The Citizen

THIRTEEN MET DEATH
Terrible Disaster on the Grand Trunk Road.
Two Passenger Trains Loaded with Pilgrims Crash into Each Other.
Scenes of Tragic Horror—Many of the Passengers Killed in Their Berths on the Pullman.

Craig's Road, Que., July 10.—The scene at the wreck on the Grand Trunk road here yesterday morning was something which an eye witness can never forget, and the accident has seldom been excelled in horror by any similar event in Canadian railway annals. A special excursion passenger train, rushing along in the darkness, crashed into another train of the same kind, preceding it, and killed thirteen and wounded thirty.

Trains Filled with Pilgrims.

The trains that were in collision were special excursion trains filled with pilgrims en route from Sherbrooke, Richmond and Windsor Mills to Levis, where they were to cross over to Quebec and proceed to the shrine at St. Anne de Beaupre, and were following one another with an interval of some twenty minutes between them. The first train reached this station, which is fourteen miles west of Levis, about 3 o'clock and stopped at the tank to take water. Due precautions were taken and the semaphore thrown to danger against the following train. Only the trainmen were out and about attending to their duties. The Pullman car in the rear was wrapped in silence and the sleepers were unaware of the terrible fate that was rushing upon them.

The Terrible Crash.

Suddenly there was a great crash—the second train, coming at full speed, had dashed into the rear Pullman of the first section. So great was the impetus of the colliding train that the engine embedded itself in the palace car, and the latter plunged forward and partially telescoped the first-class car immediately in front. Every berth in the Pullman was wrecked, and some of the occupants who were killed never knew what happened to them. They died sleeping. Others awoke to their horrible surroundings and position, maimed, bleeding and bruised, conscious of little else but the agony that racked them.

Scenes of Tragic Horror.

It was an awful scene. The cries of the wounded and the moans of the dying, and the outpouring of passengers from the cars that were not badly damaged, and the hurrying forms of the uninjured trainmen, with their flickering lanterns, all combined to make a sight seldom exceeded in its tragic horror. The work of rescue was begun as soon as possible. When the blinding clouds of steam had subsided the trainmen, priests and others got together, and the dead and wounded were taken from the ruins of the engine, the Pullman and the first class car and removed to temporary quarters.

Was the Engineer Asleep?

It is hard to say where the blame for the accident rests. It has been suggested that Engineer McLeod might have dozed off to sleep and thus have missed seeing the warning semaphore and was unconscious of his whereabouts. Indeed, this would seem to be the only theory that can be advanced, but a strict investigation will be held at once to determine where the responsibility rests.