The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 23, 1903, Page 3

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 1903, VICTIMS OF THE TRAGEDY OF THE RAIL TELL OF THE TRAIN'S GREAT SPEED \ ~ L O WHILE AN OFFICIAL Children Playing in Guich Only Witnesses of Disaster off the Train and They Nar- rowly Escape Flying Trucks of Tender AN RAFAEL, June 22.—-The| seemingly about a second. then plunged 8¢ the wreck on the| headlong below. In making the descent Rail yester- | the coach turned over and struck bottom- P Point | Side up. My back and shoulders struck be yet th or will not Charles the line they ac- was un- whether Sinte roa re he is s & r 4 Orth is. He o'clock. I a informed when he RUSHED BY ORDERS. Of course many blame him for the to » ar b . howe had told the many of his the train € t the r & » fax I le thing fast and r but able, h i When we reached terra firma 1 The rendered s nui erior is in a critical c inty Cle: / re . very RUNNING TOO FAST. b a - . who sustained with the isisted on is no doubt § s running too one compelled t or run the ri seats into some before the neer was in s down to San Ansel the dangerous the rc uld judge that we ~five miles an ruck the curve then Yaew wh rs were time 10 take e residents nstitution I got pretts curve e in par- alt it know The ocked r rses Judge ondi- t be seen this afternoon rk of nding little | frac. He is His Mr. and great he walk- n my fast, side. 0 remain sk of one’s ident a big Imo. oad is were hour. 1 felt at to n 1 expected, though. 1 off the trestle like the It poised in the air, ’ Yo eer's trade @i Schilling’s Best is the nicest wade there is. There are nc cemplaints; if there are, answers with money, he | something given out | s officials | that was | of the | accident 1 | Tomales at 3:4 o'clock. r to attend oth- the best I | right, I | and family, Albert Dutton, Mrs, night as be- | He could in- | ambu- | Anselmo ses to carry him the | trip up coun- | d I was unconscious. SCENE WAS TERRIBLE. " “When I revived the screaming of the women and children, iptermingled with he groans of distress from the men, was something m: horrible to listen to, espe- ally when I was unable to extricate my- self. M suffering was at, but my sorrow 2t seeing others in a like condi- tion, I belleve, hurt me worse. Yes, the 0ad company was kind enough after but it should never have all. It was nply gross Whose fault it was direct empt to determine.” Tunstead was for several Marin County, but in recent been a retired capitalist. A f San Ra st promi- nd their wives, who at- reral of Warren Dutton at t themselves as very lucky d not catch the special re- years turning home F. H. Holland of Marin Cou Mr Dutton and o = TIPS PIOTE, S v N I 7L 7 Tk 7 7R, y: t ma stars that we wae the idea of hank our lucky | were not on that train. It | of our special to leave Before the ser- | Mr. Shoemaker | d that train | us vices began, howev came to me an sta must leave at 2:45 o'clock. I told him it | was the order to leave much later, but | he insisted on the early start. He told me | it must be announced, but that two of the s could be left behind and be coupled the regular down train. The new or- der was announced and about thirty availed themselves of the opportunity of leaving ear] The tr however, started earlier than Mr. Shoemaker stated 14, dhe engine leaving Tomales at ock with one car attached s who attended the funeral, but who remained in Tomales, were: Warren Dutton and family, Dr. George Rodolph Denison W. J. Wickman, Dr, F. S. Holland and Roman, son of the man Lennon, San Rafael; Vallejo; O. S. manager of. the Dairvmen’s| San Francisco; Mrs. Pierce and | Perrine, San Francisco; Miss Cough- | | | | and daughter, Mrs. Augustine and wife, Miss Holland, C. n Francisco; W. P. William Vanderbilt, Keyes, San Rafael. FIGHTING FOR LIFE. In every instance those who were in- ed in the wreck yesterday afternoon re making strong battle for life. Drs Howitt and W. F. Jones were in constant attendance upon the injured who live in San Rafa They also made an exami- nation early this morning of the remains | of Anton Roman, who was killed. It was | found that Roman had sustained a com- pound fracture of the skull and suffered fractures of three ribs, the broken ends of which penetrated the lungs. After the autopsy Coroner Sawyer shipped the body to relatives in S8an Fran- 0 on the 9:3) a. m. North Shore train. San Rafael; James On a later train, the Coroner, in com- pany with Dr. H. Keck, went to San | Franecisco to perform an autopsy upon the remains of Michael Kirk, who was aiso kilied. They found the injuries to be as follows: Neck broken between the second and third vertebrae, skull fractured, one finger broken. The work of the Coroner | over, the families of the dead prepared to | lay them at rest. Coroner Sawyer stated to-night that the inquests would not be held until the end of the week. “Owing to the confusion at this time attendant upon the disaster,” said Dr. | Sawyer, “I think it best to wait a while before holding the examinations. There are a great many witnesses to summon and I will w until many of those in- jured recuperate sufficiently to give tes- timony. By that time the blame will probably be fixed.”! One of the inspectors sent to the scene of the wreek by the raroad company re- ported to-day. The inspectors’ report in substance is to the effect that the wreck occurred upon trestie No. 39, about .one mile south of Point Reyes Station. The trestle is nearly 10 degrees curve and about 100 feet long, with an elevation of C;mlnued on i’-‘e 9, Column 4. —i s in charge, said in an ir.ler-} OF THE ROAD SHIFTS BLAME TO . THE DEAD AND MAIMED Father Tells How Premonition of Disaster Seized Him and He Gathered Chiid in His Arms Just as Train Takes Fatal Plunge PITIFUL story of the suffer- ing of father, mother and child as a result of the North Shore wreck is told at the Lane Hospital, where lie Dr. R. W. Smith and Mrs. Smith | 4-year-old daughter, | and their pretty Dorothy Beatrix, both father and child in a conditign that only just allows of a fair hope for their ultimate recovery. The whole circumstances surrounding their escape from death and the fears of the father before the catastrophe occurred form part of the human and paternal side to the terrible tale of injury and death. To the evidence of the speed of the wrecked train given by many of the pas- sengers Dr. Smith adds his quota. He tells of the swift rate traveled by the funeral train. So fearful was he that an accident. must happen that he exclaimed aloud, “My God, if they make the same speed round the next trestle as on the others we shall surely go over.” Little Dorothy was on the opposite side of the car, he sald yesterday, seated with her mother and looking through a win- dow. His fear increased to such an ex- tent that he eagerly called the child over MU 1 & g MEN WERE KILLED AND MORE THAN A SCORE PERSONS INJURED, AN] SOME OF THE UNFORTUNATE VICTIMS OF THE DEPLORABLE DISASTER TmT OVERTOOK A FUNERAL A FAIR NURSE. l PARTY ON THE NORTH SHORE RAILROAD NEAR POINT REYES SUNDAY AFTERNOON, WHEN TWO Agent Declares That the Desire of Passengers to Hurry Home : Resulted in Their Injuries. - T developed yesterday that the overeagerness of a number of the funeral party to return from To- males was materially responsible for the unfortunate accident. Al- though the North Shore officials declined to discuss the matter, it was learned that the engine and coach which carried the ill-fated party from the place of interment at Tomales were to have re- turned to Sausalito without passengers. Instructions had previously been given to the funeral train crew that as soon as the party reached Tomales the old coach and englne should be coupled and brought back to the bay terminus of the road. Ar- rangements had been made to give the party three coaches in which to return to Sausalito, and these were run to a siding, Where they were to be picked up later by the regular southbound train. When the old coach and the engine were coupled, however, a number of the members of the funeral party, who had returned from the services, conceived the idea that if they could get aboard the coach attached to the engine they would be able to reach the city in advance of the balance of the party. Accordingly they got aboard, notwithstanding that they were told that the other cars were intended for their use, and their action was followed byyother persons, among them geveral genftlemen and their wives and children. According to the statements made yes- terday by General Freight and Passenger Agent Heintz the engine and coach were scheduled to leave Tomales at 2:30 p. m., and the instructions to the conductor were that he should reach Sausalito not earlier than 4:30 p. m., which would make the time for the run of forty-eight miles about two hours, fully twenty-five min- utes slower than the schedule time of the regular trains, which have to stop at va- rious points along the route. In view of this fact the officials of the road cannot understand how the engineer could have been running faster than about twenty- five miles an hour. In discussing the mat- ter Mr. Heintz said: Although the officers of the road have not yet begun an investigation into the causes of the accident, it scems plain to them that the engine and coach could not have been running at an unusually high rate of speed. Fven if it had I doubt If that fact would be sufficlent to explain what caused the coach and tender to leave the track. Possibly the real cause of the accident may never be determined. So far we have been unable to assigr any partic- ular cause. It may have been the result of one of those peculiar freaks which all railroads at some time or other experience. Perhaps something dropped upon the track and sent the wheels off. At any rate it is hard for us to belleve that the cars left the rails because of high’ speed, as some have claimed. As a matter of fact, similar trains, that is, an engine and one coach, have frequently traveled over the same section of the road at a rate of forty- five miles an hour. Only recently Manager Rank and myself came down the road over these same rails in a coach going fifty miles an hour, and yesterday we recalled several trips on which the speed from Tomales south and over this eight-foot trestle was forty-five miles an hour. The charge that Engineer Orth was going at a rate of fifty or forty-five or even thirty- five miles an hour seems doubtful, when it s considered that only a few minutes before his engine had come to a full stop at Point Reye: station. That he could have, in the short dis. tance between Point Reyes station and the acene of the accident, worked his train up to such a high rate of sheed Is a suggestion that rallroad men are not li experienced to ac- cept. Judge Angellotti and C. L. Gage, the last named a railroad man and one who has done a great deal of traveling, who were credited with statements immediately after the wreck to the effect that they had remarked the great speed of the train and commented on tha no- ticeable swaying of the car resulting from the great momentum, Were questioned by a representative of our. road to-day and denied that they were frightened by the speed of the train or paid any particular heed to the mo- tion of the coach, As to Orth, the engineer of the special, I wiil state that we regard him as a very com- petent man, one who served the Southern Pa- cific Company for more than twelve years on its local system in Alameda, to which only the most truthworthy of men are assigned, Re- garding the statements which are accredited to Fireman Shegts to the effect that he warned Orth that the train was traveling at a dan- gerous rate of speed, 1 have mo information other than what has been published. These matters, however, will be Inquired into when the company officers begin their Investigation, cither to-morrow or Wednesday. We would start upon the inquiry at once, but concluded that in view of the fact that Conductor Burrows and Fireman Sheets have not yet recovered from their rough experience, 1t would be better to defer matters for a cou- ple of days, Inquiry at the Southern Pacific offices yesterday developed the fact that En- gineer Orth had been employed on that company’s sysfem from 1883 to 1896, most of the time on the local run In Alameda, where only the most careful and well- tried men are assigned to duty. Although he was dismissed for cause, the offense in no way reflected on his diligence in regard to the safety of the traveling public. He was charged with having allowed the boiler of his engine to become scorched, or, in other words, neglected one day to keep a sharp watch on the water gauge. He is known as a sober fellow, a first-class engineer and a steady and cool-headed operator llo him and held her close in his arms. He seemed to realize the danger that was ahead. The high speed of the train, he says, prepared him for the worst. Satisfled that a catastrophe was im- minent, the doctor held his child still closer in his embrace, the tiny tot never dreaming the cause of her father's eager watchfulness. Mrs. Smith had, however, heard her husband’s words when he ex- claimed, “My God! if they make the same speed round the next trestle as on the others we shall surely go over,” but she was powerle Hardly had the child been taken in the | embrace of its father than the train plunged over the trestie, with results that have brought mourning and sorrow to many a household. ‘When rescued Dr. Smith moaned not with pain but with fear for the lives of his wife and child. He knew they were close to him, maimed and paralyzed in 1 body, but he failed | terror that death seized him. Soon Mrs. Smith and the child showed signs of reviving, and of this the in doctor was quickly informed by the samaritans attending the wounded. news gave him renewed strength and on to the them them a claimed €3 had the arrival of the injured In San Fran- cigco Dr. Smith determined that tNree must be taken together to the hos- pital. His wish was Instantly heeded The Smith family is In charge of Dr R. L. Rigdon and Dr. B. F. Clarke. Speaking of Dr. Smith's Injuries, Dr. Ciarke said: “Dr. Smith’s left arm is broken above the elbow, several of his ribs are frae- tured on the left side, he suffered numer- | ous bruises of a most painful and se- vere character and there is a bad wound on the top of his head two inches in length and open to the bone.” Mrs. Smith s suffering from numerous cuts and bad bruises. She complains of internal pains. There are many - | sions on her body | Little Dorothy lies on her cot in a comatose state from a fractured skull The fracture is on the left side of the head. Dr. Clarke sald last evening that he and Dr. Rigdon feel that Dr. Smith and the child may recover, un.ess secondary troubles intervene such as, in the se of Dorothy, hemorrhage of the brain, which would require instant operative work. s e o = | TERRIBLE SCENES ARE RECOUNTED — i Continued From Page 1, Column 7. road are all inclined to doubt the reports tha the speed of the special had anything a with the unfortunate affair t of the injuries suffered by exaggerated, but this f y | plained when we are made to | excitement under which ev | ing. With the exception | those of the injured on are greatly improved and that Mr. Tuc worse than at first reported, I e_will pull through Tunstead are pretty jast named will probably be up week. t > R A PR A | SUNDAY ACCIDENT | RECALLS ANOTHER AT FORMER FUNERAL. SANTA ROSA, June 2.—Sunday’s train wreck below Point Reyes was the prin- cipal topic of conversation in Santa Rosa to-day and quickly recalled to the minds of many citizens an accident of a similar | character that attended the oral of | Mrs. Warren Dutton about four ycars | ago. The lady passed away at her home |in San Francisco. As was the case Sun | day, a special train was chartered to convey the remains and funeral party to Tomales. Just before the departure of the train the engineer sounded a blast of | the whistle as a signal that the train wa: about to start. Many vehicles wer | crowded around the little depot and rel- ives were saying good-by A double | team, startled by the whistle. started to | run away. George Dutton, who was with Mrs. S. M. Augustine of San Rafael, un- dertook to get away from the team and clutched the arm of Mrs. Augustine, but finally released his hold on her. The horses rushed upon her and she was struck by the neck yoke of the vehicle and rendered unconscious. One of the horses trampled on her and severely in- jured her. The lady was bedfast for many days as a resuit of her injuries and bore the effects of the same for many | months. —_———ee————— JOSEPHINE STREHL ‘ASSISTS IN CARING FOR WRECK VICTIMS —Miss Josephine sted the in- wreck, has cons | BERKELEY, June | Strehl, one of those who a: | | jured in the North Shore trai been camping with friends near the of the disaster for a week. Mrs. C. W | Sprague of 1630 Woolsey street, her | mother, had not learned of the part that lhvr daughter took in the affair. Miss Strehl has just recovered from a severe ' fllnes: | | | For Further Details of the Wreeck Ses Page 4. et o R VESUVIUS IS EMITTING FLOOD OF MOLTEN LAVA Advices Are Received at Naples An- nouncing That the Volcano Is in Full Eruption. | LONDON, June 22.—According to a spe- cial dispatch from Naples the volcano Ve~ suvius Is in full eruption. for fancy vests the clothing trade ticipation we made it our own them in dark, medium and light shades, 7 In purchasing here you buy from the makers di- at all prices. rect, at a big saving. FANCY VESTS This is the greatest .year has ever experienced. In an- workshops an immense stock of comprising all materials To-day we mention summer vests at $1.50, made of duck, mercerized matting and Marseilles, in the plain shades of white, tan and gray, and also in numerous stripes and figures; made up in single-breasted styles with six buttons. fit, style and workmanship. Better get in line and wear We guarantee colors, a fancy vest. 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