The Weekly Courier from Connellsville, Pennsylvania • Page 1

VOL. 2, NO. 38. I A ONE CENT. THe Dead ars.ti Injured.

Big Atlantic Type Engine Struck Pile of Lumber and Terrible Disaster Followed at Laurel Run. DEAD. The list of dea-1. ideniiUeU at morgues of J. Simd, J.

S. Stader and Morris Co at 2 clock this af- tevnoon, are as follows: C. i Conncllsville, iticntifiCil i morn Leo Wubbeler, Beaver Falls, P.i Prospers Franceska, Allegheny Jar-es W. Coakley, Rochester. 1VI.

Myerowitcti, Johnstown, Pa. 7. J. Fnrman, Philadelphia, Pa. Walter Stewart, Camden, N.

J. Geo. F. i a i Md. John K.

Powers, Cumberland, "Md. Vi. K. Smith, E. S.

Goldsmith and C. Two "Well Known Young Connellsville Men and Father C. A. FemncHo, Connellsville. i THE DEAD AND INJURED'ARE BROUGHT HERE.

Feinnello of Italian Catholic Church Among the Dead. Pitiful Scenes at the Wreck and on the Relief a i Coming Up to Connellsville. W. A. Gaed, Agent C.

V. II. il.ir- Charles Langford, Pa J. Edgerly, Butler, Pa. i a D.

Ducett, 'Baltimore. Md Charles M. Grey Baltimore, Md. J. Twilly, Brooklyn, N.

Herbert Homes. Emelton, Pa, C. U. a Aasl.star.t Division Engineer Haxehvood, Pa. A.

G. Protzman, residence Gesso, an Italian. Chinaman. Jesse Hines, Taruora, N. C.

F. B. Jlcl. Chas. M.

Wagner, Berkeley Va John H. i i Pittsbure. P.i. Charles K. Stendorf, residence un- Money and Valuables of Victims Stripped From Bodies Before They "Were Taken From the Wreckage.

The most appalling disaster in the hii.tory of tho Pittsburg Division of the Baltimore Ohio railroad occurred at Laurel run, two miles west of Dawson, last evening SIxty-rilght passengers and three trainmen were "killed in a mad plunge of the Duquesne Limited on a -sharp reverse curve, caused by some heavy timbers falling irom a west-bound freight train to the oast-Tiound track, along which the Limited was speeding at the rate of 50 miles an hour. Forty-three passengers met instant death or were cooked from engine No. 1-1C5. Five passengers died on the relief train between the scone of the wreck 'and the Connellsville station. Eight passengers and Conductor Hel- groth died at the hospital.

The scenes Harrowing Scenes. at the -wreck were harrowing. HalE a hundred passengers, most of them English, speaking, were literally cooked alive In the smoking car-. A second disaster was arverted by the presence of mind of Conductor Helgroth, fatally burned at the time, Conductor Edward TJaker, who was dead-heading over to Cumberland on the Duquesne, and Baggagemaster Thomas (Dom. They rushed irp the -track the instant the wrecked train had come to a standstill -and with matches flagged train No.

49, which was stopped by Engineer Mose Johnston only -within "half a car 3engthof the wreck. Holgroth fell fainting alongside the track after No. 49 -was stopped and died at tho hospital 3 o'clock this -morning. Dom waft "bleeding from a wound eight or ten inches long on the head and suflering Irom internal injuries when he real- ised the danger of a tecond disaster after his car bad toppled over almost into the Yough river and ran up the track with Helgroth and Baker. The latter was riding in the rear of the and was not injured.

Engineer William Thornley, a vet- oran at the throttle, bad the 'big At- 1 antic No. 145 doing 50 miles an hour or better on one of the "best stretches of i ground on the Pittsburg Division when the accident happened. Fireman Joseph Cook, just a week off the Wheeling tDIvJsIon. was on the of the car, Not a single pa-s- iger scaped ilic doadl sum mo'is to another world. One inhalation waj fatal.

Every one of the dead p.isj-'un- is burned. Some of tho in arc scalded from head to foot. The Dead A Distorted came off with i clothes at the morgues in town last, night and morning as the undertakers an3 assistants prepared the bodies fur burial. Ths features of the dead were! lerribly and horribly distorted in a i instances. Death came quickly, i its agony evidently was intense.

011 porbon dow height Wrecked and ixutoivd Open as it was, every ounce of 'rom the engine pouioJ fortn its lii-ij-- pg messenger of death. FYrjm end to oud the ric cloud t-hot across Va Harold B. Morrison, 131 Flowers Direct i J. Wade Shupe, Mt. Pleasant, G.

J. a member of tbe firo (k'partimetu Westraont, -Pa i i a Shcedy. Patterson Crook, Va. a i M. i Roches'er.

Pa. i Joseph Grey, Brooklyn. N. E. Reynolds, York, Pa.

S. E. Good. McKei'sport, Pa Joseph Shclhaus, Rochester, Pa J. W.

Kctzner, i a Charles M. Zepler, Philadelphia, Pa W. A. a Mt Pleasant, Pa. S.

S. Roush, B. O. employe. A C.

Barnard, Pittsburg, Pa J. W. Martin, Hancock, Md. Adams, Addison, N. J.

Jihn Simon, Hungarian, Now York. Slav. J. W. Keczner, Cumberland, Md.

James Fox residence Joseph residence unknown. dead still i i I Keffer. Somerset. Pa f.i- I G. W.

i Edward a a 1 B. a aged 12 onrs. Harry i Connell.svIHtt Joseph Cook, fireman Glonwood. Pa. a venous.

A SECOND DISASTER WAS NARROWLY AVERTED. Heroic Action of Injured Trainmen in Signaling Train No. 49 With Matches--Pathetic Incidents on the Relief Train and at the Cottage Hospital, Where the Injured Were Tenderly Cared for in Their Last Hours. i i a half hour after the news of a ghouls robbed tho dead bod- the wreck reached ConneUsvllle a spe- ies of the wreck victims before they rial relief train was in readiness. a been removed from the wreckage perlntendent J.

F. I i gave light-! in many instances. Chief of Police S. nlnjMike orders, ami General Manager' B. Decker and Captain Horn of the B.

0. S. Slmms. who lia.ppened to be i O. police caught several men going lown, personally supervised the ar-j through the clothes of the dead.

Three In a remarkable were arrested but later turned loose. It is not known that any large sums of money were taken from any ot the s-pice ready. LImo On .1, tho relief train with emergency was anJ Louis oundnctoi Cumberland, Md. i i a Thornley, i wood. Pa Glen- Brown North Braddock; slisni; left for New York last night.

Thomas Dom. baggage-master; head to homo iu PittebUrg. -other side of the cab. The train was i Fifty Miles an Hour, "natle up ot eijzht cars, two Pullmans, a dining car, in charge of R. iNIchols, three day coaches, a regulation baggage and a sealed express car.

Some distance below Laurel run. tbe Duquesne parsed the west-bound freight. Thornley hadn't started to slow down for Daw son; in fact he had hLs throttle wide open approaching tbe reverse curve just at the Laurel run 'bridge. While the curve is a sharp one, the track and roadbed -are good at that pomt and passenger engineers bent on making their do not shut off taking the There was not. an instant's that doaCIi was at h-and for half a hundred passengers.

Before Thoinley "md time to push back throttle a notch the mighty Atlantic plunged from the track after 60-foot timbers wLich. had -rail- on over From tho west-bomul onto the east-bound track. The en- a soul ebcaped thG Mnoking Those who wore not killed outright rescued within a few minutes sserigers from the Pullman cars and 1 the other day coaches, which followed the smoker. All the cars wore derailed, but they did not leave tho road bed. The tracks were torn up for over train length and tbo toig timbers responsible for all tbe damage were splintered Into hundreds of pieces and imbedded and tangled In the under car A.

In the front portion of the coach immediately following the ill-J)atecl smoker several passengers were killed. One of these was not taken out of the wreck i aifter daylight this rooming. He was Chas. Zepler, who was pinned In by the wreckage close to the roof of the car. He had left his wife and son but a few -minutes 'before the accident, going morward "from the Jay coach to take, a He hardly had time to get.

to the forward end of the smoking car until the crash came. Mrs. and her little son came to Connclls- ville last night, the former hoping against hope that her husband would turn up safe. The recovery of his bony was broker to her as gonlly as possible and today sho will accompany the remains to their home inThlladel- Another passenger, who stood close to the door of the second coach ind the smoker was caught -between th ebumpers -as two cars crashed tht a uing in formation that lit 1 was among the vlc'imd. Friends made a closer examination and readily Identified him.

At o'clock 'Mrs. Smith was waiting for her husband to drop in for breakfast when, the news of his death wa-s broken' to hnr. Watle Shupe. a prominent citizen of "Mt. Pleasant, was not until a'bout o'clock this morning.

Friends came for the remains this afternoon. Mr. Shupe was married and was a son of O. P. Shupe, the well-known flour i man and capitalist.

Passengers to the Rescue. Thu passengers on the a cars were not shaken up much. The i iug car was well filled at the time the! engine jumped the track. Conductor! NIchol was hurled headlong down i and dishes were scattered in all directions. A.

'Soisson and wife and W. Marietta and Andrew Haas were in the i i car. They were not injured. Mr. Haas and Marietta were m-cong the lir.st to rescue tnc dead and i from tho smoking car.

Once or i the wrecked card a ilro, bnt the flames wore quick 1 checked. The wreck crew worked clearing up tracks all night and had them open this i As fast as the bodies were recovered from the smoking car they were laid ide by sl'lo on a high thank above Thornloy on the limited engines about a weok ago. He was a member of Iron City No. IS, Brother- hood of Locomotive Firemen, Conductor Helgroib was a popular passenger man He ran extra on the through and had a wide acquaintance among the patrons oC the B. 0.

He is married and leaves a wife and family at Cumberland. Baggagemaster Thomas Dom Cor a number of years made his home in Connellsville, having runs out of here. lie Is not dangerously hurt. He is at the Cottage hospital. Dom lives in Pittsburg and baa a.

wife and. several children. For HO minutes he sat ra Some them were cov- i'cet dangllrg down between the ibnmp- ers, hut held in death grip about the waist i death relieved his To Artnur.May, an express messenger on No. -19, this bogged piteously either Lo be released or No one could ucarls turned away kiiled outright. lief, aril Ktron; wept as the unfortunate man '4 life passed away in violent convulsions, irantlcally pleading with God for mercy and the chance to see his family once more.

No Survivors. There Js not a i of the smoking ear able to the of the few seconds during which the car was filled with steam. Two of the survivors, Edward Devlin and John TJrowfllee, at the Collage hospital, may recover. All the balance will i Dr. T.

iH. White said to a Courier reporter today ISdison Goldsmith was sitting about the middle of the smoking car. Short- passed the obstructions, "buthy after leaving Pittsburg he was Arrival of the Dead. After the arrival of the relief train and tho disposition of the dead and njured the crowd at the depot waited Cor the arrival of the morgue train. Forty-three bodies were unloaded from the train and taken to City Hall, which Burgess C.

W. Patterson had thrown open. Prisoners were released from the cells to make room for the corps- Frorn City Undertakers J. E. Sims and L.

Stader aid pickaxes, were the following 'phys'Cians: Drs. T. S. "White, M. B.

Shupe. J. W. Billy, K. S.

McKee, H. F. Atkinson, T. D. Kchard, Louis P.

Mci Corrnick and G. "VV Gallagher. The newspaper reporters, a few rail- The Relief Train. readers am! some officers completed the train's crew. Two passenger coicheb were hauled by a big engine and ra-ade fast time.

On the way down the seats were turned to accommodate the Injured, and preparations for the work to come were made. It was only those who were there who will ever know the of that scene. Death and Pain stalked hand in hand through the chaos that reigned. l-iusty shouts of the workers mingled wJtftt the shrill walU of the injured, as from their parched and scalded throats came cries for water and mercy, sometimes for death. those calls for death were not without answer, for almost every minute some suffere-r would give a last cry of suffering and then lie still under the cold sky.

The PS. rls took charge of nil the bodies they coukl'handSe Thirty-seven bodies are at Sims' morgue. 13 at Morris and 10 at Stutters'. A the nearby undertakers weie telephoned Tor and came to lend their as-istance hi the work of c'eantng up the bodies. It was a hard, Jong uu-k.

but under the circumstances it way crv well of excitement reigned eied with handkerchiefs, while others stared in nldeonrfncss tinder the glare of many torch lights. Steam nlistered the tongues and lips of the to an awt'ii! and they protruded a sickening manner. Fireman Cook was found clear of his engine. Thornly was tinder the wheels of the smok- car. The top of his head was crushed in.

Otherwise he was not much marked or Dtirned. The Dead Trainmen. William Thornley, the engineer ho lost his life in the wreck of tne Du- n.ueSTte Limited last night. wa one ol about that plac-e of death. Around the wreckage forms flitted in the red glow of camp-fires, picking their way around among the dead and wounded.

Up on the bank -by the side of the wreck. like a ghastly trophy of death, were ranged more than 40 dead bodied. Every now and again a new corpse was added, and the long list lengthened, as relentless death kept on with his gruesome tally. la the "oaggage coacT at train. Ko 49 some of the physicians worked to ease sufferers, while others scouted with railroaders to aid in remote situations The kindness of the a heart was there, ami men and boys lollowe-d the physicians around bandages and water.

handled. i oa dmg up began. Ten Today the town is in a siaVo of i the injured were carried into dead bodies, hut some of the victims' clothes were rifled before thew put aboard the relief train. One of the heroes the disaster is J. J.

Birmingham, operator at the Virgin Run tower on the Pittsburg Lake Erie railroad just opposite tbe Fcene of the wreck. He saw the terrible accident, and immediately wired the Dickerson Run office, just oppo-' Dawson. Then, he notified the. Pittsburg officials of the B. O.

and name across tlie river to aid in the escue work. Coroner's Inquest. Coroner A. S. Hagon came down this morning and swore in a jury as follows: C.

W. Davidson, Robert R. "Welsh, George B. Brown, George Graft and dleton. It is pro'oable that the will not 'be held lor a week or ten- days The went to each of, the morgues" and-viewed the Dr.

Bell and 'H. drove' at a furious pace to the scene ot the trouble. Dr. Cogan was not 'Ions in following, and perhaps a score ot son. citizens scene fifteen minutes'after the pened.

Among tb.osej.were SmithiButfesr ir termore, William Welty Dom and imany others? C. GJonwoodi- wh7lwas one" of" the Duquesne to his homo at Point Rocks, on No. 12. His assistant, Hichard D. Ducett.

who was also' Jellied, "will be sent on the same "train to his home in Baltimore. Both young, men were well known by me-mfbers -of the Baltimore. Ohio corps- of Connellsville who can scarcely believe the horrible morgues of the relief a i the un- g0 was cptilinued. Here the Physicians the best known men in the railroad nbont Pittsbnrg. Mr.

Thornley was first engaged in the B. 0. service as engineer on September 15, 1SS2, when he began running as freight engineman from Pittaburg on the local division to He knew every inch of the road, and was regarded from his first week of ser- vjce us one oC the men purse from the Allegheny General Hospital in 'PItUibiirg, who nurb- ng in a private family at Dawson, 'olunteered. Her gentle bands smoothed a death pillow on tho tense excitement. The crowded with visitors, identified dead Rumors of inenlilica- and citizens ministered to the wants tior.s are rampant on the streets, each Uf the dying.

Wright, a trained new name added to the l.st bringirg i it a new a a heait-rend- ing sorrow. Early tills i people" from all over the country flocked into town, uncertain regarding the safety of their i known to be in Pittsburg yesterday. In spite of a drizzling rain great crowds are abo.it -tbe morgues, some morbidly inclined, others searching for news of miss'ng friends. HI. Good of McKccsport, one of the dead, was on his way to New York he was to be marr.ed brothers identified his remains this morning.

The Duquesne Limited. The Dnquesne Liiinited was placed service by the Baltimore Ohio The Heroic Trainmen, action of Conductor Helgroth, Baggagemaster Tom Bom and Conductor Baker In fiaging train-No. 49 with matches was a piece of thoughtfulness and duty seldom witnessed in railroading. Tlelgiotb was so badly injured that he died this i i and Dom -was painfully hurt, but their first -19 thought was the oncoming Ten seconds delay would have, i up to Connelisville. Before they resulted in even a worse disaster than peculiar Incidents of At happened.

surged One cf the the finding a toy the ends tilted and caught the vited back into the d.ning car by An- in the service. Ho followed his freight'ago, and is regard i it high into the air over Haas of Connellsville to have work several years and then was as- on 'the JBa'timor iop of tho engine and nearly 100 yards up the track, where it landed sidc- "blocking 'both tracks. 'The pond i engine plunged in between the two tracks for a short distance and then caromed over on its side to the The sealed express car went rlcar to the river, ploughing to -well in the smoking car or tn3 the right. The baggage car telescop- od the engine and landed down over the batik clear of the tracks. The coach followed the baggage, but.

the momentum of the train by this i was losing force and Instead of telescoping the eng'ne the coach off to the right. I'Mreman Cook had the hand of the steam gauge around to the 200 mark. As the smoker, crowded to tho full pacity of every seat, ripped along the plde of the big passenger engine the 'team dome caught it just at the win- dinner on the way up. He declined to passenger runs on local the invitation, remarking that his supper would be waiting at home an.l he didn't want to disappoint his mother. K.

Smith, Division Operator of the Connellsville Division of the Baltimore Ohio railroad, was riding front end of the coach next the smoker, his exact pi ice on the train being unknown. It was not until 5 o'clock this morning that Smith was identified. He trad been in Pittsburg Wednesday on railroad business and Mrs. Smith expected him home by o'clock. She was assured by friends that he was not on the train and that he was detained at work by the wreck.

None of Mr. friends were aware that he was i amon i the dead until his body was taken in charge at Morris Company's morgue. There iapers trains, then to through runs. "When the Duquesne 'Limited was instituted by the J3. O.

four and five years ago, just after the reorganization was begun, one of the enginemen. selected for the responsibility of seeing that the train was on schedule time was Thornley, He had served continuously since in this service. Mr. Thornley's -home is at 4905 Ly- tl street, Hazel wood. He was 52 years old and leaves a wife, one son and three daughters.

For a number of years be lived In Connellsville. -x." Pireman recently-married and has been connected O. since 1900, when he came -from Baldwin, -Tenn. He was i also regarded as a first-class man. In the service, Railroad Company about three the sufferers were relieved iby anes- as the crack train thetics.

Soon the moaning died away Ohio between and those Injured who were no: dying Pittsburg and New York. Its first 1 lay and awaited their summons, scheduled stop after leaving Pittsburgh One by one they died. It was if reichcd here five had died. depot an immense crowd around the train as the dead and wreck was juied were loaded into liospital and engine directly beneath the cylinder of morgue ambulances. Anxious friends I engine Js o.

1IC5 as she lay ditched' asked about who were known along the track. The toy had been to be in Pitlsburg. The dead were taken to tho morgues and the injured to the hospital. Two more expired on the way up to the in- stitut on. At the hospital tender hands Ijandaged burned flesh while Disposal of the Dead.

is Connellsville, a run oil 58 which it is scheduled to make in one hour and 35 minutes. Connellsville people are among the best patrons oC this train, oecause it makes no stops and gets them home early Ic even- Ing. Usually the train, especially the day coaches and smoker, are crowded, since it carries no extra cars. Engine No. 14G5, which pulled the ill-fated train, Is one of a number of- new locomotives of the Atlantic type recently placed on the Pittsburg Division.

It was tho largest type of passenger engine in service on the road, and capable of hauling a heavy train at great speed. It has only been in about two months, during time miles, death walked about the wards and his victims. One "by one the this accounting for his promotion Baltimore i railroad engi- a minor passenger-run to the place'neers pronounced it a wonder. saffcrcrs ceased their meanings and wore carried out on btrelchers. Outside, in the chill winter night, the ambulance hauled the dead to down town morgues.

The streets of town, usually quiet in the morning hours, were alive with activity. Dead wagons rumbled over the streets with their shrouded burdens. People late bearing- the terrible news hurried from -place to place seeking informa- tion'concerning the calamity and the in possession of some passenger iboard the train, but how a got out ot the cur and up under the engine one of those peculiar things that occur at railroad wrecks. The little smoke stack was gone and one driving wheel. Another of the victims, Koez- enr, had a woman's fur coat, which he tad evidently -purchased as a present.

John. "Will Is had two hanxibome diamonds recently purchased as gifts his wife. John H. Willis and A. Kalp were members of the 'Elks.

Mr. Kalp belonged in ML Pleasant, he Is a well-known insurance man, and Willis belonged to Lodge No. 11, in Pitts- paefty their friends. Rumor alter rtimor flew along the streets, from depot to morgue and hospital. Many 'people known to be in were missed by their' friends and thought to be numbered among the dead.

burg Several of the victims were members of; the Masons and Odd Fel- Wb Just when the relief train was being loaded with the injured death, tragic in its awful suddenness, occurred. A man, still -unidentified, walked Into thp- baggage car with a firm tread and sat down upon a trunk. He not visibly burned, and, In a voice a-skied about a Then he died. With one gasp he and ter- ror was stamped on every face in the car as they laid Heart on Fifth.