Wreck Costs Three Lives
Erie Railroad Trainmen Crushed to Death in Caboose of Train Near Galion -- Train Crew Were Deadheading Home -- Engineer Fails to See Flagman and Crashes Into Light Engine and Train
Three Erie railroad trainmen were killed and three injured about 10:30 o'clock last night about a mile and a half west of Galion when a westbound freight train shoved a light passenger engine into the caboose of a train ahead of it. The bodies of all three men were horribly mutilated, only parts of them being found among the wreckage.

The Dead
WALTER GILLIS, 35, Conductor, married
JOHN DIDAY, 38, Engineer, single
C.D. KYLER, 33, Flagman, single

The Injured
I.A. ROGERS, Conductor, badly bruised
HARRY BEACH, Fireman, cut and bruised
C.H. MILLER, Flagman, cut and bruised

The accident happened near what is known as BX Siding, a mile and a half west of Galion. A westbound extra freight train No. 4017 was standing on the main track, having just completed switching some cars on the siding. In the caboose of this train were Conductor Walter Gillis, Engineer John Diday, Fireman Harry Beach and Flagman C.H. Miller, who were deadheading from Mansfield to Marion when the 10 hours of their run had ended at Mansfield. C.D. Kyler, the flagman of the train, was also in the caboose, having just entered a moment before the wreck when the train was ready to start.

Immediately behind the train was a light passenger engine, in charge of Engineer L.A. Robinson and Fireman H.M. Bailey. The engine had just been repaired in the Galion shops and was being taken back to Marion for service. Engineer Robinson was flagging for his own engine.

Extra westbound freight train No. 4006, with Guy Bank as engineer, followed the first train and the engine, and was responsible for the collision. He failed to see the signal of Engineer Robinson and plunged into the light engine. This engine was shoved into the first train with fatal results. The caboose was smashed to kindling wood, and there were few large pieces of wood left of it.

Fire broke out in the cars of the second freight train, which was responsible for the wreck, and seven cars were burned up before the fire could be checked. The cars were all loaded with freight and included Christmas toys and merchandise. How the fire started is a mystery, as the cars burned were not near where there was any fire and they had not been wrecked.

Of the five men in the caboose of the first train, two of them escaped with their lives. Beach and Miller awoke following the crash, to find themselves lying some distance from the tracks, badly cut and bruised. The other three men were horribly mutilated and only parts of their bodies were found. Gillis' body was not found until the morning, and then only that part of the trunk from the shoulders to the hips. His body had been badly burned, as if it had been thrown against the hot stove in the caboose.

Engineer Guy Rank, of the second freight train, had been thrown from the cab of his engine into a coal car on an adjacent siding by the force of the collision. Conductor Rogers of the second train was thrown against his caboose and badly bruised. Fireman Bailey, of the light engine, jumped when he saw the second freight train was not going to stop, and thereby saved his life.

The watch of Engineer Diday was found and showed that it had stopped at 11:24 o'clock, eastern time. This would mean 10:24 o'clock as the time of the collision.

The tracks were badly blocked as a result of the wreck, and the wreck trains were called. The westbound track is blocked to traffic, but the eastbound track can be utilized and is not delaying passenger trains.