Limestone, IL Head-On Railroad Collision, Jan 1909

SNOWFALL AND DARKNESS CAUSES DISASTROUS WRECK ON NORTHWESTERN BRANCH.

THREE KILLED; ONE MISSING.

TWO OTHERS SERIOUSLY INJURED IN HEAD-ON COLLISION NEAR PEORIA, ILL.

MISTAKE IN TRAIN ORDERS.

(By Associated Press.)
Peoria, Ill., Jan. 15. -- Two extra freights on the Northwestern road collided head-on this evening near Limestone, four miles northwest of this city.
Three trainmen were instantly killed, one is missing and believed to be in the wreckage and two others were seriously injured, one of whom may die.
The Dead:
JOE CURTAIN, engineer, Sterling, Ill.
M. METZLER, fireman, home in Virginia.
J. A. RUSSELL, brakeman, Sterling, Ill.
The Missing:
O. A. HOUCHINS, brakeman, Sterling, Ill.
The Injured:
W. J. WATSON, Chicago, fireman, serious (will die).
THOMAS MELVILLE, Chicago, engineer, leg broken and bruised.
Meet In Valley.
The trains met in a narrow valley and each was going at full speed.
The northbound extra was in charge of Conductor W. C. DONTCHY and the southbound in charge of Conductor J. SCHAFFER.
Owing to the darkness and a fitful fall of snow the engineers could not see each other's trains until too close to avoid the smash.
Both engines and half a dozen loaded freight cars in each train piled into a splintered mass.
Mistake In Orders.
No cause can definitely be assigned for the disaster, though it is generally believed that it was a mistake in train orders.
The road on which the accident occurred is a branch of the Northwestern, which extends from Sterling, Ill., to Peoria.

Eau Clair Leader Wisconsin 1909-01-16
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!