The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 22, 1902, Page 3

FRANCISCO CALL, MONDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1902. . BURNED PASSENGERS ARE TAKEN TO RAILROAD HOSPITAL IN THIS CITY, WHERE THEY ARE GIVEN SURGICAL AID - DEATH REAPS BIG HARVEST Victims Succumb Stead- ily to Injuries. Shocking Burns Main Cause of Pain. HE interior of the Southern Pacific Hospital at the corner of Mission and Fourteenth streets presented a dreary spec- tacle yesterday morning when the injured men, women and children from the train wreck near By- ron arrived there for treatment. A sad- Ger eight has seldom been witnessed in eny hospital in this city. There were twenty-six patients treated in the operat- ing room during the morning hours and of them were suffering from frightful burns. The injuries were confined mainly to the faces and hands of the victims. Several had been so badly scalded about the face and head that they were scarce- 1y recognizable even to their relatives. The injuries, as is usual in the case of burns, were exceedingly painful and the physicians had to exercise great care in dressing them. The first consignment of the injured ar- r in this city at 4:30 o'clock in the morning. When the report of the wreck was received at the Southern Pacific Hos- pital on Saturday night Drs. W. B. Cof- fey and W. J. Henesey were dispatched immediately to the scene of the accident. When they reached the wreck they as- sisted In administering the first aid to the wounded. With the help of Dr. J. P. Dunn of the Oakland division, Drs. Hammond &nd Burke of Byron and Bowerman and Gardner of Brentwood, they succeeded in bandaging the wounds of all of the in- jured so that when the sufferers of the wreck arrived in this city they were in as good condition as it was possible for them to be under the circumstances. On the first train that reached the Oak- Jand mole there were ten of the injured. Dr. G. R. Carson with several trained nurses was at the depot to meet them. Ambulances from the German, Rallroad and several other hospitals of this city had been conveyed across the bay and were on hand to receive the injured. The most seriously injured were placed in the ambulances, while others who were not quite so badly hurt were put in carriages and taken on board the boat. When they reached this side of the bay they were rushed at once to the Southern Pacific Hospital where everything possible was done to relieve their injuries and make them comfortable. The arduous work of caring for the ded was under the supervision of Dr. rdner, chief surgeon of the Southern Pacific Hospital, and he deserves great credit for the able manner in which it was done. He was assisted by the entire staff of physicians at the Railroad Hospital and by a number of others who were called in for the o Among those who at- tended to tk nded were: Drs. W. B. Coffey, 8. J. Gardner, J. H. O’Connor, W. esey, J. P. Dunn of Oakland, C. M. Ellinwood, G. R. Carson, J. T. Christian, G. H. Powers, G. W. Ogden and H. G. in SECOND TRAIN ARRIVES. uries of the ten who reached the t had scarcely been attended he second trainload arrived, sixteen more. The second lot 0 met at the Oakland mole by on, the nu from the Railroad »epital and the ambulances. When the ed were taken from the train on the side of the bay they presented a 1 In many cases weir faces and heads were so swathed in sdages that only the tips of their noses be seen. Even the small portions f their faces that were discernible ough the bandages showed evidence of been scalded by the escaping Very few had been injured by fiying debris. Not more than three or four sustained fractured limbs. On the way down from the wreck two of the most seriously burned succumbed. One of these was Miss Amelia Mayer, Gaughter of Paul Mayer of Fresno, and the other a little Japanese baby only 18 months of age. The remains of the lit- tle Japanese was taken off the train at Martinez. Miss Mayer was one of the unfortunate Mayer family who suffered g0 severely in the wieck. She was only 33 years of age and with her mother and 1wo brothers was on the way to Fresno to visit her father, Paul Mayer, who is & prominent hotelkeeper at that place. The entire family had formerly resided at Fresno, but recently the mcther and her children moved to this city and took up their. residence at 10#2 Golden Gate ave- nue. They were on their way to their old home so that thelr family might Ynite in the celebration of Christmas. The sad story of how the Mayer family %ad suffered in the wreck made tears come to many eyes yesterday in the Southern Pacific Hospital. The mother, Mrs. Emily Mayer, was so badly injured that the physicians feared to inform her of the fate of her daughter. Her three other children, Carl, Roberta and Lous, were all badly scalded. To make the sad glory even sadder yet, Carl, who was 17 years of age, died last night 1 Leonard S. Erwin, a young mattres maker of Oakland, died while on the boat ceming to this city. Robert Renwick of Fowler, Cal, and W. L. Temple, the grand organizer of the Woodmen of the World, both died soon after reaching the hospital, Renwick died almost imme- diately on crossing the threshold, and Tempie lived but a half-hour longer. The physiclans under the direction of Dr. Gardner worked heroically to allevi- ate the pains of the injured. After the wounds had all been dressed the relatives and friends of the sufferers were allowed to see those who were not in danger of death. There were only three, however, who were able to talk and give any ac- count of the wreck. These were G. B. Crites, 2 young student of the class of 193, Berkeley, who has a cut in the left arm and a bruised hip; J. 8. Carroll, the outside agent for the City Street Im- provement Company, and Archie Keller, & book agent from Fiorence, Colo. Both XKeller and Carroll were so badly burned 2bout the sides of the face and head that they could only talk in monosyllables. Tung Tia Gong, who was one of the un- fortunate Chinese wedding party, died at 3:20 o'clock in the afternoon. She also Y.ad breathed the fatal vapor and had been scorched about the head and face. The next to succumb was Richard Post, the young dental student who was study- ing at the Affiliated Colleges. He was in his senior year and only wanted six months’ ‘work to complete his.course. He was only 22 years of age. He was on his way home go Fowler, in Fresno County, to spend Christmas with his parents. The next name to be added to the grow- ing list of fatalities was that of T. Moyo- na, a little Japanese girl, only 4 years of ge. She died about 9 o'clock. The next to go was Carl Mayer, who was 17 years of age. There are still nineteen patients who were injured in the wreck confined in the Southern Pacific Hospital. All but three of them are in serious condition, but the phyeicians believe that not more than one or two more will succumb, vere Ior. ( He the | Two Alamedans Are Among the Killed. e AKLAND, Dec. 21.—Charles A Sessions, who was killed in the Byron wreck, was on his way to meet and surprise his son, Nathan P. Sessions, just re- turning from a trip through Arizona for Miller, Sloss & Scott, the Saun Francisco hardware firm. He and Mrs. Sessions had decorated their home at 1528 Eighth street and prepared a reception in honor of their son. Neither knew at what hour he would arrive from the South, and Sessions left his wife at noon- time fully expecting to get home in the evening. But during the afternoon Ses- sions received a telegram from his son informing him of the train he was re- turning upon to Oakland. This evidently determined Sessions to go down the road to meet his son, though he did not inform Ius wife of his Intention, probably on ac- | count of the haste with which he went | away. His destination, of course, was known only to himself. SON_ PASSES SCENE OF WRECK. Nathan Sessions, all unaware of the terrible fate of his father, passed the scene of the wreck this morning. He looked upon the terrible destruction as his train moved by, but little thought that the body of his father was buried in the debris. Knowledge of his father's death did not come to him until after he had been home for some time. - known in Oakland. ven years' residence in this city made his face familiar to hundreds. He was a member of the Oakland Lodge of Elks, with the activities of which lodge he had a good deal to do. Six or seven years ago he was attacked by rheuma- tism, which racked and pained his body, but through all his suffering he retained the cheerful disposition that had endeared him to many. Central Village, Conn., was Sessions’ ) birthplace. He was 58 yvears old. He was | always connected with the coal industry, having served in the employ of various coal firms since his coming to California in the early "3's. For many years he was the agent in Oakland of the Dunsmuir collieries, but recently became associated with the firm of James P. Taylor. Sessions leaves a wife, one son and two brothers, Willlam Sessions of San Francisco and Joseph Sesslons of San Diego. 4 HIS LAST GOOD-BY. ‘William L. Temple, another victim of the wreck, was the State organizer for the Woodmen of the World, in which ca- pecity he was going to the San Joaquin Valley to institute a lodge last night. He ding his wife good-by at their home, 1354 Telegraph avenue. He said farewell once and shortly afterward returned to say good-by again much more affectionately. Mrs. Temple was startled at his return, and he, noticing her perturbation, at- tempted to allay her by declaring that he had forgotten something. She felt that it was a bad omen, and the thought of the unusual circumstance lingered with her all through the day. Her fears that something would happen were confirmed | when the nmews came that her husband was fatally injured. After the wreck Temple was taken to the Railroad Hospital. He was conscious up to the time the traln reached the Six— teenth-street depot, but he made no state- ment about the collision. He passed away at noon to-day just as his wife reached his bedside. Temple was the son of the Rev. and Mrs. R. A. Temple of Everett, Mass. He | wes born in New Brunswick thirty-six = X% 1 LOTS OF TIME | TO FLAG TRAIN Engineer Louis C. Kerr of the Owl train, in an interview, said: “In order that everything should be right, and to take every precaution, I s sted that the front brakemen, Ed Austin, should accompany Cole, the rear brakeman, when he went back to flag the Stockton Flyer. The two brakemen went together, and { shortly Austin returned to the train and said that Cole was geing back and walking fast. Cole, Austin said, was then a train’s length, say 400 feet, back on the track and walk- ing rapidly. . . There was plenty of time after I stopped the Owl to properly flag the Stockton train.” . RS RPN left yesterday afternoon after twice bid- | ZFOFFIATAL THEE TAIRED, WO ASSTSTED SZO OWLI S = & i) P.o L PEARY BAIRD oOr FRESINO @ RS L 5 @A\ 7 ) b [ L SOME OF THE DEAD AND INJURED, TWO YOUNG LADIES WHO RENDERED ASSISTANCE TO THE PASSENGERS AND CHURCH ED- IFICE WHICH WAS TEMPORARILY TURNED INTO A HOSPITAL. l years ago. All his life he had devoted himself to systems of insurance, in the advocacy of which he was very success- ful. He came to California three years ago to fill the office of organizer for the | Woodmen of the World, for which he ac- complished much. He had a particularly | agreeable presence and had a large circle | of friends, both in and out of the frater- nity with which he was affillated. Besides his wife, whom he married eighteen years ago, Temple leaves two daughters, one of 16 years and the other of 8 years. The funeral will be held Tues- day afternoon at 2:30 o’clock from Wood- men Hall under Woodmen auspices. 'EYE WITNESS SAYS FLAGMAN WAS TOO LATE An eye witness of the actual collision was' W. M. Moore of San Jose, who spends much of his time at Byron on | business. He was walking up the road | to the north of the depot when he noticed the Owl train standing on the main track and apparently in trouble. “I would not have paid much attention to this” he said yesterday, “but the thought suddenly occurred to me that the Stockten flyer was nearly due and there would be serfous trouble it the Owl train did not get out of the way very soon. I stopped and watched the men working about the engine for a minute or two, wondering what tliey ‘were going to do. “Then I saw a brakeman start to run down the track with a lighted lantern. It was clear starlight and I could see it all very plainly. The flagman had only run a short distance, it seemed to me, when the headlight of the flyer loomed up and he began swinging his lantern like mad. The engineer of the flyer answered with the usual two whistles and I could dis- tinctly hear the grinding of the brakes. The train slowed up considerably, but she was still going so fast that she slid over the rails and crashed into the Owl with tremendous force. “I started for the scene of the wreck at once, but the roar of escaping steam 5 was so loud I did not hear the cries of the injured until I got quite close. Men and women came running from all direc- to rescue the living and relieve the wounded. It was an awful sight. “T shall never forget it to my dying day. I have -often read of just such scenes, but imagination could —never plcture that | shuddering reality. Men and women were pinned up against the wall of the car by the locomotive, shrieking with agony and calling for help. Some hung head down- ward, and others dangled broken legs or arms through the broken windows, while all were frightfully mutilated and envel- oped in a cloud of steam. “We had to chop holes in the side of the car with axes in order to release them. I turned sick more than once with the dreadful sight and more than one strong man faltered at times, but those women who nursed the wounded never once wavered or stopped in their work of mercy even for a moment’s rest.” A . GRAPHIC TALE OF DISASTER™ | BY CONDUCTOR| St ALAMEDA, Dec. 21.—Conductor Charles | H. Schu, who was in charge of the Stock- ton train, made the following statement at his home in Alameda: “I was sitting in a back seat in the last car on my train when T experienced oue jar and then another, the second fol-- lowing the first as quick as a person covid clap his hands twice. The first I believe was caused by the setting of the air brakes and the second by the col- lision. We were on time and were run- ning at our usual speed. “There is a slight down grade where the smash-up occurred. When we struck the .other train many of our passengers were pitched forward against the. seats, but none was seriously injured. After | getting up from the floor, where I was sent sprawling, I climbed down from the side of the car and went forward. I saw. cur engine had run full length into a passenger coach. The roof of the car reste@ on the top of the boiler with the sides and seats of the car on either side | time to attempt to place the responsibility | ing blows. | and Mr. Short and I took her out.’ Then | fying than busy men had time to realize of the engine. The wreck of the car look- ed like a great umbrella over the locomo- tive. Pinned between the seats were men, women and children screaming and groaning for help. “With my two brakemen, C. F. Duncan and C. J. Schwartz_ and several others, whom I did not know, we set to work | with axes to release the tving from their awful tortures and.recover the dead. It was a terrible task groping in the dark and_clouds of steam for the injured and dead. As fast as we could reach the im- prisoned victims we carried them out and laid them near the track. One woman I carried out held a dead child in her arms but I do not think she knew it. I hav been in three wrecks during my career as a railroad man, but I never saw and never expect to see such a nerve-racking horror again. It is not my place at this for the disaster. That will be better de- termined by investigation. Whether En- gineer McGuire saw any signal lanterns or lamps at the rear end of the Owl train 1 cannot say.” SELFISHNESS AND COWARDICE ARE LACKING FRESNO, Dec. 21.—Chester H. Rowell, editor of the Fresno Republican, was sit- ting in the dlner at dinner with Frank H. ; Short, when the crash came. He describes the accident as follows: ‘“There was a crash, instant total dark- ness, and then a series of crushing, grind- Glass was breaking and fall- ing all around, tables were overturned, and people were thrown in every direc- tion. A young woman became hysterical we rushed back toward the rear car. A big man came staggering up; we heiped | him td, a car, and noticed that the side of his face was crushed and the jawbone laid open. “The rear car was a sight more horri- at the time. The back half of the car was in ominous silence save for the hiss of escaping steam from the broken steam pipes of the engine. Against the front end was packed a mass of broken tim- bers, bent iron and writhing, screaming, crushed and scalded humanity. Ghastly, bleeding heads and arms protruded from the windows, and there were groans and cries, but little uncontrollable hysteria. “There was not one person who in his agony forgot that others also were suf- fering. One man called out that his son was crushed; another called for haste be- cause ‘we’ were bleeding to death, but no one absolutely lost control of himself. In fact, I did not see one selfish or cowardly 3 to go back two or three tele- train I turned my attention as soon as | possible to getting the news to the outside world. one the the the There was only one slow wire and telephone and it was difficult to get s out rapidly enough to satisfy of those who had friends on . FIREMAN JOYCE IS ABOUT NOW BUT RETICENT STOCKTON, Dee. 2.—Fireman Ed Joyce of the Stockton flyer was about te-day. He escaped with slight burns on the hands and face. He refuses to add anything to the brief statement he made Saturday night to the effect that he and Engineer McGuire saw the signals calling for a stop and that the brakes were ap- plied. He says the train was so close to the Owl that the momentum of the cars drcve them forward into the doomed coaches. He declares that neither he nor Engiteer McGuire left their seats. He says he got out of the wreck without a sistance and did not see Engineer M¢- Guire taken out. Joyce belongs to a fam- ily of railroad men and refuses to talk on any point touching on the responsibil- ity for the wreck. Another Victim Dies at Fresno. FRESNO, Dec. 2..—D. J. Vernon, one of the victims of the Byron wreck, died at the hospital here to-night. Vérnon had been a resident of Fresno for a year and a half. He came here from Whittier, Los Angeles County. He was one of the best known men in Southern California. For some time he managed a cannery in this city. He invented some machinery which is used in canneries and at the time of his deatlr was arranging to have it placed on the market. EVANSYILLE, Ind., Dec. 21.—The Ohlo River, which has been overflowing the lowlands above and below the city for the past week, came to a standstill to-day. FORS SAYS FLAGGING WAS CARELESS William Guening, brother- in-law of Engineer McGuire, in an interview said: “For some time my brother- in-law has felt that something just like what happened would occur. Almost every- time Ie goes home after a run he calls at my house. The night before he went out on the last run he remarked that | a collision would certainly oc- cur before long if the system of flagging and running of trains were not changed. He remarked that it was not the proper thing for a brakeman graph poles and flag a train, as the time would come when the oncoming train could not act or hear one selfish word all night. “Being the only newspaper man on the i be brought to a stop in time.” b 5 | woman. SAYS BRAKES " WERE UNSET {Passenger Talks Who Was on Flyer. Claims No Stop Was Made by Train. TOCKTON, Dec. 2L—A. Cobn, & well-known resident of this city, was on the “Flyer” and had an | experience that he will not soon forget. The shock of the colll- sion, when the Stockton train | crashed into the rear coach of the “Owl,"” | threw him from his seat, and In falling he struck his head against the side of the car and was rendered unconscious. In | relating his experience to-day, Cohn said: “I can consider myself lucky that I was not on the ©wl. I had been at Val- | lejo for three or four days, and went to | Port Costa to take the train for home. There were some others at the station who wanted to take the Owl and ride to | Tracy, as it carried a dining car and we thad had no dinner. They wanted me to go on the Owl with them, but I said I | would wait for the Flyer, as it would be along in half an hour. Had I taken the Owl I would have heen in the rear car which was wrecked. “The wreck was the most awful sight I ever saw in my life. The car was spht right open, the engine having plowed through it. From each side of the split | car were hanging dead bodies or persons | who had been injured and could not e: l‘trlca.le themselves from the wreck. The | cries and groans of the injured were piti- ful. I did what I could to help the in- | jured. ““When the collision came I was knocked | senseless and lay-in that condition for | several minutes. There were two ladies in the car with me. We were pitched out of our seats. A. Cowley, a theatrical man, who | was on the Steckton “Flyer,” says that | he talked with the brakeman of the train | after the collision. “The brakeman told me and several others,” said Cowley to- | day, “that he saw the red and the white | Ughts of the flagman who was sent back down the track from the Owl to give our train warning. He sald he saw-the lights as the Flyer sped past them.” “In_my opinion,” said Cowley, in con- clusion, “the train did not slow down. Our train came to a stop as though the brakes were put on rather suddenly. We looked at the brakes on the Flyer after | the collision and none of them were set. There was no fog at the time. It was as clear as a bell. When we went for- ward to ascertain the cause of the sud- den stop we were surprised to learn the | extent of the accident. “The engine plowed right throtgh to within about five feet of the front end of the last coach on the Owl. The largest number of fatalities occurred toward the | forward end. One traveling man was | wedged in a window and was calling for some one to come to his assistance. Soon after he had been cut free he died. I also saw two young women who were killed. One of them was a college girl on her way home from Berkeley to spend the holidays.” TWO STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY AMONG KILLED BERKELEY, wec. 2L.—Out of the score or more happy Berkeley students who were speeding homeward to spend the | Christmas holidays with their families, | two now lie dead, one is suffering on a bed of pain at Byron and one destination bearing the s | disaster at Byron last night. Clarence | Olufs, a freshman from Fresno, was kill= | ed outright. Mi Mabel Vezey, a girl student in the sophomore e was scalded and died from the results of her injuries this morning. G. S. €rites, a freshman, was badly scalded and is now at Byron. Luckiest of all is Miss Maéy Baird of Fresno, who continued her jour- ney with only an injured hand to show for her experience. Saturday being the close of the examin- ation period, there were thirty or more college students upon the ill-fated fiyer, who had been forced to stay to complet their tests. Of these were the unfortunate collegians who met death or hurt ia the crash of the wreck. Clarence Olufs was a first year student in the college of agriculture and this was the first trip which he was making home after entering college. Miss Mabel Vezey, the other student who was killed, was a member of the class of 1905 and a student from Modesto in the college of social seci- ence. Of the wounded, G. S. Crites, a student from Bakersfleld, was a first year man in the college of civil engineering. Miss Mary Baird, who escaped with some se- vere scratches, hails from Fresno. She is a student in the college of social sei- | ences in the juniocr class and is one of the | mest popular girls of the ‘college social set. MANY SOUTHERN PASSENGERS ON ' WRECKED TRAIN LOS ANGELES, Dec. 21.—The Los An~ geles Owl train from San Francisce, which had its rear passenger coach tele~ scoped by the Stockton flyer near Byronm Seturday evening, resulting in the death of a score of people and the more or less serious injury of many more, arrived at the Arcade station this afternoon at 2:20 o’clock, just six hours late. The train congisted of an engine and six coaches and was in charge of Conductor Bodman, who was ordered to take the place of the regular conductor at Fresno. None of the dead or Injured wers | brought to this city, as they all resided in Fresno or the immediate vicinity. There | were, however, on board the train many | Los Angeles people, who tell pathetia stories of the heartrending scenes which followed the collision; of the many thrill- ing and seemingly providential escapes, and of the great heroism displayed by men and women in the noble work of res- cue. Charged With Stealing Purse. Gecrge Kane and Frank Nelll were ar- rested last night on a charge of robbery preferred against them by a woman | named Kate Byart. She had been visit- |ing a friend named Mrs. Tuite at 211 Eighth street and took out her purse, which contained $25, to pay for some beer, | when; she alleges, one of the men grabbed the purse and, after passing it to the . other man, both decamped. Policemen Blum, Bates and Seguine arrested both men at the corner of Natoma and Eighth streets. Upon their persons was found the money alleged to have been stolen and a marked coin claimed by the Byart i s e e Tl bt e