Sang Hollow, Pennsylvania

Train Wreck

August 20, 1906

WRECK KILLS SEVEN

Freight Runs Into Work Train at Sang Hollow With Dire Results.

ORDERS WERE DISREGARDED

Engineer Running on Green Block Speeds Up to Take Water and Hits Caboose Full of Sleeping Workmen-Himself Fatally Injured.

Johnstown, Pa., Aug 20.-The Conemaugh work train going east was run into at Sang Hollow, near this city, by a Pennsylvania railroad freight going 45 miles an hour and seven men belonging to the work train were killed and seven of the same crew were seriously injured, same (sic) perhaps fatally.

The dead: GEORGE W. MEADE, Johnstown; EDWARD STEVENS, MIKE TODISH, MIKE TEPSIC, MILINY MOKURE, TANKO SREIMOC and TANKO SIMUNLIO, all of Conemaugh.

The injured: SAMUEL WATTS, Conemaugh; FRANK AGEY, Conemaugh; WILLIAM P. WOOD, Altoona; BOZO NINKOVIC, Conemaugh; MIKE SABICH, Conemaugh; SAMUEL WRELMIR, Conemaugh; GEORGE SCLEK, Conemaugh.

The Conemaugh work train was called out to clear away a small wreck which had occurred west of Sang Hollow. When this work had been completed the train started for home, but stopped at a water plug near Sang Hollow to take water. The Fort Wayne freight, No. 2, loaded with perishable goods, was stopped by signal at "NR" tower east of Seward and given orders to deliver to another freight crew. The orders were delivered according to instructions and the freight continued on its way. When Engineer WOODS approached the water pans he increased the speed of his train so that the could scoop water into the tender, despite the fact that he had been ordered to run under a green block until the wreck train was out of his way.

WOODS, owing to the heavy rainfall at that time, did not see the work train until he was almost upon it. He jumped, receiving injuries which will probably result in his death. His fireman stuck to the engine and was not injured.

With frightful force the engine crashed into the work train. All of the laborers and others on the train were asleep and the majority of those killed never knew that they had been struck. The heavy engine crashed through the cars as if they had been made of paper. The cries of the wounded, the burning cars, the overturned engines and the sound of escaping steam combined to make a most horrible sight. The crew of the freight made an attempt to rescue the men from the cabin car, but owing to the fact that the doors were battered in on the wreck and the timbers were crushed, entrance was impossible.

Altoona Mirror, Altoona, PA 20 Aug 1906

Transcribed by Linda Houston. Thanks, Linda!

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