Columbia Falls, Montana
Train Wreck
January 31, 1906
Three Trainhands Die in Montana Smashup.
St. Paul, Minn., Jan. 31.-Great Northern
limited No. 1, west bound and passenger train
No. 2, east bound, collided head-on one mile
west of Columbia Falls, Mont. Two firemen and
one express messenger are dead. None of the
passengers was injured. It is said the wreck was
caused by running past the station without
orders.
Iowa City Daily Press, Iowa City, IA 31
Jan 1906
RAILROADS
NO ONE WAS TO BLAME
CORONER'S JURY DID NOT FIX THE BLAME FOR THE
GREAT NORTHERN COLLISION AT COLUMBIA FALLS.
At Kalispell considerable evidence was
introduced at a coroner's inquest called for the
purpose of fixing the blame for the Great
Northern collision at Columbia Falls, when
Trains 3 and 2 came together. The verdict of the
jury was that the evidence did not warrant them
in charging the blame to any particular one.
The bodies of Messenger
WURTZACHER and
Fireman HANSEN were shipped to Iowa
for burial. Fireman
WILLIAM KANGLEY was buried at
Kalispell and Conductor
QUINN was buried at Havre.
A statement was made to a county official at
Whitefish, which was not introduced as evidence
because both QUINN
and BARDEN
were in such a miserable condition that the
effect upon them was feared. The statement made
by this responsible witness was that while
Barden was at his engine oiling up preparatory
for the start, Conductor QUINN approached and
handed him the orders and both being in a hurry
did not read them or compare them. QUINN hurried
away and BARDEN having his oil can in one hand
shoved the tissue paper message into a pocket of
his overalls. Completed his inspection of the
machine and jumped into the cab at the call of
all aboard. QUINN did not read the message to
his head brakeman; so the brakeman claims, and
it is probable that BARDEN was equally forgetful
as his fireman would never have allowed him to
pass the meeting point. QUINN first thought of
the orders when his brakeman said they had
passed Half Moon and probably BARDEN's
recollection came when the conductor pulled the
cord. He threw on the air and released the
emergency brakes but was half a minute too late
to avoid a catastrophe.
Grand Forks Daily Herald, Grand Forks, ND
7 Feb 1906
Transcribed by Linda
Houston. Thanks, Linda!
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