C.H.& D. WRECK KILLS AND MAIMS [ARTICLE]

C.H.& D. WRECK KILLS AND MAIMS

Twe Engineers, Firema, Baggageman and 14 Passengers Dead As Result of Collision.

A wreck at Irvington, a suburb 5 miles east of Indianapolis, at 3 o’clock this Wednesday morning, caused the death of about twenty people, injured many others and completely wrecked C. H. & D. passenger train No. 36, wlhich at Indianapolis becomes No. 36 on the Monon railroad and is the fast morning mail train passing through Rensselaer at 5:30 o’clock. Only meagre details of the wreck •have been received .here. Freight train No. 95, east bound out of Indianapolis, had taken siding at Irvington to permit the passenger train to pass. Whether the switch was not properly closed or whether the passenger jumped or “split” the switch is not known, but the passenger train crashed into the switch and head-on into the freight Engineer Will Sharkey and his fireman and Conductor Matthews, of the passenger train, and Engineer York, of the freight, were killed. Report is that the baggageman was killed and that Jerry Buck, Burton Jones, Harry Riechers and Henry Perphi, the mail clerks, were •all injured. The first three named are from Cincinnati and the fourth lives at Dyer. The extent of their injuries are not known here, except that Jones had a broken hand and a broken foot. The mail car was wrecked and no mail car was attached to No. 36 when it went through Rensselaer, almost five hours late, Charley Grow and Frank Leek, who have the run every other week, were both in Rensselaer. Mr. Grow was called to Chicago to take the run out tonight. Fourteen passengers were reported killed outright and many wounded. Those killed were mostly in the day coach, although one woman and her baby are said to have been killed in the sleeper. It was at first believed that Dave Harriott, formerly of Parr, and one of the mail clerks on this run every other week, was on the train. This proved to be his week off, however.