Ignacio, CA Train Wreck, Aug 1910

THIRTEEN KILLED IN WRECK

Fast Passenger Train on Northwestern Pac. Crashes Into Work Train With Terrible Results

Engine Plows Through Crowded Smoker; Thirteen Are Killed and Twelve Wounded; Mistake in Orders Cause

Ignacio, Cali -- Thirteen persons were killed and at least twelve injured, several of them badly, Monday night, when passenger train No. 6 on the Northwestern Pacific railroad, running between San Francisco and Santa Rosa met in a head-on collision with a light engine a mile and a half south of this place. The engines met with such force that the engine of the work train which consisted of a caboose and two light flat cars, shunted the passenger engine to one side and plowed part way through the baggage car causing the baggage car and the smoker to telescope partly. Most all the men in the forward part of the smoker were killed and all in the rear were injured in some manner.

The passenger train was traveling at a speed of 40 miles an hour and the special was also going at a fair speed.

Error of Conductor,

At the office of the dispatcher of the Northwestern Pacific, the information was given out that one of the conductors had made a mistake in his orders and failed to take a siding.

Suddenly the passengers were hurled forward by the quick shutting down of the brakes and at the same time there came a terrific impact and the sound of escaping steam. The two engines plunged into each other. The baggage car and the smoker were crushed together so that two-thirds of the smoker was telescoped.

When the dazed passengers made their way out of the three rear coaches, which were unharmed, they found a pathetic scene. It was light enough to see plainly. From the crushed smoking car came shrieks and groans and the waving of blood stained arms. It seemed as though the passengers in the smoker – between twenty five and thirty men – had been caught in a sitting position and those who were not killed were penned in so by the weight over their legs that they were unable to help themselves or their neighbors in misfortune.

Carbon County Utah 1910-08-12
__________________

Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!