Humboldt River, NV Streamer Liner Wrecked, Aug 1939

STREAM LINER WRECK TOLL MOUNTS TO 20.

Elko, Aug. 13 -- Twenty persons are known to be dead as a result of the worst train wreck in the history of Nevada, forty miles west of Elko on the Southern Pacific main line last night at 9:33 o'clock. Seventeen of these bodies have been recovered and three are visible but cannot be moved until cars are taken from the river bed of the Humboldt river.
Thirty-three are injured and were rushed to Elko in a special Southern Pacific rescue train five hours after the crash.
The train of seventeen cars has capacity of 220 people and it was understood all reservations were taken.
As rescue work was rushed T. J. FOLEY, assistant superintendent of The Southern Pacific, J. H. MAHAN, Southern Pacific traffic agent, and S. P. Roadmaster WILLIAMSON declared the wreck was clearly a case of sabotage with murder intended.
They showed this writer where an entire rail had been moved four inches inward, thus causing a derailment of the flying City of San Francisco. Those doing the job had moved the tie plate inward 4 1/2 inches and had spiked it to the track again. They had removed all of inside spikes so that engine left track when it struck this rail about one hurdred feet in front of bridge through which five cars plunged, carring most of the victims to their death. The bond wires on the track had been kept intact by the sabeteurs so that the signal was still in the clear.
The last train over the track had passed about four hours before and Roadmaster WILLIAMSON said it would take a strong man working fast to do the job in an hour causing the derailment.
E. F. HECOX, engineer of the City of San Francisco since its inceptiono three years ago, declared he saw a green tumbleweed upon the track at the point where the tie plate had been moved in, forcing the rail out of line. The engine left the track at that point and went several hundred feet, continuing without turning over. The two cars immediately behind the engine were the power cars and they stayed upright. The next was the baggage car, which turned over and the fourth was the chair car, which turned over, but which killed no one. This section of the train was hurtled down the embankment as the train broke in two as it crossed the bridge, with the club car striking the bridge and tearing giant girders into ribbons. This car was gutted and bodies of passengers who had been playing cards were torn beyond recognition, some of them hurtling one hundred feet into the willows skirting the river.
It was from the club car and the diner that the greatest number of dead resulted, although most of the victims were thrown from the club car, while the diner car victims were jammed into one end, mostly Negro help, where they had apparently been collected in the kitchen following the evening meal.
Engineer HECOX declared that as soon as he passed the point where he saw tumbleweeds he felt the tracks begin to "give." He was proceeding at sixty miles an hour when the wreck occurred, he said, as this is a restricted area through the canyon.
Five cars were piled in jumbled mass, where the bridge gave way. One of these rested upon a victim whose arms were visible, but it was impossible to remove him. Parts of bodies were strewn along right-of-way and victims were so badly mutilated that identification remained impossible in many instances.
Behind these five cars was the remainder of the train of five cars, with two of these off track and three remaining in place before the point where sabotage was alleged to have been committed.
Steep embankments along the tracks at the wreck point made rescue work difficult. However, doctors and nurses were rushed from all nearby cities and opiates were administered where possible to alleviate pain.
Those effecting rescue praised the courage of the injured persons. There was little hysteria and the injured remained calm, without complaining. Darkness hampered rescue work.
E. A. BETTS, research professor of Penn State, was in the club car three minutes before the tragedy.
"I was watching some of my friends playing cards. Suddenly I remembered I wanted something at the rear of the train and left them. There were fifty-three persons in that car. All of a sudden the lights went off, then there was a terrific crash. I missed death by three minutes."
Of the fifty-three persons in that car four were killed and four wre injured. Others escaped miraculously.
ROBERT SCHMIDGALL of Chicago, auto electric worker, was in the chair car where none were killed. "The train hit the ties before we reached the bridge. Sparks began to fly and I thought there was another train bumping us. Ours was the last car to get across. I groped my way out and went back to the bridge where I heard Negroes groaning. On had both his legs broken, but he showed plenty of pluck."
Western Pacific tracks parallel the Southern Pacific's at that point and paths were cut down the steep embankment so that stretcher bearers could carry the wounded to a position where they could be placed in the train and carried to Elko for hospitalization. Some were seriously hurt, with doubt expressed as to their recovery.
The rescue work and the recovery of the bodies of the victims started immediately with doctors and nurses being called from all surrounding towns. The hospital train from Sparks carried a number of Reno and Sparks doctors and nurses.
When daylight came, the terrific force of the wreck became known. Before that time, rescuers were handicapped by darkness and worked with the aid of lanterns. It was expected that daylight would reveal that many more had perished although railroad officials said hours would elapse before the actual toll would be known.
The injured were removed in a comparatively short time from the twisted mass of steel.
Hundreds of persons from Elko, Carlin and other nearby towns and communities as well as newspaper men and photographers from Reno rushed to the scene. They drove to Harney and then walked two miles to the scene of the crash.
When the news was first received in Reno shortly before midnight many rumors were reported concerning the extent of the disaster. First reports had as high as sixty dead. Then as the hours wore on, reports from the San Francisco ovvices of the Southern Pacific said that twelve were either injured or dead. These were all Negroes who were trapped when the dining car crashed into the Humboldt, it was said. Later, however, newspaper men and other were able to reach lines of communication, the total rose rapidly but even then the final count was unknown.
At seven o'clock this morning, a special train from San Francisco containing high Southern Pacific officials passed through Reno on the way to the scene of the wreck. Included was A. D. McDONALD, general manager of the Southern Pacific system.
One Reno woman, MRS. DAN DRESSER and her young child were reported safe this morning after friends had worried throughout the night.

THE DEATH LIST:
W. G. JENSEN, 53 Leroy Street, New York City (business address 110 Williams Street, New York).
KATHERINE E. KURZ, 5129 Harper Avenue, Chicago.
HELEN HENRY, 528 56th Street, Oakland, Calif.
ELEANOR D. MARTIN, 817 Lake St., Oak Park, Ill.
MYRTLE KOHASKY, Eland, Wis., (parents, name unknown, lives at 54 East Stock Street, Chicago).
WILLIAM BURTON, Negro waiter, Oakland.
FRANCIS GIBBONS, Negro waiter, Oakland.
HARRY SCHWEIN, Negro waiter, Oakland.
CHARLES A. JOHNSON, Negro waiter or porter, address unknown.
BESS HAWELL, 36th and West Streets, Oakland.
BURL BOWENS, Negro porter, Oakland.
MILTON BARTA, white cook, no address.
Pullman Porter LLOYD, Negro, Chicago, (first name and address unknown).
CHARLES W. LEWIS, JR., white steward, no address.
ARNOLD REBAR, white, assistant steward, 414 Grand Ave., Oakland.
GEORGE A. McDANIEL, Negro (probably waiter) 770 A St., Oakland.
LEROY MOORE, Negro waiter, address unknown.
One unifentified woman, about 25 years old, brunette, 130 pounds, white waist, blue serge skirt, patent leather pumps.
Two, and possibly more bodies in wreckage.
LIST OF INJURED
The list of injured in the City of San Francisco train wreck:
MRS. HERBERT MARCUS, Oakwood Lane, Dallas, Texas, ribs and back injured.
HERBERT MARCUS, Dallas, Texas, back probably broken, and scratches and abrasions.
MRS. MARY HUGHES, 7954 South Wabash Avenue, Chicago, cut on left hand and shock.
JAMES H. TUTTLE, 225 Bush Street, San Francisco, one wrist broken and other apparently broken.
JAMES TUTTLE, JR., Lafayette, Calif., bruised.
TED ALLEN, second cook, 220 Eighty-eighth, Oakland, Calif., chest and rib injuries.
MRS. EMMA MELBOURNE, Connors Grove, Ill., back and left shoulder injured.
CHARLES F. KASINKE, 4154 FIfty-first Street, Oakland, second cook, broken leg, gash on other leg and face.
ALEX FUSTON, third cook, 5918 Genoa Street, Oakland, bump on head.
MRS. DENA WALGER, 689 Twentieth Avenue, San Francisco, broken rib and bruised elbow.
JOHN HARNOWSKI, 2765 Kent Street, Omaha, Neb., chef, broken leg and back injury.
R. E. EDWARDS, Sparks Nev., rib and back injury.
JAMES CHESHOLM, waiter, 1128 Eighth Street, Oakland, Calif., lacerated head and injured leg.
HARRY ANADDONE, Elmhurst, Ill., back injury.
MRS. A. K. AMBERGH, 1660 Hyde Park, Chicago, strained back.
HELEN F. WILKINSON, Evanston, Ill., shoulder bruise.
Stewardess (name unavailable), lacerated face and bruises.
MRS. ABRYEL WALLACE, 300 Hayward Avenue, Mount Vernon, N. Y., shoulder injured.
ROBERT McWILLIAMS, Virginia, Ohio, bruised head, broken rib.
WILLIAM HAZELTON, 1628 Fourteenth Street, Oakland, Calif., waiter, chest and back injured.
ENIS SCOTT, waiter, 5152 Araphoe Avenue, Denver, Colo., broken arm and collar bone.
MRS. E. SANFORD, 860 Geary Street, San Francisco, shaken up.
ROBERT S. BROWN, car of MRS. B. HEARN, Huntington Lake, Calif., bruised groin and legs.
MRS. LILLIAN OTTO FRIED, Emery Hall Building Corporation, Sherwood Hills, Madison, Wis., left shoulder and right ankle bruised.
MRS. OSCAR VITT and son, ROBERT, 951 Park Lane, Oakland, Calif., (son uninjured), MRS. VITT, shoulder and neck injury.
CLARK G. FHERER, 8 Richkel Road, White Plains, N. Y., sprained back.
MRS. PHILLIP CALIN, 1005 North Hunter Street, Stockton, Calif., back injury.
MRS. HELEN E. MEIKLEJOHN, 1525 Laloma Avenue, Berkeley, Calif., nose and back injuries.
MRS. REGINALD GRUBB, 1321 Sherbrook West, Montreal, Canada, head injury.
RUTH HENDRICKSON, 5829 Iowa Street, Chicago, general bruises and injured arm.
MRS. E. B. DUNHAM, 173 Riverside Drive, N. Y., bruised head.
MINNIE HEILEMAR, Jefferson Junction, Wis., injury not detailed.
MISS THELMA JUDY, 1080 Lincoln Road, Columbus, Ohio, minor hip injury.
JAMES GRAVELY, waiter, 1809 Prince Street, Berkeley, Calif., right arm and both leg broken, lip cut.
SAM WALLS, second cook, 1528 1/2 Mayer Street, Almeda, Calif., back injury.
MARCUS STARK, waiter, 3112 California Street, Berkeley, Calif, back, both legs, right arm and right eye injured.
MRS. L. VIOLA PY, Tomlin, Australia, back and right leg injured.
HORACE DISTON, Philadelphia, (no list of injuries).
ALBERT JOHNSON, 647 75th Street, Chicago, no list of injuries.
MRS. F. G. FOOTE, 2607 Shasta Road, Berkeley, no list of injuries.
N. SOURIAN, 1216 Forty-seventh Street, Chicago, back injured.
GERALD C. WELCH, 2018 Eighteenth Avenue, San Francisco, chest and ribs injured.
JACK JONES, 89 Ashbury St., San Francisco, leg and ribs broken.
T. B. LYNCH, 2859 Turk Street, San Francisco, head, back and ankle injured.
MRS. S. E. JOHNSON, 1590 Sutter Street, San Francisco, injuries undetailed.
MRS. CHARLES COLE, 1922 Grove Avenue, Berwyn, Ill., injuries undetailed.
B. DREYER, 7811 12th Street, San Jose, Calif., injuries undetailed.
EVA BLOCK, 3410 West 13th Place, Chicago, injuries undetailed.
E. A. BETTS, 304 Adams, State College, Pa., general bruises.
MISS ANN SNYDER, Warren, Pa., back and chest bruised.
EDWARD M. BERTHA, 11 South La Sale West, Chicago, bruises.
MR. and MRS. HARRY McCLERIE, 8975 Hoyne Avenue, Chicago, wife has bruised leg.
MISS MATTIE C. SNYDER, Warren, Pa., bruises.
MISS SHYROCK, Navarre Hotel, Philadelphia, Pa., bruises.
W. C. OWEN, 20 Provincial Road, Groose Pointe, Mich., back and neck sore.
I. A. BROWN, 110 Dearborn Avenue, Toronto, Canada, back and chin and legs injured.
L. SCHLESINGER, 421 Melrose Street, Chicago, extent of injuries not known.
DAVID C. GREEN, 326 South Market Street, Tory, Ohio, shoulder and arm bruises.
H. C. TRAUTE, Grand Central Terminal, New York City, shock.
LILLIAN M. BROOKMAN, 6347 Kenwood Avenue, Chicago, nerves.
EVA BLOCK, 3410 West 13th Place, Chicago, injuries undetailed.

Reno Evening Gazette Nevada 1939-08-13

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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!