Odessa, MN Train Wreck, Dec 1911 - Twelve Dead

TWELVE DEAD IN WRECK ON ST. PAUL

Silk Special Runs Into Columbian Limited

MORE THAN A SCORE INJURED

Steel Cars Crumple Up With Fatal Results at Odessa, Minn.- Signals Said to Be at Fault.

Odessa, Minn., Dec. 19.-Crashing into the rear of the Chicago bound Columbian limited, the fast new all-steel train of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad, a silk special which was following at terrific speed close behind killed 12 passengers and injured nearly a score more.

The passengers in the sleeping cars were all asleep when the crash came and few of them who escaped injury were able to find their clothing. Many who escaped injury suffered severely from the cold. The collision occurred a short distance from the signal tower at Odessa.

Unexpected stoppage of the Columbian by block signals and failure to signal the silk train, which was running as a second section of the limited are believed to have caused the wreck. A local Pullman running from Aberdeen to St. Paul was almost completely demolished. Practically no one in this car escaped.

Most Victims From Northwest
As few of the through passengers were riding in this car most of the victims were residents of the northwest:

The dead:
DR. and MRS. R. F. WHETSTONE, Minneapolis, Minn.
MRS. R. F. Richards, wife of superintendent of the Missouri slope division of the St. Paul road, Mobridge, S. D.
Daughter of MRS. RICHARDS.
MISS PETERSON, Green Bay, Wis.
MISS R. C. MEYERS, Newcastle, Ind.
MRS. C. W. BARTON, Terry, Mont.
THOMAS ALEXANDER, Newark, N.J.
MR. MCKEENEY, residence unknown.
Two unidentified

Eastern Women Injured

The only easterners included seriously injured were Miss Leola Kennedy of Newcastle, Ind., whose back was hurt and Miss Eliza Clemment of Boston, who was injured about the head and back.

The injured were taken to Minneapolis in a special train. Physicians from Montevideo, Appleton, Milbank, S. D., and other towns along the route were picked up by a special train and hurried to the scene.

Stevens Point Daily Journal, Stevens Point, WI 19 Dec 1911