Train Wreck Near Oaklandon (1903)

Indianapolis Journal, Volume 53, Number 249,Indianapolis,
Marion County, 6 September 1903

Oaklandon Train Wreck

Oaklandon Train Wreck

Oaklandon Train Wreck

Oaklandon Train Wreck

Oaklandon Train Wreck

 

 

CARS IN COLLISION

--*--

ANOTHER SERIOUS ACCIDENT ON THE UNION TRACTION LINE.

--*--

Limited from Indianapolis Ran Into by an Express and Trailer on the Hill Near Oaklandon.

--*--

SCORE OF PERSONS INJURED

--*--

SEVERAL SEVERELY, AND OTHERS BRUISED, SCRATCHED AND CUT.

--*--

Forty-Five People on the Limited Car, Some from Indianapolis, and, All Were Shaken Up.

--*--

TWO HURT IN THE EXPRESS CAR.

--*--

ELIJAH GRAY AND FRED SIMMONDS, BOTH OF THIS CITY.

--*--

Were In Charge of Horses Belonging to the Dickerson Stable - A Cool-Headed Motorman

--*--

THE INJURED.
ELIJAH GRAY.  814 Hosbrook street. Indianapolis, hurt internally.
FRED SIMMONDS. 129 South Illinois Street. badly scratched and bruised and arm broken.
J. M. ANDREWS. Louisville, hurt internally.
HOWARD GATES. Anderson. thrown against frame work and stunned.
MISS NELLIE HAUGH. Anderson, slightly bruised and shaken.
MR. AND MRS. DUNBAR. Anderson, slight injuries.
JOHN FORT WENGLER, Anderson, back, shoulder and leg injured.
SAMUEL COHEN. Muncie, cut above right eye and head bruised.
J. J. BARKTO, Baltimore, back wrenched and cut on the head.
C. B. ELI.ENROGCE, Chicago, cut over the eye.
WILLIAM M. CROAN, Anderson, both legs bruised.
DR. W. H. ALLEN, Muncie, suffering from slight injuries.
J. O. JENSEN, Muncie, bruised and shaken.
ROY HAYNES. Indianapolis, slight injuries.
NEWELL METZGER. Indianapolis, slight injuries.
EDWARD JESSUP. Cincinnati, slightly bruised.
P. A. BOGUL, Indianapolis, skinned and bruised.
JOHN L. JOHNSON, Gas City, slight injuries.
MICHAEL STAUB, Anderson, bruised slightly.
ISAAC BOILES. Elwood. shaken snd bruised.

---

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
ANDERSON, Ind., Sept. 5. -- There was a serious accident on the Union Traction Company line a little before 6 o'clock tonight, when a limited car due to leave Indianapolis at 5 o'clock collided with an express car and trailer, one mile west of Oaklandon. No one was seriously hurt, but the forty-five people on the limited were badly shaken up and some received severe cuts and bruises.

The accident happened at a curve at the top of the big hill west of Oaklandon. The limited, crowded with passengers, left Indianapolis about ten minutes made pretty fast time until the Oaklandon hill was reached. From Indianapolis to Oaklandon the distance Is about ten miles.

The limited was No. 256. in charge of Motorman Willis Eller, of Muncie, and Conductor Johnson, of the same city. The express car was In charge of Conductor John Crull, of Anderson. The motorman was John Butler, of Anderson. The limited was approaching the top of the hill, when Motorman Eller saw the express car and trailer coming around the curve, west bound. The express was running rapidly and his own car was making fast time. His prompt action, it was afterward said, saved great loss of life. He put on his brakes, shut off the current, jumped out of the vestibule, and, just as the crash came, sprang from the side door of the smoking apartment and saved himself.

CONCUSSION WAS TERRIFIC.
The motorman of the express car also was lucky enough to save himself. When the cars struck the limited had almost stopped, but the concussion was terrific. The pilots of both cars were torn off and the vestibules wrecked. Among the passengers in the limited there was instant confusion. Every seat was torn lose from the floor and the windows were broken. Nearly every passenger in the car was thrown violently forward when the collision occurred. Five escaped bruises. There were many women in the car, but they deported themselves with unusual coolness, the men say.

Samuel Cohen, of Muncie, was cut over the right eye and bruised on the head. J. J. Bareto, of Baltimore, Md., who has been stopping at the Claypool Hotel, Indianapolis, received an injury to his back and was cut on the head. P. A. Bogul, solicitor for the Indianapolis News, and Newell Metzger, of Indianapolis, a stenographer in the employ ot the Reporter of the Supreme Court, were slightly injured.

William M. Croan. of Anderson, declared to-night that the presence of mind of the motorman in stopping the limited undoubtedly saved loss of life. Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar, of Anderson, were among the passengers and received a shaking up. Mr. Dunbar is an employe of the Union Traction Company, Miss Nellie Haugh. stenographer in the office of the treasurer of the company at Anderson, was on her way home from Indianapolis and was among those injured.

MR. GATES EXPERIENCE
Howard Gates. of Anderson, formerly identified with the Democratic state committee at Indianapolis, was sitting in the smoking apartment of the limited and saw the express car approaching on the curve. He knew that trouble would follow and started toward the rear of the car, but as he passed through the partition door the collision came. Gates was thrown ten feet and received a severe jolting. One of the passengers said that the instant Gates appeared at the door he could see by his face that something was wrong. The next instant the cars crashed together. Gate afterward explained that the reason he did not warn the passengers was that he feared they would all rise up, and he quickly reasoned that should they be standing when the cart collided the effect of the concussion would be worse than if they were seated.

A peculiar feature of the accident was that nearly all the passengers were made sick by the violent jar. J. M Andrews, of Louisville. Ky., a passenger on the limited, claimed he was seriously injured and thought he was hurt internally.

In the express car were two horses belonging to the Dickerson stables, Indianapolis. They were "King Mount" and "Success'" and were being brought from the Anderson race track. The horses were In charge of Elijah Gray. of 814 Hosbrook Street, Indianapolis. They were uninjured, although one of the animals was knocked from its feet bv the jar. In some way it fell on Gray and he was injured seriously. When taken out of the car he was unconscious. Kred Simmonds. sixteen years old, of 129 South Illinois Street. Indianapolis, who was also with the horses, suffered a broken arm. A number of other men in the express car were not seriously hurt. Gray and Simmonds were taken to Indianapolis and given prompt attention by Dr. J. G. Fisk, the company's surgeon.

As soon as the accident happened telephone messages were sent to Anderson and Indianapolis and a "special" was started from Anderson at once for the scene of the wreck. The most of the passengers were taken to Anderson. But some returned to Indianapolis.

The statement was made here to-night that the accident was due to the effort of the motorman of the express car to make another siding before meeting the limited, and it is said the express car was running on the limited's time.

----

Comments (0)


Oaklandon
http://deburger.com/oaklandon/article.php?story=20170317070410367