Charles E RedmonDied Nov. 12, 1904
Death Notice taken from:
Holt County Sentinel
Oregon, Missouri
January 27, 1905
In the \\'year in review\\', with the 1904 months broken down with the happenings that month.
From Member Angela Cable :
Rock Springs Miner no. 46 November 17, 1904
TERRIBLE WRECK NEAR GRANGER
Caused by a Head-on Collision Between No. 3 and a Fruit Special
ON LAST FRIDAY NIGHT
Twelve Lives Lost and a Number of Persons Seriously Injured.
The Pacific Express No. 3 and an east bound fruit special collided about two miles east of Granger at twelve o\\'clock last Friday night, and caused one of the most disastrous wrecks in the history of Wyoming. The trains were both running at full speed and came together with such force that both engines were reduced to scrap iron, the baggage car, mail car, day coaches and a half dozen refrigerator cars were reduced to kindling wood and thrown from the track.
As a result of the accident ten persons met instant death and two more have died from the injuries received, and more than a score are injured.
Immediately after the collision, as the passengers and uninjured trainmen recovered their senses, big bonfires were lighted on either side of the track and active efforts were made to succor the wounded and rescue those in danger of further injury. The cars caught fire several times but it was immediately extinguished with water from the filters. The passengers and trainmen worked for more than twelve hours extracting the dead and injured from the wreck.
A special train arrived in this city at eight o\\'clock Saturday morning with the seven unfortunate victims:
Theodore Ehley, of Shelby, Iowa; Emmett Wilcoxson, of Glasgo, Missouri; John Stagg, fireman, of Evanston; Frank Nolan, mail clerk of Cheyenne; Fred Wilson, of Kansas City; James Winslow, expressman, of Evanston; and the body of Engineer B.F. Eccles, of Evanston, who had died on the train before reaching this city.
The injured were immediately taken to the hospital in this city where they received medical treatment, and the train returned to the scene of the accident with the physicians, coroner and his jury aboard.
The complete list of the dead up to this time is as follows:
Joseph Loham, conductor of freight train.
William Murray, engineer of No. 3.
William Comstock, fireman of the freight engine.
Samuel Epperson, car inspector.
Roy S. Chamberlain, of Evanston, court stenographer for the Third Judicial District.
J.B. Tucker, of Hunterstown, Indiana.
Carl S. McNeil, soldier of Co. K, 13th Cavalry.
James Frew, Hooper, Utah.
H.M. Sherman, mail clerk from Cheyenne.
B.F. Eccles, engineer, from Evanston.
Charles E. Redman, brakeman.
James E. Winslow, expressman of Evanston, who died in the hospital in this city on Sunday afternoon.
Five of the bodies were brought to this city on No. 6 Saturday evening, where they were prepared for shipment to their homes, the remaining six having been taken to their homes in Evanston.
The coroner and jury returned to this city late Saturday evening and immediately went into session for the purpose of preparing a list of witnesses to be summoned to appear before them at the city hall on Monday evening.
The examination on Monday evening disclosed the fact that a mistake had been made in the copying of the train order by the operator at Granger, and that the conductor and engineer of the freight train were negligent by accepting an order different from the same one previously received at Altamont.
The order received at Altamount read:
"No 59 to C.S.E. extra east 1661."
"No. 3 (three) will run 1:30 late Green River to Evanston."
The mistake made by Operator J.E. Miller was in copying the time of No. 3, he having made the order delivered to the crew of the freight train read:
"No 3 (three) will run 1:50 late Green River to Evanston."
J.E. Miller was not a regular employee of the company, he having drawn his time on the 9th inst. and was only waiting at Granger for transportation. The regular operator, Jewel, was ill and Miller was doing the trick for him at the time of the accident. Immediately after the accident Miller disappeared and has not again been seen.
While Miller was primarily the cause of the wreck, the crew of the freight train were equally to blame, as they signed order 59 twice, with a difference of twenty minutes in the time.
The injured in the hospital in this city are all getting along nicely and will recover.
The following is the verdict as returned by the coroner\\'s jury on Tuesday afternoon:
VERDIT OF CORONER\\'S JURY
Rock Springs, Wyo., Nov. 15, 1904.
We, the jury duly empanelled and sworn, according to aw by Mike J. Dankowski, coroner in and for Sweetwater county, state of Wyoming, to investigate into the case of the deaths of B.F. Eccles, Joseph P. Lohan, Walter Comstock, Charles E. Redman, William Murray, Bert Sherman, Soren Ebberson, Joseph Frew, Carl S. McNeil, Roy Chamberlin, Jacob B. Tucker, James Winslow.
After viewing the bodies and the place of the accident and hearing the testimony of witnesses, do find that the said deceased persons came to their deaths about 12 a.m., November 12th, 1904, excepting B.F. Eccles, who died en route to the Wyoming General Hospital, same date, and James Winslow, who died at the Wyoming General Hospital, about 4:45 p.m., November 13, 1904.
We further find that the cause of death was due to injuries received in a "head on" collision between U.P.R.R. passenger train No. 3, and U.P.R.R. freight train, extra, No. 1661, about 11.59 p.m., November 11, 1904, at a point about four miles east of Granger, Wyoming.
We, the jury, further find that said collision was caused by the carelessness and gross negligence of J.E. Miller, the operator at Granger, Wyoming, in furnishing wrong orders to the conductor and engineer of said freight train and the carelessness of said conductor and engineer in leaving Granger, Wyoming, under such orders.
Signed:
JOSEPH M. HAY, Foreman,
CHAS. P. SORENSON,
LLOYD P. THOMAS.
Presented to me this 15th day of November, A.D. 1904, in the town of Rock Springs, Wyoming.
MIKE J. DANKOWSKI, Coroner.
Burial Location
wxyt-624