Richmond Palladium (Daily), 28 November 1901 — Page 1

DAILY PALLADIUM.

RICHMOND

WEEKL[Y] ESTABLISHED 1831. DAILY ESTABLISJED 1876.

THANKSGIVING

RAILWAY HORROR More Than a Hundred Emigrants Caught Like Rats in a Trap. OVERLOOKED ORDERS Engineer of the Wabash Continental Limited Went By the Siding and Havoc Ensued. The Fastest Train on the Wabash Dashes Head-On Into a Crowded Immigrant Train. .¶ Detroit. Mich., Nov. 28.— Eighty persons were killed and 150 injured last night in a passenger train wreck on the Wabash railroad. Of the injured 25 case[s] are serious. Two heavily loaded passenger trains collided headon at full speed one mile east of Seneta. The westbound train of seven cars, two of them filled with emigrants, was smashed and burned. There was awful loss of life or fearful injuries to a majority of its passengers. The eastbound train, the Continental Limited, suffered in scarcely less degree. .¶ It is not known how many people there were on the emigrant train, but the number of dead, injured and burned is about 153. The people on that train were caught like rats in a trap and crushed. Then the wreck caught fire, and those who were not instantly killed were slowly roasted to death, and none of the few spectators who hastily gathered from the farmhouses near by were able to afford aid. The whole emigrant train was soon consumed by the flames and nearly every person on that train was killed. Farmers residing along the track rushed in on the blazing mass to rescue those whom they thought might be alive. The bodies hauled out of the wreck were taken to near by farmhouses, which are filled with dead, and a large number of injured were taken to the Wabash railway hospital at Peru. Ind. .¶ Along the track the long lines of burned bodies covered with blankets, presented a gruesome sight. It may be possible that the exact number of killed or who they are. will never be known. .¶ It is said here that the accident was the result of a misunderstanding of orders. It is reported that the eastbound tram should have waited at Seneca station and the emigrant train should have taken the siding. This was not done. Then the crash came. The net result is that the emigrant train is burned, the engines are complete wrecks on both trains, and on the eastbound train the coach between the diner and the baggage car is crushed into kindling wood. .¶ The Continental Limited was in charge of Engineer Strong and Conductor Martin. The emigrant train, a double-header, was in charge of Engineer Work, Engineer Parks and Conductor Charles Troll. The limited, it is believed, disobeyed orders in not waiting at Seneca for the other train, thereby causing the wreck. .¶ The track at the point where the collision occurred was straight, and at first the officials could not understand how the accident could have happened. The westbound train, which ordinarily leaves Detroit a 2:30 o'clock, was two hours late, leaving at 4:20. The two trains meet at Montpelier, Ohio, according to schedule, but the limited had orders to meet the westbound train at Seneca. The blame is therefore placed on the conductor or engineer of the limited. Had his train been held at Seneca the accident would not have occurred. The train was due at Seneca at 6:43, according to the change in schedule, but apparently orders to await were disobeyed, and the probabilities are that the true story of why will never

be told, as the train crews met instant death. The country for miles around was lighted up by the burning cars, and the flames could not be quenched because of lack of proper apparatus. Mangled bodies were picked up along the track by the farmers before a special relief tram sent from Adrian reached the scene. In some instances the bodies were mangled beyond all recognition. The bodies which the rescuers managed to pull from the burning ruins of the immigrant cars were so badly burned that their identity wiil probably never be ascertained. ONE HUNDRED DEAD. .¶ Detroit, Mich., Nov. 28. — The latest list of the dead in the Wabash wreck were Fireman William D. Dowd, of train No. 13; Fireman Chas. Buldorf, No. 13; James Brown, porter, of Chicago; E. N. Buell, Pontiac; George W. Youmans, Kansas City; Job Wilchel, Detroit; Vida Decas, Tupperville, and five Italian immigrants. The list of injured number fifty-five, of whom fifteen are Italian immigrants. It still appears the number of dead may reach a hundred. Only six bodies have been recovered. The scere of the wreck this morning was blackened desolation. Nothing is left of the trains that was combustible. Italian immigrants insist there were a hundred of their number not accounted for. A train load of wounded was taken to the hospital at Peru, Ind. On to Cincinnati. .¶ We are told on good authority that the C. R. & M. are making all arrangements and fully expect to be running trains of their own clear into Cincinnati inside of the next nine months over their own tracks. It is said that the C. H. D. does

not treat them as well as could be wished. Not long since the C. R. & M. had twelve passengers for Cincinnati on one train. Their train down was held back for twelve minutes by the C. H. & D. train north so that they reached Cottage Grove that much behind time. The C. H. & D. train did not wait for them but went right on, with the result that the twelve passengers had to stay at Cottage Grove until the next train, a matter of some three hours. What an experience that was can be readily imagined. This is but one case of many, and the C. R. & M. will fix themselves as early as possible to handle their own business. Louck & Hill. .¶ Louck & Hill have been granted the contract for the new building being put up by Robinson & co. They were given the contract without any competition. The Louck & Hill company has recently been incorporated with $25, 000 capital. The directors are Eben Louck, Theodore H. Hill and George C. McLear. Consecration. .¶ At St. Andrew's church today the ceremony of the blessing of the altar is being performed, the ceremonies beginning at 8 o'clock this morning and continuing for two hours, with special music. The sermon was by Very Rev. A. Scheidler. vicar general of the Indianapolis diocese. At the conclusion of the consecration, Rev. J. B. H. Seepe led the solemn high mass. Father Seepe built the original St. Andrew's church in 1860. At 7:30 this evening the forty hours' prayer will be inaugurated by the Rev. M. A. Gillig, who will conduct the exercises for the three days closing Sunday night. .¶ The consecrating prelate was Rt. Rev. D. O'Donaghue, Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis, assisted by a number of clergymen from all over the state. Among them Very Rev. A. Scheideler of Indianapolis, Anthony Schenck of Brookville, Joseph Merkle of New Alsace. A. Felgen of St. Leon, Dean Sondermann of Lawrenceburg, F. Odo of Indianapolis, E. J. Spellman of Cambridge City, F. X. Unterreitmeier of New Albany, J. Seepe of Madison, Julius Mattingly of this city, and M. A. Gillig of North Vernon.

RICHMOND DAILY PALLADIUM,

PERRY WAS FIRM Commander of the Iowa Kept the Panama Railway Out of the Fight. IT CAUSED A RUMPUS Capt. Perry's Refusal to Permit Colombian Troops to Use the Railway Created Hard Feelings. And Americans on the Isthmns Immediately Lost Much of Their Popularity. .¶ Panama, Nov. 28. —The Colombian gunboat Boyaca was dispatched Tuesday, having on board about 50 soldiers for Chamo or its vicinity, where it was claimed a party of Liberals under General Torras had received quite recently a fresh supply of arms and ammunition. San Paola and Barabacao are known here to be Liberal strongholds and places very easy to defend, while to cross the bridge spanning the Chagres river, now swollen, was next to impossible for an attacking force. The feat was accomplished, however, but the reason the Liberals abandoned Barabacao is not made clear. The death rate on the government side was very great, many bodies falling into the river. An attempt was also made to make a detour on the river in boats, but the Chagres was swollen, the boats were capsized, and many men were drowned. General C stro [Castro] commanded the government forces at Barabacao. General Alban tried to get a train to convey 200 men to the scene of the engagement at Barabacao, but Captain Perry of the Iowa said that not a single armed man would be allowed to entrain. The feeling here against foreigners, particularly the Americans, runs high. A special train at Panama to convey General Alban alone and unarmed awaited the arrival for hours of the morning train from Colon, but on the arrival of the latter here at 6 o'clock in the evening, bringing 40 wounded men, among whom were several officers, with the news that the government troops had victoriously crossed the bridge at Barabacao, the special train was not dispatched, and General Alban remained at Panama. At 8:30 p. m. a large procession, headed by a band of music, marched in an orderly manner all over the city of Panama, shouting General Alban s praises and proclaiming that the death-blow had been given to the Liberal cause in this department. "BLOODY BRIDLES" DEAD Colorado's Eccentric Former Governor Expires Suddenly. Aspen. Col., Nov. 28. Former Governor Davis H. Waite of Colorado fell dead yesterday while peeling apples. [Drawing of Waite] EX-GOVERNOR WAITE. He had been in good health up to the moment of his death. It is believed

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER

that the cause of death was heart trouble. Owing to the threats he was in the habit of making in his speeches, he became widely known as "Bloody Bridles Waite." Caught By the Cars. .¶ Hazleton. Ind., Nov. 28.— Mrs. John Hayes and Mrs. Frank Kightly were killed by a northbound Evansville &. Terre Haute passenger train near here yesterday. They were crossing the track in a buggy. An embankment hid the train from view. Mrs. Hays was instantly killed, while Kightly lived but two hours, The horse was instantly killed. . ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ Joubert Captured. .¶ London, Nov. 28.— Lord Kitchener, in a dispatch from Pretoria dated yesterday, reports that Geueral Knox has captured 36 members of Buys' command, who escaped after the recent fight. The prisoners include Commandant Joubert, who is wounded, and Field Cornets Wolmarans and Diedricks. Ibsen Fatally Ill. .¶ Copenhagen. Nov. 28.—Henrik Ibsen. the Norwegian dramatist, who has been in ill health for some time, is seriously ill. He is unable to walk, and there is no hope for his recovery. A Formal State of War. .¶ Bogota, Colombia, Nov. 28.— The government has issued a decree formally declaring that diplomatic relations with Venezuela hava been sevvered. The Hotel Beat. .¶ Harley Border, the hotel beat, is still in jail although he wanted out badly. .¶ Yesterday he sent for Wilfred Jessup to defend him, but Wilfred is in Washington. Others he sent for did not seem to want the case, and then he demanded to be tried in the afternoon and allowed to plead his own case. As the mayor had set the case for Saturday morning at 8 o'clock he refused to change the time of trial. Whether Border will waive his demand for a jury is not yet known, but the trial if he pleads his own case is going to bs an interesting one. .¶ There was a suspicion that Border was interested in the stealing of a watch from a farmer near Boston, Ind. The farmer was sent for but failed to identify him. A Will Fight .¶ An odd fight is on at Eaton in the courts over a will. It has been going on for two solid weeks. An old man named James Bruce died there some months ago possessed of considerable property and leaving numerous relatives who naturally expected to receive some share of the estate. When time came to settle up the estate a will was produced by certain parties, which left nearly all the property to two or three persons, one of whom was not related to the old man at all: and only a relative or two got anything, and those two or three very little. The suit is to break the will by proving undue influence. One queer thing was the swearing by some of the parties that this will was to supplant one which the old man had made earlier, giving the same disposition of the property, but destroyed; and that this will was witnessed by two men, one of whom was a wellknown citizen of Richmond. Both men were produced in court yesterday and swore that they never witnessed any such will. Broke Arm. .¶ P. T. O'Brien and family came down from Elwood last evening on number 18 to spend Thanksgiving with M. J. O'Brien and family. On the way the three-year-old son fell from a chair in a chair car and broke his arm. The child was not otherwise injured. .¶ John M. Lontz and wife are spending the day with their parents at Hagerstown.

28, 1901.

FATHER AND SON Will Go to the States Prison for Life Term To-gether TRIAL ENDED QUICKLY George Fritz Was Convicted and Sentenced for Life Whereupon His Father Plead Guilty. The Murder of Jacob Pfeister Will Be Expiated By Life Long Sentence for Two. .¶ Bedford, Ind.. Nov. 28.—Geo. Fritz, on trial as an accessory to the crime of his father. Nelson Fritz, in the murder of John Pfeister, was found guilty of murder in the second degree late yesterday afternoon, with punishment in the state prison for life. The father, who had asked for a change of venue from this county on Monday, when his case was called, withdrew the application on promise of having the charge against him made murder in the second degree instead of the first. He then pleaded guilty and received a life sentence to Michigan City prison. The mother, who was also charged as being an accessory, was then placed before the court and the case against her dismissed. The ending of the case so suddenly will save the county a large amount of costs, and the witnesses are more than delighted over the turn of affairs. SENTENCED FOR LIFE James Johnson Will Forego Freedom for Killing Joel Combs, .¶ Indianapolis, Nov. 28. James Johnson will spend his life in the penitentiary for killing Joel Combs, in Haughville, last month. The jury in criminal court that tried Johnson for murder returned a verdict yesterday afternoon of guilty, and fixed his penalty at life imprisonment. .¶ Johnson was unmoved when the verdict was announced. Sixty ballots were taken by the jury, and up to the last 15 minutes they stood five for death penalty and seven for life imprisonment. Johnson expected the jury to sentence him to death on the gallows. Going back to the jail Tuesday night he turned to Deputy Sheriff Comer and said: "I'm a goner. They're going to hang me." But he did not seem greatly concerned about his fate. . ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ It was Self Defense.. .¶ Crown Point. Ind.. Nov. 28. —William E. Wakeham, who has been on trial during the past three days on charge of murder, has been acquitted. July 8. during a crap game, an altercation arose between the defendant and John Collins, a negro. A fight followed and Wakeham shot at Collins in self-defense, but his intended victim drew a smaller negro in front of him, who was killed. The law holds that if a person shoots at another in self-defense and kills a bystander, he cannot be charged with crime, and on this ground Wakeham was released. Serious Accident. (Cambridge City Tribune.) .¶ Edward Hunt, living south of Pinhook, had a serious accident, just east of Harvey's Crossing, Sunday evening. He was driving home with his family in a carriage and his horses became annoyed by four Richmond young men in a carriage who persisted in passing Mr. Hunt and then waiting until he passed them. At last Mr. Hunt's horse became unmanageable and sent the carriage into the Richmond vehicle with a crash that completely demolished it. throwing out the young men and

ONE CENT A COPY.

causing the team to run away. Mr. Hunt's carriage was upset and the occupants thrown out on the pike. All escaped serious injury save Mr. Hunt, who had his collar bone and three ribs broken. Dummy Time. Here's something bearing on a fact which very few knew that there is a method in putting the marks aud hands on a dummy watch. The average person probably supposed that these morkings [markings] were pnt [put] on wherever they happened to come. Since 1865 the hands on dummy watches have pointed to 8:18 o'clock, the time when President Lincoln was ehot. At a meeting held in Chicago the other day it was agreed to change the marking to 3:55, the time when President McKinley was shot, and this time will be set on all the dummy watches made in future. TODAY The Biggest Thanksgiving Day for Many Years. .¶ This is one of the most completely observed Thanksgiving days we have had in Richmond for years. There was a little business done on Main street early in the morning, but by 10 o'clock all stores were closed and the street looked like Sunday. The banks did not open at all, the postoffice closed after the morning delivery, schools were not opened at all, and nearly all of the factories were closed and the men at home with their families. There was a tremendous amount of bunting parties started out in every direction. The city and county offices were part of them open for a little while, but at 10 o'clock all were closed. .¶ Dealers in Thanksgiving supplies say that they had the best trade yesterday that they have had for several years, There was plenty of stuff to sell and the buyers were many. Everybody s emed [seemed] to be able to have what they wanted. Turkeys started out at 13 cents, but were offered at 10 cents in several places by evening, and there were many left on the books at the stores this morning. Held Up and Robbed, (New Paris Mirror.) .¶ One morning last week Hun Northrop, who was working in Richmond, was on his wav over on foot about 5 o'clock in the morning, walking on the railroad. As he was going up the grade just this side of the junction he met a man who accosted him with "say, pard, give me a chew o tobacco." Hun, ever ready to accommodate, commenced to unbutton his overcoat to as to get at his tobacco pocket, and in doing so naturally dropped his eyes momentarily, and on raising them again was somewhat surprised to find him self looking into the muzzle of a big pistol, and to hear the fellow say: "I guess you had better give me what money you've got, too." He handed over his pocket book saying: "Well, you won't get much, but you've cheated me out of my dinner." The pocket book contained forty cents in silver, which the robber took out, returned the purse and walked away. Decisive Battle Expected Today. .¶ Washington, D. C Nov. 28.— Capt. Perry telegraphed from Panama that parties fought yesterday near Buena Vista. A decisive; battle is expected today about the same place. . .¶ Friends of Millard Spencer, of the Little Tycoon, will oe intesested in knowing that his new opera, "Miss White," was produced in New York: this week and is a success. We get it before the close of the season.