1905 — Dec 7, Trains collide, Union Pacific freight/Overland Ltd., ~Rock Springs, WY– 10
–10 Ogden Standard, UT. “Terrible Wreck Occurs on the Union Pacific.” 12-7-1905, p. 1.
–10 Railway Age. “Recent Accidents,” Vol. XL, No. 25, 12-12-1905, p. 801.
Narrative Information
Railway Age: “In a head collision on the Union Pacific between a freight train and the eastbound Overland Limited near Rock Springs, Wyo., on December 7, 10 persons were killed and some 20 were injured. Of the killed three were dining car cooks, three were mail clerks, two electricians, one a passenger engineer and one a passenger brakeman. The freight train had received orders to meet four passenger trains, the last of which was the Overland Limited. It took the siding at Ahsay, 5 miles west of Rock Springs, and then three of the trains, all running near together, had passed that point, the freight started west and met the limited at full speed about a mile beyond the station. The freight conductor admitted that he had become confused and believed that all four trains had passed. Both engines were demolished and three cars of the limited caught fire and were destroyed.” (Railway Age. “Recent Accidents,” Vol. XL, No. 25, 12-12-1905, p. 801.)
Newspaper
Dec 7: “Omaha, Neb. Dec. 7.–Ten persons were killed and eleven train employes and eight passengers were injured in a wreck of Overland Limited passenger train No. 2, on the Union Pacific, five miles west of Rock Springs, Wyo., just before 2 o’clock this morning. The Limited was run into head-on by a freight train and both engines were demolished and the dynamo car, mail car and dining car on the Limited were burned up. Several of the bodies of the dead were incinerated.
The Dead.
First Cook James Busbee, Omaha,
Second Cook Ed Rosenbaum, Oakland, Cal.
Fourth Cook John Lawless, Omaha.
Three mail clerks were killed — J. W. Newsom, J. F. Phillipar, Frank Peterson.[1]
Electrician Stigers of Ogden and assistant, Frank McKenna.
Engineer Brink of Rawlins, [WY]
Brakeman Smith, of Rawlins.[2]
“….An extra freight train was given an order, before it left Rock Springs, to meet four east-bound passenger trains, of which the Overland Limited was the last one, at Ah Say, a siding five miles west of Rock Springs. The freight took the siding at Ah Say and waited until three of these trains had passed east and then pulled out. When a mile and a half west of Ah Say the freight med the Limited and crashed into it head-on. Both engines were demolished and the three first cars of the Limited immediately caught fire and ere entirely destroyed.
“Engineer Brink of the freight train, who, it is stated officially, was responsible for over running his orders, was one of the killed. Several trains had been badly delayed at Green River, with the result that the four passenger trains were running close to each other. The freight had receivd positive orders to meet all four of these trains at Ah Say and the officials say that the orders were either misunderstood or misread.
“Relief trains with wrecking cars and a large number of physicians were immediately dispatched from Rock Springs and Green River… The Wyoming state hospital, located near Rock Springs, was convenient to the point where the wreck occurred and to this institution the injured were removed….” (Ogden Standard, UT. “Terrible Wreck Occurs on the Union Pacific.” 12-7-1905, p. 1.)
Sources
Ogden Standard, UT. “Omaha Victims.” 12-8-1905, p. 8. Accessed 9-12-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/ogden-standard-ogden-city-utah-dec-08-1905-p-8/?tag
Ogden Standard, UT. “Terrible Wreck Occurs on the Union Pacific.” 12-7-1905, p. 1. Accessed 9-12-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/ogden-standard-ogden-city-utah-dec-07-1905-p-1/?tag
Railway Age, Vol. XL, No. 25, 12-12-1905, p. 801. Google digitized. Accessed 9-12-2017 at:
https://books.google.com/books?id=09ZLAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=thumbnail&q&f=false
[1] Notes near end of article that all three mail clerks were from Cheyenne, WY. Another source, though, writes that “a cook, J. E. Newsome, one of the mail clerks,” was from Omaha. (Ogden Standard, UT. “Omaha Victims.” 12-8-1905, p. 8.)
[2] Provides list on the injured at this point and later notes that none seemed to have received fatal injuries.