A RAILROAD COLLISION

Two Trains on the Great Northern Come Together With Fatal Results.

FIVE EMPLOYES INSTANTLY KILLED

The List of Injured is Quite Large – One Train Crew Evidently Did Not Obey Orders to Meet at a Certain Point Where There Were Two Tracks – Information Regarding the Details of the Causes are Meager as Usual – The Injured Cared For by Farmers as Well as Possible.

Alexandria, Minn., Sept. 11. -- As a result of an awful blunder two Great Northern trains collided near Melby, a small flag station about midway between Ashton and Evansville, this morning at 1:40. Just now the accident occurred cannot be learned. The east-bound passenger train, running at a high rate of speed, met the west-bound train.

The killed are J. K. EMERSON, engineer; JAMES S. THIEBODO, fireman; W. H. KERSHAW, express messenger; E. T. JOHNSON, mail clerk; IRA S. PAINES, engineer.

The wounded are WESTEY C. ROBERT, brakeman, hand hurt; FRED BURGEOYNE, brakeman, arm broken and leg scalded; S. B. BETZNER, express messenger, leg broken and eye injured; GEORGE WILLIAMS, mail clerk, seriously injured internally; J. O. ROSENQUIST, mail clerk, injured in back; FRANK M. CURTIS, Masone, Wis., arm and face injured: MISS MARGARET ALLISON, Masone, Wis., badly cut and bruised over entire body, back injured; MAURICE O'CONNER, St. Paul, mail clerk, head and limbs injured; CHRIS BAGLOW, Fergus Falls, internally and limbs injured; H. H. MOHN, San Francisco, head and hands injured; STEVE MARTIN, Streator, Ill., head and limb cut; MRS. JOHN RUSSELL, Duluth, badly jarred and shocked.

The point where the accident occurred is at the top of what is known as Pelican hill. Chief Dispatcher BUSKIRK stated that the wreck is the worst in the history of the system and five of the company's best men are killed. He also said the blame for the accident does not attach to his office, but at present prefers not to say just where it lays.

All the killed were residents of St. Paul. The accident is supposed to be the result of the west-bound trains passing the meeting point, which was fixed at Melby by special order. The injured are at Evansville and farm houses near the wreck.

Aspen Weekly Times Colorado 1895-09-14