A horrible wreck occurred on the Erie just after midnight at a point on the main track about a mile east of Disko.

The special merchandise train which carries quick delivery freight east bound passed the Disko station at a rate of about fifty miles an hour and had probably reached a speed even greater than that when the boiler of the locomotive exploded and caused a terrible wreck. The train was piled up in a wreck and eight cars filled with valuable merchandise were burned before the fire was put out.

Engineer [John J.] O'BRIEN was found dead at his post of duty and not badly disfigured; fireman [Cecil L.] OLIVER was blown two hundred feet and his body torn into shreds, and brakeman [Lemuel A.] FISHER, who was in the engine cab, has not yet been found. O'Brien and Fisher were residents of Huntington but Oliver's home was near Akron and he was a cousin of Miss Sadie OLIVER, of this city.

What caused the explosion will never be known. The train crew left Rochester about 1 o'clock with everything in good condition and happy in their orders of right away to Huntington. The burned cars all contained valuable merchandise and the loss to the railroad company will be $50,000 to $75,000.

Arthur GOSS, of this city, went up and saw the wreck and reports it a smash up beyond description.

Also, from the Saturday, December 30, 1905 edition:
Late reports from the Disko wreck are to the effect that the three men killed may not have all died from the boiler explosion but were killed by the cars piling on them or burned in the flames that followed. The Huntington News says:

Penned in the cab of engine 764, Engineer John J. O'BRIEN, Fireman Cecil D. OLIVER, and Brakeman Lemuel A. FISHER were burned to death by the flames which spread immediately to the wreckage of the cars that piled upon the engine. The devouring flames rose about the unfortunate men who lay beneath the debris and they could neither scream nor struggle. Here they lay for hours in the fire which charred their bodies so that they are unrecognizable. At 2:30 the body of C. D. Oliver, the fireman, had not been recovered, but the wrecking crew was busily engaged clearing the wreckage from the place where young Oliver is supposed to be.

The bodies of O'Brien and Fisher have been recovered and present awful appearances. They are badly charred and in such a condition that the remains will be kept from the view of friends. Neither of the bodies are recognizable and appear almost like huge lumps of charred wood.

Officials of the Erie made a statement this afternoon concerning the condition of the engine that caused the wreck. They say it was in perfect condition and that the explosion was not the result of faulty construction. The water was probably permitted to get below the crown sheet.

From the Rochester Evening Sentinel, Weekly Edition:

Friday, January 5, 1906

It was learned in Rochester, yesterday, that brakeman Fisher who met his death in the Erie explosion and wreck, at Disko, last week, was Elza FISHER who once operated a butcher shop in the southeast part of town.

Saturday, January 6, 1906

Warsaw Daily Times: The funeral of Fireman Cecil D. OLIVER, one of the trio of trainmen killed in the wreck on the Erie railroad at Disko on Friday, was delayed from a cause unusual. The funeral was held at Akron. The hour for the service had been announced for 11 o'clock, but shortly before that hour word was received from the wreck by friends to the effect that additional parts of his body had been discovered and taken from beneath the wreckage. The burial was postponed until later in the day.