TRAINWRECKERS DITCH EXPRESS

Fireman Dies Under Engine at It Rolls.

Special to The Telegram.

NEW ORLEANS, La., Aug. 9.---Sticking to his post, despite his knowledge that he was about to die, Fireman Petri of Southern Pacific train No. 7, the San Antonio Express, lost his life when the flyer was ditched by train wreckers about two miles from the Bunion station in the vicinity of Carre's switch early this morning, and but for Engineer Robert Tanner's presence of mind, many passengers would doubtless have been killed.

Altho[sic] the engine, an oil burner, was completely demolished and the two mail and baggage coaches badly wrecked, no one beside the dead fireman received worse that[sic] a bad jolting.

Members of the train crew declare that the switch had been tampered with and the lock broken. Other evidence showed that it had been opened with the deliberate intention of wrecking the train. No sooner did the engineer feel his engine leave the track than he threw the brakes. The next moment it went over the embankment, while he clung to the side of the cab. Fireman Petri stuck to his post and was buried under the debris.

The Fort Worth Telegram, Fort Worth, TX 8 Aug 1908
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Transcribed by Linda Horton. Thank you, Linda!