THREE MORE BODIES ARE FOUND IN O.-W. WRECK; CONFUSION IN TRAIN ORDERS BELIEVED CAUSE OF SMASH

SIX VICTIMS LIE IN LOCAL MORGUE AWAITING INQUEST BY CORONER; WOMAN AND CHILD INCLUDED IN LIST

INJURED ONES TAKEN TO PORTLAND ON SPECIAL

Hospital Train With Local Physicians and Nurses Conveys Stricken, Number of Which Is Large; Service Demoralized

The death list in the O.-W. R. & N. wreck near Celilo was increased to nine this afternoon when it was discovered that the bodies of three men were under the tender of the engine of No. 17.

The men were apparently beating their way to Portland. It is believed that they were employed on the rotary crew, backing the snow drifts out on the Bend branch, and went to Biggs last evening, where they boarded No. 17, only to meet their death in the smash.

The bodies will probably not be extricated for several hours. They are said to be badly mutilated. Assistant Superintendent J.F. Corbett, who is at the scene of the wreck, confirmed reports of the finding of these bodies in a message to the local depot.

Six persons were killed, four others probably fatally injured, and a score or more hurt in lesser degree in a railroad catastrophe occurring near Celilo on the O.-W. R. & N. lines early this morning.

Westbound passenger train No. 17, the Chicago-Portland limited, running nearly eight hours late, collided head-on with eastbound train No. 12, the Spokane limited, near mile post 97, one and one-half miles east of Celilo.

No. 17 was running west on the eastbound, or as known to railroad men, the No. 2 track.

Confusion of Train Orders

Blame for the collision has not been placed, but railroad men are inclined to lay the accident to a confusion in train orders. Apparently the crews of both trains had orders for this stretch of track. No. 17 was on the eastbound main in order to facilitate switching for the crossing of the river at Fallbridge.

Indirectly the catastrophe can be laid to the storm, which finally carried out the Eagle creek railroad bridge, and made necessary the detouring of all Union Pacific trains between The Dalles and Celilo over the S.P. & S. lines.

Four of the dead were recovered from No. 17, which suffered worst from the smash.

One woman and a five-year-old boy were among those killed. They were Mrs. J.N. Walling, Amity, Ore., and her grandson, Jack Cole, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Cole, McMinnville. The little boy was apparently smothered to death, as not a mark of injury appears on the body.

The hospital train from The Dalles carrying every available doctor and nurse in the city, together with stretchers, surgical instruments and medications, reached the scene of the wreck at about 3:30 o'clock.

Practically all of the injured had been extricated by this time and given temporary first aid by passengers and trainmen, directed by Miss Pearl Autrey, a trained nurse of Portland, who was on No. 17. Miss Autrey was formerly a resident of Wasco, it was said.

Coach was Hospital

The front coach of the relief train had been turned into an improvised hospital during the time occupied in reaching the wreck. Nurses were assigned to each physician, while other nurses were to go from car to car, caring for the wounded passengers.

The giant engines were pounded into an inseparable mass by the terrific force of the impact. Both engines remained upright, but the boilers were driven together for more than half the lengths of the locomotives.

Fireman Crushed

The body of George Bristow, the fireman on train No. 17, was caught between the cab and the tender. Death is believed to have been instantaneous. All efforts to rescue the body immediately after the wreck, failed because of masses of steel which held it. John Gardner, engineer on No. 17, was removed from his cab terribly injured.

The crews of both engines were praised for their bravery by passengers. All four are said to have passed up the opportunity to jump when they realized that a crash was inevitable.

Two Cars Leave Rails

Only two passenger coaches in train No. 17 left the tracks. Back of the crushed engine and tender was a mail car, used also for baggage. No one in this car was injured, nor was the car very badly wrecked, remaining upright. Next came the baggage car, with the dynamo room in the front end. No one was seriously injured in this car.

The next car in the train was the smoker. This car was turned at an almost complete right angle with the rails, the lower end resting in a precarious position overhanging the roadbed.

Next was the wooden day car, the "death car." Three bodies were taken from the front end of this car, which had been crushed in.

In one double seat in the front end of this car, Mrs. Lloyd Cole of McMinnville had been riding, together with her five-year-old son, Jack, a year-old baby, and her mother, Mrs. J.N. Walling of Amity.

When the roof of this car was crushed in, Mrs. Walling is believed to have been instantly killed. Mrs. Cole, in some way, was confined so that her son, Jack, was smothered. Mrs. Cole herself may not live. She is said to be suffering from a fractured skull, internal injuries and has both arms and both legs broken. The baby was uninjured.

L.J. Kirk of St. Paul, Ore., who was identified by Coroner C.N. Burget by papers upon his person, was also in this car.

No other cars in train No. 17 were badly damaged.

Marine Crushed

A.M. Bride of Spokane, a United States marine on guard in the mail car on train No. 12, was caught in the front part of the car and buried under a huge mass of mail sacks and sagging steel from the caved-in roof. Other persons in the car attempted to dig him out. For a time he responded to their call, but was dead by the time his body had been reached. The baggage car on No. 12 was not damaged to any great extent, with only slight injuries suffered by persons who were riding in it at the time of the crash.

Next back from the engine on this train were two steel passenger coaches. Both of these cars were considerably damaged, but no fatalities occurred.

Wooden Coach

Next came the only wooden passenger sleeper in the train. This coach was almost completely wrecked. The front half of this car was telescoped over the rear of the steel car to which it was coupled. It was in this car that C.J. Yarborough, a colored porter, was killed. His body was not removed until this morning.

Other cars on train No. 12 remained on the track, and were switched back to The Dalles on the rear of the hospital train, carrying passengers who wished to come to the city, and the dead and injured.

Taken to Portland

This train left at about 7 o'clock, accompanied by Dr. Thompson Coberth, and Miss Mattie Prichard, Mrs. Harry Dodge, Miss Winnie Woelk, Miss Gertrude Betsworth and Miss Grace Gibson, nurses from the local hospital. H.W. Hicks, travelling passenger agent for the O.-W. R. & N. company, also accompanied this train.

Work of bringing the dead and injured to the train hospital, brought tears of sympathy to many eyes. Wherever the injured passengers were found to be strong enough to walk, they were escorted to the hospital car, which was backed to within a few feet of No. 12.

Wierd Scene Presented

Others, unable to walk, were carried on stretchers by volunteers. The flickering light given out by oil lanterns, and, later, by gas searchlights, played fitfully over the twisted and torn monsters of iron and steel. Passengers, sick at heart at the grewsome sights they had witnessed, stood in quiet groups and talked in undertones. Others occupied seats in the cars remaining upon the tracks until the dead and injured had been removed.

Splendid work was performed in the hospital car by Drs. Reuter, Thomson, Coberth, Lowe and Stone, assisted by nurses from the hospital. The following nurses from The Dalles made the trip on the hospital train: Misses Gertrude Betsworth, Verna Smith, Winnie Woelk, Edith Ogle, Lily Wilson, May Compton, Mattie Pritchard, Grace Gibson, Namoa Shanklin, Alberta Eddings, May Jones, Cora Dickinson, Mrs. Thompson Coberth, Mrs. Harry Dodge and Mrs. Florence Baker.

Minor Injuries

Among those who received relatively minor injuries, which were dressed at the train hospital, were: A.E. Poe, Ione; Mr. and Mrs. B.W. Van Gilder, Wasco; Mrs. Antone Serecely, Portland; W.W. McHenry, Portland; F.B. Stevens, Condon; Mrs. S.M. Brown, Burley, Ida.; Coral Barker, Condon; Lois Muihland, LaGrande; Mrs. L. Whiteside, The Dalles; Max Keppler, Ramsey, Mont.; and L.C. Macomber, mail clerk on train No. 12; Mrs. Charles Frees of Cottage Place, Wash.; C.D. Ingersol, Indianapolis.

A most vivid description of the wreck, as experienced by the passengers, was given by M.G. Stiffler of Seattle, who was in the second day coach on train No. 17.

Train in Darkness

"We were running along, apparently at a speed of about 30 miles an hour, when we suddenly heard the hiss of the air brakes, followed by a severe jolt as they gripped the wheels of the train. Then came a terrible crash, and darkness.

"Women were screaming everywhere. Escaping steam from one of the engines added to the uproar. Tinkling glass from broken windows and lamps fell everywhere.

"Members of the train crew, assisted by volunteer passengers, started removing the injured from the wrecked cars and carrying them to coaches in both trains which were still standing on the tracks."

Hospital Train First

A wrecking train from The Dalles preceded the hospital train to within a short distance of the wreck, when it went on a siding and allowed the latter to pass. Men from the wrecking crew assisted in getting at bodies caught in obscure corners, cutting away obstructions with their axes and acetylene torches.

A number of The Dalles passengers were on No. 17. They had been taken to Biggs on the shuttle train leaving here yesterday evening to meet No. 17 for the run to Portland over the North Bank road.

Slept Through It

At least one man in the wreck did not know what had happened until it was all over. He was asleep in a berth on No. 17. Mistaken for dead by a rescue party, he drowsily opened his eyes, yawned, and asked: "Well, what's the matter?"

According to information received through the Oregon Journal (Portland), by The Chronicle, at noon today, railroad officials placed responsibility for the collision on a confusion of train orders, which would be traceable back to the dispatcher.

No. 17 In Clear

No. 17, running many hours late, was given orders at Biggs to proceed west on the eastbound main, according to trainmen at the scene of the wreck. She was proceeding with orders to "make-up time," it was said, and was on the eastbound track in order to facilitate the switch-over on the physical connection at the south end of the North Bank Fallbridge span.

No. 12, it is said, received no train orders after leaving Portland, but after coming across the bridge and proceeding eastward, was given a "yellow" block at Celilo. Under this caution signal the train was said to be proceeding slowly when it encountered No. 17.

The wreck whistle began blowing soon after 12:30 this morning, and the wrecker was on the way to the scene within a few minutes. In the meantime orders had been given for a relief train, and this was promptly acted upon by the hospital authorities. All the physicians obtainable at that hour, and all the nurses procurable in the city and who could be spared from the hospital were summoned.

Haul Supplies on Sleighs

Supplies had to be hauled to the railroad station from the hospital by sleigh, a laborsome and delaying task. As the train was hurried east on its errand of mercy, the backs of the seats were taken down, and the cots were laid across. This left the aisles open for the physicians and nurses to work.

Four of the dead were brought back on the relief train at daybreak. One more was brought in later, and the mutilated body of the fireman of the engine on No. 17, will be brought in this afternoon. The body was imprisoned between the tender and the boiler head of the engine.

Rev 2002-03-30