TRAIN RAN PAST LIGHTS

Passengers Burned and Crushed to Death at Fowler, Ind.

Cars Catch Fire After Collision in Fog on Big Four – Engineer's Fatal Blunder.

Fowler, Ind. -- At lest sixteen persons were crushed or burned to death here in a collision between a freight train and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Queen City flyer, from Chicago. Ten persons were seriously injured and several more slightly hurt.
The passenger train was running fifty miles an hour, and consisted of a combination coach, three sleeping cars and a Big Four private car, occupied by MRS. C. F. SCHAFF, wife of the vice-president of the railroad. The train was destroyed by fire, except the private can and one sleeping car. Seven of the dead have been identified. Eleven of the victims were burned to death in the combination coach, and only two of these have been identified.
The crash of the wreck awakened nearly every person in Fowler. Among the first to reach the wreck were the County Recorder and the County Auditor, who procured axes and saws, and before the flames reached the sleeping cars began the work of rescue. They worked their way into the mass of wreckage caused by the tender and combination coach. Four bodies were seen protruding from among the broken seats. JOHN MEYER, of New York, was rescued when the fire was within a few feet of him and he was begging for some one to shoot him. His leg was broken.
It is probable the exact number of victims will never be known. Railroad officers, of whom there were several on the train, said there were not more than fifteen passengers in the combination coach, but passengers say there were nearly thirty persons in that car. If this be true, the death list may reach twenty-five persons.
With one exception, every member of the passenger train crew was killed. The known dead are: W. B. HARRIS, Indianapolis, died in Emergency Hospital, Kankakee, Ill.; I. H. HIDDINGER, Indianapolis, conductor of passenger train; I. H. MAGEE, baggage master, Indianapolis; J. A. SHANNON, Williamsport, Ind., died on way to Emergency Hospital, Kankakee, Ill.; HENRY E. OLCOTT, Cincinnati, fireman of the passenger train; HENRY A. PRICE, Long Beach, Cal., en route to Lafayette, body totally burned; MRS. HENRY A. PRICE.
The passenger train, in a heavy fog, ran by a telegraphic block signal which called for a stop. The red light was not obeyed. It was probably obscured by the fog. The locomotive was telescoped with the combination coach, making a mass of wreckage, under which the passengers in the cars were wedged. Seats were hurled through the roof and coals from the firebox set the debris in flames.

The Cranbury Press New Jersey 1907-01-25
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!