West Glendale, CA Train Wreck, May 1907 - Wreckers Ditch Train

WRECKERS DITCH TRAIN

One Killed and Twenty-two Hurt Near Los Angeles.

FLYER PLUNGES OVER TRESTLE

Rails Dislodged by Miscreants, Who Pull Track Apart by Connecting Wire as Train Approaches--Cars Pile on Each Other When Engine Hits Ties--Southern Pacific Offers $10,000 Reward.

Los Angeles, Ca., May 22--Train No. 20, one of the Southern Pacific’s coast line flyers, due at 9 o’clock last night, was wrecked at West Glendale, ten miles north of here, at 12:30 this morning. The wreck was the deliberate work of train wreckers. One man was killed and twenty-two persons were injured, three probably fatally.

The man killed was T. J. McMAHON, of Santa Barbara, a member of the electrical workers’ union. He is believed to have been stealing a ride on the baggage car, and had as his companion Frank Naylor, a fifteen-year-old boy, from Santa Barbara, who was fatally injured.

Others who were injured are:
T. H. Young, Oakland, porter.
Mrs. Shidler, Los Angeles, probably will die.
Mrs. Rose Fetterman, Cleveland, Ohio, will probably die.
Miss Fern Opdyke, Pittsburg, Pa.
A. G. Young, Marshall, Mo.
W. S. Stitt, Los Angeles.
William McClure, Los Angeles.
William Love, Pullman porter, face cut; probably will die.
C. H. Robbins, Los Angeles.
N. E. James, Los Angeles.
W. E. Miller, Xenia, Ohio.
P. H. Baker, Portland, Oreg.
F. H. Shanley, dining car conductor, San Francisco.
Ben Dixon, Oakland, dining car waiter.
Ed Wilcox, Oakland, second cook.
R. Redwood, Oakland, dining car waiter.

How Wreck Was Accomplished.

The wreck of the train was accomplished at a point on a trestle over the Arroyo Seco. The fishplates and bolts of two connecting rails on the south-bound track had been removed, and in the apertures whence the bolts were taken strands of heavy wire were fastened at the end of each rail. From the appearance of the track after the wreck it was evident that some person hidden on a hillside close to the trestle had pulled the wire as the train approached and spread the rails outward toward the edge of the trestle.

The tender, the diner, two Pullmans, the buffet, mail and baggage cars plunged over the edge of the trestle, falling a distance of sixteen feet. The buffet car, the express car, and one of the Pullmans were turned completely upside down, and the others landed on their sides. All were badly crushed and splintered,

Work of Rescue.

As soon as possible the uninjured trainmen and passengers scrambled down the steep bank to the overturned cars. Through broken windows and doors forced with axes, wielded from within and without, the frightened passengers emerged, while from the darkened interiors came the groans and cries of the injured. A relief train carrying several physicians started from here as soon as news of the wreck was received.

At the Southern Pacific general offices in this city notices were posted to-day offering $10,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the wreck. The officials announced that they had no clew whatever.

The Washington Post, Washington, D.C. 23 May 1907