Eye witnesses were summoned today before a coroner’s jury at De Soto, Mo., to recount details of the rear-end collision of two Missouri Pacific trains here Saturday when 37 are known to have been killed and 138 injured. Just south of the scene of the disaster there is a curve in the road, and this cut off view of the local train, standing at a water tank, from the engineer of the limited. Missouri Pacific officials, however, emphasized that the block signals were operating in perfect order, and Engineer Glenn, of the fast train, should have slowed his train down to such a speed that he could have come to a halt almost instantly Survivors drew a vivid picture of the accident. A blast from the whistle of the limited told of its approach around the curve along the high towering bluffs and this caused a few who had alighted from the local to look back nervously. Rushing around the curve came the fast train. There were shouts, then the roar of the crash, cries of women and moans of men. The rear coach was hurled down the embankment. The next two cars standing on the trestle across Glaize Creek, and on the embankment were crushed and splintered. The fourth tumbled down the incline north of the creek. The roof of one of the demolished cars fell spanning the creek, and afforded a bridge for the rescuers. Where the day coaches of the local had stood across the trestle, now stood the steel cars of the flier. The locomotive had plowed its way through more than half the length of the halted train, and come to rest across the trestle, steel girders bent around its forward end and splinters of what had once been a car compressed into a space about ten feet before it, against a coach which seemingly was uninjured.  

Coroner Elders promised a thorough investigation of the disaster, the worst train wreck in the history of this part of the country. While Matt Glenn, dead engineer of the fast train which ploughed through four coaches of the local train near the station, was blamed for the accident, according to John Gannon, assistant general manager of the road, relatives of the dead and injured joined in demands for a thorough inquiry. The crews of both trains were summoned by the coroner to testify. Officials of the road declared the block signals were found to be in order after the crash occurred, and all asserted that Engineer Glenn did not heed the warning signal.  

All day yesterday rescuers removed bits of wreckage in their search. A ghostly silence hung over the scene and was broken only by the muffled grind of the wrecking crews' cranes. Tales of many miraculous escapes were repeated, mingled with stories of pathos and horror. Stories of young girls offering their assistance in caring for the injured and dead were numerous. Some were seen hurrying from one victim to another, bandaging their injuries, washing their wounds and giving what assistances they could. The impact hurled two of the local coaches down a fifty foot embankment and telescoped four other coaches, crushing a number of passengers to death in their seats. Both trains were behind time, the fast passenger running from Fort Worth, Texas, to St. Louis, carrying 150 passengers and the local 100 persons. According to Mr. Cannon, Matt Enger Glenn of St. Louis, engineer of the fast passenger, failed to heed a block signal warning him the track was NOT clear ahead. Glenn, 57 years old, an engineer for 35 years without a black mark against his record was killed when he jumped from his cab just before the crash. Edward Tineley, also of St. Louis, fireman of number four, remained at his post and was injured seriously. Engineer Glenn, shortly before arriving in Sulphur Springs, received orders “on the run” to pull over on a siding at Cliffe Cave, ten miles north of here to allow “sunshine special number I” enroute from St. Louis to Texas points to pass, and Mr. Cannon explained the engineer failed to heed the signal because he apparently was reading these orders when he passed the block. The orders were found near his body.  

Ghouls appeared on the scene shortly after the crash and robbed the dead and dying. Only one was arrested and he said he was William Halt of St.Louis. Several pieces of wearing apparel taken from the unfortunate were found on his person and a bible was in his waist. The bible, it was said, had been the property of the Rev. V.O. Pensley, of Desoto, one of those killed. The dead and injured were spread over an area of several city blocks and chicken crates, automobile cushions, baggage, and the railroad tracks constituted their couches. This little village of village of 150 inhabitants was unable to care of the injured and they, along with the dead, were taken to St. Louis and Desoto. Dr. W.W. Hull was the only physician administering to the injured for several hours until relief trains arrived. “Had I had some assistance, we might have saved some of the dying,” Dr. Hull told a representative of the Associated Press. “At one time I was trying to treat 25 persons simultaneously.”  The cries of the injured had to go untended in many cases. Mothers begged for news of their babies and children cried for their parents. One fourteen months old child, unable to tell her name, was found a mile from the scene of the disaster asking for “Mama.” A woman from St. Louis took her in charge.

One of the saddest cases reported was that of the Degonia family of St. Louis. Five of the family of six were killed and the father is reported dying in a St. Louis hospital. Four of the Degonia children, Mildred, 7; Ralph, 6; Melvin, 5; and Robert 14 months lay dead to the right of their father, before he could be removed and Mrs. Degonia lay dead to his left. Mildred had been mumbling audibly the Lord’s Prayer and just as she recited, “Thy will be done,” death sealed her lips. Mr. Degonia, in his delirium, clasped his infant son to his breast repeating between groans of pain, “Thank God, Bobby, we’re all alive,” not knowing the hearts of his wife and children were stilled. In the confusion, several bodies were hustled on the relief trains before being checked, leaving the number of deaths uncertain. Many of the bodies could not be identified because their effects had been scattered over such a wide area.  

The railroad tracks parallel the Mississippi River and the tracks on which the disaster occurred spans Glaize Creek where it enters the river. As a result, a report was current that a number of bodies were washed into the Mississippi, but there was no way of verifying this report. Rescue work was hampered by lack of light. This village is without electricity and the rescue workers and morbidly curious made their way among the twisted steel and wooden coaches by the aid of lanterns, torches and candles. Thousands of persons visited the scene late last night and today and roads were blocked for three miles. Dr. Hull said bodies were found 300 feet from the scene of the accident. One body was buried waist deep in a bog. Dr. George W. Elders, coroner of Jefferson county, said a thorough investigation of the accident would be made.

List of Identified Dead:

John Crafton, United States Soldier, Oran, Mo.

A.E. Dynan,

Isabelle Howe, Milda & Mildred Robey, W. Ward, Dr. Charles A. McClellan, Sam Davis, Eugene Clemens, a boy scout, Mrs. E. Degonia and four children, and Engineer Glenn, all of St. Louis

Irene Moon, Festus, Mo.

Alice Cooper, Festus, Mo.

Rev. V.O. Pensley, Desoto, Mo.

Essie Potters, Herculaneum, Mo.

William Goeff, Cadet, Mo.

James McKeener, Winchester, Ill.

Among the injured:

Henry Wilson, Godfrey, Ill, fractured shoulder

Levi Woodlock, Piedmont, Mo., fractured leg

Carlisle Hann, (negro) Tory, Mo., fractured leg

Morris Schumer, Conway Springs, Mo., lacerations of the body

A. B. Anderson, (negro) Herculaneum, Mo., abdominal wounds

Bernice and Mary Campbell, McCammon, Mo., lacerations

C.C. Dotson, Potosi, Mo., fractured ribs

J.J. Hamilton, Desarc, Mo., probably fractured skull

Robert Thomas, Desarc, Mo., fractured hand

Mrs. Essie Wilson, Monterey, Mo., scalp wounds

Obi Anderson (negro) Herculaneum, Mo., head wounds

Paul Smith, Piedmont, Mo.

Miss McDonnell, Crystal City, Mo.

Lucille Burlem, Dallas, Texas

__ Whitlock, Piedmont, Mo.

Mary Hahn, Fredericktown, Mo

Matthew & John Pink, Panama, Ill

E.H. Robinson, Jefferson City, Mo

Nellie Hicks, Fredericktown, Mo.