The Charleston Daily Mail – August 7, 1922
Investigation Started – All Hands Point to Dead
Engineer as Chief Blame for Killing of 38 Persons
Sufferings Described – Sulphur Springs, Mo.
Eye witnesses were summoned today
before a coroner’s jury at De Soto, Mo., to recount details of the rear-end collision
of two Missouri Pacific trains here Saturday when 37 are known to have been killed and 138
injured. Just south of the scene of the disaster there is a curve in the road, and this
cut off view of the local train, standing at a water tank, from the engineer of the
limited. Missouri Pacific officials, however, emphasized that the block signals were
operating in perfect order, and Engineer Glenn, of the fast train, should have slowed his
train down to such a speed that he could have come to a halt almost instantly Survivors
drew a vivid picture of the accident. A blast from the whistle of the limited told of its
approach around the curve along the high towering bluffs and this caused a few who had
alighted from the local to look back nervously. Rushing around the curve came the fast train. There were shouts, then the roar of the crash,
cries of women and moans of men. The rear coach was hurled down the embankment. The next
two cars standing on the trestle across Glaize Creek, and on
the embankment were crushed and splintered. The fourth tumbled down the incline north of
the creek. The roof of one of the demolished cars fell spanning the creek, and afforded a
bridge for the rescuers. Where the day coaches of the local had stood across the trestle,
now stood the steel cars of the flier. The locomotive had plowed its way through more than
half the length of the halted train, and come to rest across the trestle, steel girders
bent around its forward end and splinters of what had once been a car compressed into a
space about ten feet before it, against a coach which seemingly was uninjured.
Coroner Elders promised a thorough
investigation of the disaster, the worst train wreck in the history of this part of the
country. While Matt Glenn, dead engineer of the fast train which ploughed through four
coaches of the local train near the station, was blamed for the accident, according to
John Gannon, assistant general manager of the road, relatives of the dead and injured
joined in demands for a thorough inquiry. The crews of both trains were summoned by the
coroner to testify. Officials of the road declared the block signals were found to be in
order after the crash occurred, and all asserted that Engineer Glenn did not heed the
warning signal.
All day yesterday rescuers removed bits
of wreckage in their search. A ghostly silence hung over the scene and was broken only by
the muffled grind of the wrecking crews' cranes. Tales of many miraculous escapes were
repeated, mingled with stories of pathos and horror. Stories of young girls offering their
assistance in caring for the injured and dead were numerous. Some were seen hurrying from
one victim to another, bandaging their injuries, washing their wounds and giving what
assistances they could. The impact hurled two of the local coaches down a fifty foot
embankment and telescoped four other coaches, crushing a number of passengers to death in
their seats. Both trains were behind time, the fast passenger running from Fort Worth, Texas,
to St. Louis, carrying 150 passengers and the local 100 persons. According to Mr. Cannon,
Matt Enger Glenn of St. Louis, engineer of the fast passenger, failed to heed a block
signal warning him the track was NOT clear ahead. Glenn, 57 years old, an engineer for 35
years without a black mark against his record was killed when he jumped from his cab just
before the crash. Edward Tineley, also of St. Louis, fireman of number four, remained at
his post and was injured seriously. Engineer Glenn, shortly before arriving in Sulphur
Springs, received orders “on the run” to pull over on a siding at Cliffe Cave,
ten miles north of here to allow “sunshine special number I” enroute from St.
Louis to Texas points to pass, and Mr. Cannon explained the engineer failed to heed the
signal because he apparently was reading these orders when he passed the block. The orders
were found near his body.
Ghouls appeared on the scene shortly
after the crash and robbed the dead and dying. Only one was arrested and he said he was
William Halt of St.Louis. Several pieces of wearing apparel taken from the unfortunate
were found on his person and a bible was in his waist. The bible, it was said, had been
the property of the Rev. V.O. Pensley, of Desoto, one of those killed. The dead and
injured were spread over an area of several city blocks and chicken crates, automobile
cushions, baggage, and the railroad tracks constituted their couches. This little village
of village of 150 inhabitants was unable to care of the injured and they, along with the
dead, were taken to St. Louis and Desoto. Dr. W.W. Hull was the only physician
administering to the injured for several hours until relief trains arrived. “Had I
had some assistance, we might have saved some of the dying,” Dr. Hull told a
representative of the Associated Press. “At one time I was trying to treat 25 persons
simultaneously.” The cries of the
injured had to go untended in many cases. Mothers begged for news of their babies and
children cried for their parents. One fourteen months old
child, unable to tell her name, was found a mile from the scene of the disaster asking for
“Mama.” A woman from St. Louis took her in charge.
One of the saddest cases reported was
that of the Degonia family of St. Louis. Five of the family of six
were killed and the father is reported dying in a St. Louis hospital. Four of the
Degonia children, Mildred, 7; Ralph, 6; Melvin, 5; and Robert 14 months lay dead to the
right of their father, before he could be removed and Mrs. Degonia lay dead to his left.
Mildred had been mumbling audibly the Lord’s Prayer and just as she recited,
“Thy will be done,” death sealed her lips. Mr. Degonia, in his delirium, clasped
his infant son to his breast repeating between groans of pain, “Thank God, Bobby,
we’re all alive,” not knowing the hearts of his wife and children were stilled.
In the confusion, several bodies were hustled on the relief trains before being checked,
leaving the number of deaths uncertain. Many of the bodies could not be identified because
their effects had been scattered over such a wide area.
The railroad tracks parallel the Mississippi
River and the tracks on which the disaster occurred spans
Glaize Creek where it enters the river. As a result, a report was current that a number of
bodies were washed into the Mississippi, but there was no way of verifying this report.
Rescue work was hampered by lack of light. This village is without electricity and the
rescue workers and morbidly curious made their way among the twisted steel and wooden
coaches by the aid of lanterns, torches and candles. Thousands of persons visited the
scene late last night and today and roads were blocked for three miles. Dr. Hull said
bodies were found 300 feet from the scene of the accident. One body was buried waist deep
in a bog. Dr. George W. Elders, coroner of Jefferson county,
said a thorough investigation of the accident would be made.
List of Identified Dead:
John Crafton, United States Soldier, Oran, Mo.
A.E. Dynan,
Isabelle Howe, Milda & Mildred
Robey, W. Ward, Dr. Charles A. McClellan, Sam Davis, Eugene Clemens, a boy scout, Mrs. E.
Degonia and four children, and Engineer Glenn, all of St. Louis
Irene Moon, Festus, Mo.
Alice Cooper, Festus, Mo.
Rev. V.O. Pensley, Desoto, Mo.
Essie Potters, Herculaneum, Mo.
William Goeff, Cadet, Mo.
James McKeener, Winchester, Ill.
Among the injured:
Henry Wilson, Godfrey, Ill, fractured
shoulder
Levi Woodlock, Piedmont, Mo.,
fractured leg
Carlisle Hann, (negro)
Tory, Mo., fractured leg
Morris Schumer, Conway Springs, Mo.,
lacerations of the body
A. B. Anderson, (negro)
Herculaneum, Mo., abdominal wounds
Bernice and Mary Campbell, McCammon, Mo.,
lacerations
C.C. Dotson, Potosi, Mo., fractured
ribs
J.J. Hamilton, Desarc, Mo., probably
fractured skull
Robert Thomas, Desarc, Mo., fractured
hand
Mrs. Essie Wilson, Monterey, Mo.,
scalp wounds
Obi Anderson (negro)
Herculaneum, Mo., head wounds
Paul Smith, Piedmont, Mo.
Miss McDonnell, Crystal City, Mo.
Lucille Burlem, Dallas, Texas
__ Whitlock, Piedmont, Mo.
Mary Hahn, Fredericktown, Mo
Matthew & John Pink, Panama, Ill
E.H. Robinson, Jefferson City, Mo
Nellie Hicks, Fredericktown, Mo. |
