Will County IL Archives News.....Waked by Death April 15, 1889 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00003.html#0000719 July 10, 2008, 2:51 am Weekly Courier Journal April 15, 1889 Sleeping Tourists Crushed and Scalded In a Collision Near Chicago. Chicago, April 10.-One of the saddest of the innumerable railroad disasters which have occurred near Chicago took place early this morning, at Lorenzo, Ill. The victims are eight in number, including a bride that was to be and her betrothed husband. Lorenzo, the scene of the horror, is a little hamlet fifty-seven miles out on the Chicago, Santa Fe and California railroad. During a fog, an extra frieght train ran into the rear of the regular No. 2 California passenger train, east- bound, at 2:30 o'clock, smashing to bits a private coach, letting not a single one of the occupants escape. Four people were killed, and four others seriously injured. The killed are Henry Hart, the fifteen-year-old son of J. L. Hartt, of Boston, Mass. Miss Alice Winslow, of Brookline, Mass., niece of J. L. Hartt, and the fiancee of Henry W. Lamb, who was seriously injured. Harry Herring, colored porter, of Los Angeles, Cal., Thomas Smith, colored cook, also of Los Angeles. The seriously injured are J. L. Hartt, of Boston, Mass., director of the Chicago, Kansas and Western railroad, a branch of the Santa Fe system, badly burned about the feet, legs, arms and head. Mrs. J. L. Hartt, the former's wife, whose injuries are smaller. Henry Lamb, of Brookline, Mass., seriously scalded about the arms and head. P. L. Palmer, brakeman of the freight train, of Brighton Park, Ill., seriously scalded. Mr. Henry W. Faulkner, of Detroit, who was a passenger on the wrecked train, thus described Mr. Lamb's grief at hearing of the death of his betrothed: "I was in the sleeper Santa Anna," said Mr. Faulkner, "when I was awakened doubled up in my berth, and I feel now like I had been broken in two. I could hear a prodigious uproar outside and the sound of escaping steam. I dressed as fast as I could and got outside. Some of the trainmen and the passengers were at work in the wreck and had pulled out a young man, I afterward heard was Lamb. He was groaning pitifully. I got a mattress from the sleeper and we lifted Lamb to it as gently as possible. 'O, where is Allie?' cried he, raising up suddenly. Just then two men passed by with the body of a woman. Lamb caught sight of her face by the light of a lantern. 'O, God, it is Allie!' he screamed, and then he dropped back on the mattress in a faint. I was in the car with the wounded on our way to the city and every once in a while I could hear Lamb, poor fellow, moaning 'Allie, Allie.'" Mr. John F. Hartt is a heavy capitalist and one of the best known directors of the Chicago, Kansas and Western. Mrs. Hartt is a sister of Mr. Albert W. Nickerson, the wealthy railroad man of Boston, and director of the Santa Fe. Mr. and Mrs. Hartt started on their Western trip about two months ago. In their party were their son Robert, Mr. Henry W. Lamb, a young business man of Brookline, Mass., twenty-eight years of age, and Miss Alice Winslow, a cousin of Mrs. Hartt. Miss Winslow was a bright, pretty girl of twenty-two. Robert Hartt had just turned seventeen and was preparing for college. He was to enter the freshman class at Harvard next September. The ill-fated passenger train was due at Lorenzo at exactly 4:25 o'clock, and arrived on time. The freight train following, known as an "extra" was "running wild," under orders to keep five or ten minutes behind the passenger. It was in charge or Conductor Hughes and Engineer Converse. The employes of the freight train claim that the dense fog prevented them from seeing, though near to Lorenzo, or from catching sight of the rear lights of the passenger. Hughes acknowledges that he knew the passenger was just due at Lorenzo at the time of the collision, but thought he was three or four miles behind. The rear coach of the passenger train was the private car of the officers of the California Central railroad, and was occupied by Mr. Hartt and party. All were soundly sleeping when the fatal crash came. The passenger has stopped only a moment at Lorenzo and was pulling out when the freight rushed down upon it. The engine of the freight telescoped the private car and crushed in the rear platform of the Pullman car Santa Anna, just ahead, and wrecked the engine. The engineer and fireman of the freight escaped by jumping from the cab. Brakeman Palmer, who was riding on the cab, fell beneath it and was badly scalded by the escaping steam before he could extricate himself through the cab window. Miss Winslow, Robert Hartt, the porter and the cook were killed outright. The other three occupants of the sleeping car were thrown from their berths by the collision, but no limbs were broken as they were fortunate enough to be in the front end of the car. Before they could be extricated, however, they were almost parboiled by the escaping steam of the disabled engine. The wreck of the private car was left at Lorenzo, and the dead and the injured were placed in the sleeper Santa Anna. No medical assistance was obtainable at the little station where the accident occurred, and, as soon as possible, the passenger train hurried on to Joliet, fifteen miles distant, with its burden of dead and suffering. The injuries of the wounded were dressed at Joliet and opiates administered, which made the terrible pain bearable. The four dead bodies were taken off the train for the Coroner and left at Joliet. Dr. Curtiss, the company's surgeon, came with the Santa Anna from Joliet to Chicago. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/newspapers/wakedbyd157gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/ File size: 6.1 Kb