Honda, California
Shriners Train Wreck
May
12, 1907
37 LIVES LOST
AWFUL WRECK HURLS TRAIN LOAD OF SHRINERS INTO
ETERNITY.
“Song of the Open Switch”
Southern Pacific Passenger Train Making Sixty
Miles an Hour Dashes Into Open Switch and
Wrecks.
Santa Barbara, Cal. --- Thirty-seven known
dead, with the probability that the list will be
increased still more, was the result of the
wreck of the special train crowded with Shriners
on the Southern Pacific railroad, Sunday, May
12th.
While hurrying northward over the Coast Line,
homeward bound after a week of fraternizing and
fiesta in Los Angeles, 145 Shriners of Ishmalia
Temple of Buffalo, and Rajah Temple, of Reading,
with their families and friends, were hurled
into the midst of death when their train,
running fifty miles an hour, struck a defective
switch at Honda, a lonely station on the sand
wastes of the Pacific beach, derailing the
train, smashing the coaches into flinders [sic],
killing thirty-five almost instantly and
injuring more than a score of others.
The bodies of twenty-five lie in the morgues of
Santa Barbara, and ten more are at San Luis
Obispo. The injured, many of whom are terribly
hurt and will probably die, are in two
sanitariums at San Luis Obispo.
List of the Dead.
The dead at Santa Barbara are as follows:
J. DOUGLAS HIPPLE,
Reading, Pa.
H. K. GITTLEMAN, Reading.
A. L. ROTH, Reading.
C. GILBERT STEFFE, Reading.
A. D. WASSON, Buffalo, N. Y.
J. W. CUTTER, Binghamton, N. Y.
CHARLES M. LOWING, Pullman conductor,
Buffalo.
S. A. BICKFORD, brakeman, San
Francisco.
1. C. W. AUSTIN, New York, agent for
McCann's Tourist Co., New York.
JOHN LACEY, negro dining car waiter.
R. W. SWENEY, negro dining car
waiter.
MRS. WILLIAM W. ESSICK, Reading.
MRS. JOHN W. CUTTER, Binghamton.
MRS. HENRY J. FISHER, Cleveland.
MISS CORA YOUNG, Cleveland.
CHARLES S. HENRY, Lebanon, Pa.
MR. BRAMBACK, Reading.
MRS. BRUMBACHE.
GEORGE F. HAGENMAN, Reading.
BENJAMIN STOLTZ, Reading.
MRS. STOLTZ.
MISS STOLTZ.
HARRISON N. HENDEL, Reading.
O. F. KAUFFMAN, Reading.
HARRY C. MILLER, Reading.
The dead at San Luis Obispo are:
S. S. SNYDER, Reading.
MRS. S. S. SNYDER, Reading.
RICHARD ESSICK, Reading.
THOMAS J. PUNLAUCH, Reading.
L. N. ELLENBOGEN, Allentown, Pa.
MRS. L. N. ELLENBOGEN.
HOWARD MOYER, Hazleton, Pa.
ALONZO B. ROGERS, St. Paul, Pullman
conductor.
Unidentified woman probably MRS. MARY C. COLVINS,
Reading.
Two unidentified bodies.
The injured at San Luis Obispo are:
R. FOUNTAIN, brakeman, missing last
night, was taken to San Luis Obispo to-day. His
back is injured and the lower part of his body
paralyzed. He crawled 100 yards to flag the
second section of the train.
W. H. BOYD of Reading, Pa., badly
scalded.
MARTIN L. HENRY of Shamokin, Pa.,
injured spine and severely scalded.
H. R. LEE, Orwigsburg, Pa., face
lacerated, both hips cut, and fractured leg.
J. LOGAN, Buffalo, N. Y., leg
fractured and three ribs broken.
H. A. HARTSEL, former mayor of
Easton, Pa., severely scalded and fractured leg.
CHARLES McKINNEY, Binghamton, N. Y.,
back injured.
MRS. McKINNEY, severely bruised about
the body.
MRS. FRED GRUMMOND, Binghamton, N.
Y., ankle broken.
A. W. HOPPLE, Bennis Point, N. Y.,
severely bruised about neck.
Engineer CHAMPLAINE,
badly scalded.
Fireman GLEN THOMPSON,
face, arms and internal injuries.
MRS. HENDEL and daughter
HELEN, Reading, Pa., not serious.
J. GALVIN HUFFEDIPIZ, Reading, Pa.,
left leg fractured, scalp wound.
MRS. SNYDER, Reading, Pa., burned
about body and face.
MR. MOYER, Hazelton, Pa., Burned.
MRS. HARRISON HENDLE, Reading, Pa.,
shoulder dislocated.
MISS HENDLE, her daughter, arm
broken.
The dining car, in which were thirty-two people,
leaped into the air and was thrown directly on
top of the demolished locomotive. Nearly every
person in this coach was instantly killed.
Scores were scalded by steam from disconnected
pipes in the diner.
Range Ledger Hugo Colorado 1907-05-18
Submitted & transcribed by Stu
Beitler Thank you,
Stu!
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