Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 September 1910 — 39 KILLED IN INTERURBAN CAR CRASH [ARTICLE]

39 KILLED IN INTERURBAN CAR CRASH

20 Others Seriously Hurt In Disaster SUNNING AT HIGHSPEED Many Victims Mylllated So Bad Idcntifioation Proves Task. DEAD STREWN ALONG TRACK Cars Collide on Sharp CurvePathetic Scenes Witnessed. THE IDENTIFIED DEAD ARE: William Beer, Bluffton, night patrolman; L. Bird, Bluffton;, Lloyd Brown, Bluffton, newspaper man; W. E. Bowman, Bluffton;. William Burgan, Bluffton, real estate dealer; Mr*. William Burgan; H. D. Cook, Bluffton, grocer; William Corkwell, Bluffton, motorman; Ernest Crouse, Bluffton; Howard Daughterly, Huntington; R. F. Folk, Washington, Ind.; R. J, Falk, Byron, O.; Miss Falk, Bluffton; Mia* Mary Folk, Bluffton; Jesse Huffman, Warren county, Ind.; J. E. Hyde, Portland, Ind.; L. S. Justus, Bluffton, general manager Bluffton, Gernwf and Celina traction line; Mr*. Lola King, Warren, Ind.; William King, Warren, Ind.; Harold Nelson, Bluffton; Tories R. Eber, Unioudale; Seymour Robinson, Bluffton, Democratic candidate lor county auditor; George Smithers, Warren, hardware dealer; Lloyd Strain, Uniondale, telephone operator; Amos Stucky. Vera Cruz, Ind.; Jacob Swartz, Uniondale; Pearl Sayler, Bluffton; F. R. Tan, Warren; Pearl Taylor, Bluffton; D. W. Thompson, Ann Arbor, Mich.; Sllar Thomas, Warren; Miss. Bertha Tripplet, Warren; John Tripplet, Warren; Ralph Walser, Bluffton; B. Wlnthers, Warren; Oscar Zimmer, Bluffton.

Fort Wayne, Ind., Sept. 22. —Thir-ty-nine persons were killed and twenty or more fatally injured in the most disastrous traction car wreck that has marked interurban traffic since the system was established when a south bound limited and a northbound local car on the Wabash Valley line collided near Kingsland, north of. this city. The accident occurred' on a short curve and many of the bodies were bo mangled that identification is rendered slow, if not in some cases impossible. Hardly any of the passengers in the two cars escaped injury, but the less seriously hurt gave what assistance they could, and in a few moments twenty-five bodies, horribly mutilated, Were car to the road side and laid along the track. Others were so pinioned in the debris that they could not be reached until wrecking crews arrived upon the scene. The northbound car was loaded with people corillng to she county fair here, and among them were many women and children. What led to the accident is not known, but it is supposed that there was a misunderstanding of orders. The car carrying the people to the fair was an extra, ,and it is believed that its position on the road was not definitely known and the limited, running on its own time, was not apprised of its approach. The curve where the wreck occurred is one of the shortest on the Wabash Valley line, and there was only an instant after the local car was sighted before the crash came. Even the motormen on the two egrs had not time to jump. The scenes following the wreck v ere peculiarly pathetic, as mothers and fathers saw the mangled forms of their children taken from the wreckage and a husband saw a wife, or a wife saw a husband taken out so mangled that identification could be made only from the clothing. Physicians and nurses were rushed to the scene of the wreck from this city and other places on the line and many of the ihjured are now in hospitals. Some of them died before medical attention could be given and two died while being conveyed to hospitals. That the cars were running at a very fast rate is demonstrated by a view of tbe wrecked cars after they had run into each other, the iron and wood of one could not be distinguished from the other, ab tangled was the

mass and in this was a struggling, •brisking mass of humanity, praying, calling for help and pleading for relief from their misery. There were four men in charge of the two cars--two conductors and two motormen —and of these, three are dead and The fourth badly injured. Thirty-six of the dead were identified, mostly by the clothing they wore and letters and papers found on their persons, but three who were killed outright have not been identified, and one dying on the way to the hospital. Is Unknown Owing to the delay in attending the injured, cr the inability in such a great number to get around to all of them, Beyerai died from loss of blood, which could have been prevented had the survivors not been so greatly appalled as to be Incapable of rendering assistance. Of the thirty-six identified dead, eighteen were from Bluffton and many of them were among the most wealthy class. They were going to see the races at the Fort Wayne fair and just as the two cars met many of them were singing comic Songs and cracking jokes There were a number of young people in the northbound car, and they had been in a specially hilarious mood from the time the car left Bluffton. There were two physicians on the carß at the time of thewreok. One of them escaped serious injury and, with the Other, who had himself been painfully hurt, rendered first aid to those who survived the shock of the collision. Relief cars were hurried from this city and physicians went from Bluffton in autos. Many Of the dead already had been removed from the debris of the cars and the grewcouie yrork of taking out the mangled bodies of those In the farther recesses of the wreckage was begun by the company’s wrecking crews. One of the survivors says that both ears were tearing along at full speed when they came within sight of each other on the curve, and there was go time to check their onward plunge. They came together with a splintering crash and then arose shrieks of those who were hot killed in the impact. Help from the nearby residents was rendered to such as could be removed from the wreckage, but it seemed a long time until skillful ministrations of surgeons, equipped for emergencies, was provided. When a relief car arrived at Kingsland, the physicians found more work for the coroner and undertakers than for themselves. The dead and dying were lying in the fields and woods nearby and little could be done for most of the Injured, as they seemed to be beyond medical aid. The wood and iron work of the cars were in a tangled mass and the bodies of some of ihe victims were twisted and mangled out of recognition. Owing to the confusion, the identification of the dead was not rapid. The fact that so many of the cars’ occupants were dead, and so many others seriously hurt, placed a great handicap on the efforts to identify those who had been killed. Few In the cars escaped death or injury and those in their dazed state at first could render little aid In determining who the dead were. It is Impossible to say how many of the twenty seriously Injured will die. but physicians hold out hope for several of them. • Mens and boys sweaters and sweater coats in all colors and kinds.— C. Earl Duvall.