1904 Holden Missouri Train Wreck December 4, 1904 Johnson County, Missouri

SIXTEEN IN HOSPITAL.
All Victims, of the Holden Mo. Wreck Expected to Recover
Kansas City, Dec. 4.—Only sixteen of the fifty or more persons Missouri Pacific wreck near Holden Mo. yesterday are still in hospitals in this city. Of those remaining: here the condition of Mrs. Mary Gillett, of Canton, K. Y., is the most serious. She is seventy-four years of age, but her attending physician believes she will recover. Mrs. Gillett was in the rear Pullman, which, was precipitated into a creek more than twenty feet below the bridge where the wreck occurred, and she was rescued from the wreck after holes had. been chopped in the top of the car with axes.
[The Washington Post, Dec. 5, 1904 (Washington, D.C.).

MISSOURI PACIFIC 5507 WAS BUILT BY BROOKS IN 1904. Similar to Holden Missouri Train Wreck in 1904

Chronicle News 12-4-1904
"TRINIDADANS IN WRECK
Kansas City, Sunday-The Missouri Pacific passenger train from St. Louis, due here at five-fifteen o'clock yesterday afternoon, was wrecked two miles east of Holden at four o'clock yesterday afternoon. Fifty-seven passengers were injured, a few of them so seriously that they may die.

The train was fifteen minutes late and was running fast to make up time. It was flagged at Centerview, the first station west of Warrensburg, and it there received orders to run slow, it is said, over the Post Oak bridge between Centerview and Holden. In violation of this order, the train rushed down through the Post Oak valley at the rate of forty-five miles an hour. The engine and first baggage car went over the bridge all right, but just as they reached the other side there was a crash, and in a moment the remainder of the train, consisting of five coaches, were thrown in a heap. A rail on the bridge was broken or spread. Some of the coaches went into the bed of the creek and down a declivity of thirty or forty feet. 

Two of the victims of the wreck, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Jamieson, are well known residents of Trinidad. Mr. Jamieson is the proprietor of the big Jamieson House Furnishing company and he and his wife were returning home from the world's fair. Mrs. Jamieson's mother and sister, Mrs. Gillette and Miss Gillette were accompanying them. Charles Black received a telegram yesterday morning from Mr. Jamieson, sent from Kansas City, stating that neither he nor his wife were dangerously injured. Mr. Jamieson escaped with a few bad cuts about the head, but Mrs. Jamieson had her collar bone broken. She is now in the hospital at Kansas City and will remain there until she recovers from the shock sufficiently to travel. They are expected home the latter part of the week."

Chronicle News 12-4-1904
"ESCAPED INJURY
Mrs. Charles Rapp Was In Missouri Pacific Wreck, But Was Not Hurt At All
Mrs. Charles Rapp returned this morning from an extended visit east. She was in the Missouri Pacific wreck at Holden, Missouri, Saturday afternoon, and was an occupant of the pullman car which rolled down a thirty-foot embankment. She sat directly in front of Mr. and Mrs. W.M. Jamieson, both of whom were severely injured. Mrs. Rapp, however, was not brused at all, though she was badly shaken up, and reached home quite worn out. She and one other lady were the only occupants of the car who escaped injury." 

The St. Louis Republic

SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 4, 1904.
PRICE FIVE CENTS.

ONE FATALLY HURT and 55 Injured in Holden Wreck

Broken Rail on Bridge Throws Three Coaches From the
Track, Hurling One to Creek Below.

DISTANCE IS TWENTY FEET.

Two Elderly Ladies, Imprisoned
in the Car Are Taken Out, After Holes Are Cut in Top With an Ax.

TEN ARE SERIOUSLY INJURED.

Four St. Louis Persons Are in the List. One a Negro Not Expected to Live Engine and Baggage Coaches Remain on the Track.
Holden. Mo.  Dec 1 Missouri Pacific passenger train No. 1. westbound from St. Louis to Kansas City, due here at 4 o'clock this afternoon, was wrecked at the Waterworks bridge, two miles east of here, resulting In the injury of about forty-five passengers, ten of whom were seriously injured.
The accident was caused by a broken rail. which projected from the track, catching the first coach behind the mail car. throwing it from the track down a twenty-foot embankment, and causing two other coaches, a Pullman and the diner, to follow it. The broken rail on the bridge, and the rear Pullman rolled off the bridge into the creek below and the passengers inside were all seriously injured.
Two elderly ladles. Imprisoned in this car, were taken out at the top. after holes had been made with ax.
The engine, two baggage cars and the mall car passed the bridge in safety, and remained on the track, but all the remainder of the train was derailed. The wreck occurred fourteen miles west of Dead Man's Curve, near Warrensburg where the worst wreck in the history of the Missouri, Pacific Railway Happened, In October, when thirty persons lost their lives. Supposition has it that orders were given the train crew at Centervlew today to slow up at the waterworks bridge, on account of a broken rail there. It seems that the train was behind the schedule time and this order was not heeded.
When the heavy passenger, running at a high rate of speed, struck this bridge, striking the broken rail, which turned and projected from the ground, there was a tremendous crash and three coaches, diner and sleeper car hurled down an embankment 30 feet high, and the last car thrown into a stream of water, carrying the bridge with it.
Shrieks and cries arose from mothers thinking of their children, and men lay
under the debris helpless to save their families. The scene was heart rending.
Railroad physicians were summoned to the scene at once, and they worked for
hours upon the wounded, who were taken to near-by houses. One country home was turned into a hospital.
A crowd of Knights of Pythias were going to Kansas City to be present at
Missouri night, where 1.800 candidates were to he initiated. More than forty were on board from Warrensburg alone.
Injured:
E. D. Smith, St. Louis: head and face hurt.
H. Claxton, St. Louis (negro); will die.
M. J. Payne. St. Louis; Pullman conductor; ribs broken; knee fractured.
Albert Thomas. St. Louis; serious.
L. H. Hickman, State Building and Loan Commissioner, of Warrensburg, Mo.;
back hurt.
Wallace Crossley, Representative elect from Johnston County. Missouri; badly
hurt.
P. L. Ferguson, County Treasurer, Holden. Mo.; head cut.
G. E. McDonald. Warrensburg; badly hurt.
Mrs. C. Truase, Kremlin, Ok.; contusion on head.
Helen Truase. Kremlin, Ok.; contusion on head.
John Fowler, Clarksburg. Mo.; knee sprained.
Mr. Eddy, Lincoln. Neb.: hip sprained.
Mrs. Max Wolf. Kansas City; eye hurt and neck badly hurt.
Mrs. John Eberhart. Kansas City; shoulder and hand crushed.
Mrs. M. C. Peirce and baby, hurt about heads.
W. M. Peirce, wife and daughter, Pueblo, Colo.; bruised and Mrs. Peirce’s hip seriously injured.
Thomas Oates. Warrensburg; head and arm injured.
Mrs. Thomas Oates. Warrensburg; head hurt.
Mrs. Ora McCord, Denver; head lacerated.
P. P. Priest. Warrensburg; neck wrenched and body bruised.
Tom Barrett. Barrett, Kas.; head hurt.
G. A. Landes. Warrensburg; head cut and bruised.
Mrs. J. P. Krubesky. Pueblo, and four small sons; all bruised about heads and
bodies.
Mrs. Gillett, New York. aged 79 years; hurt.
Miss Minnie Glllett. New Tork; body bruised.
H. A. Mosher, Warrensburg; scalp lacerated.

Alice Hackroann. Washington; face mashed" and lacerated.
Millard Stilllwell, Warrensburg; head hurt.
Mrs. Millard Stillwell, Warrensburg; nervous shock.
James Butler, Holden, Mo.; leg Injured.
John Ross. Jefferson City, Mo.; head cut.
Mrs. George Wells. Salt Lake City; leg hurt.

William Jamison, Trinidad, Colo.; head injured

W. A. McBride, Warrensburg, Mo.; leg sprained

John C. Miller, Warrensburg, Mo.; leg injured

Ben Sams, Warrensburg, Mo.; leg injured

Mrs. William Jamison, Trinidad, Colo.; collar bone broken.

Mrs. Lorena Dollique, Wichita, Kas.; eye destroyed

H. Frankel, Kansas City; head badly cut

A.E. Cartwright, Louisville, Ky.; limbs badly cut

George Austin, Warrensburg, Mo.; shoulder broken

Hermann Hackmann, Washington, Mo., leg and shoulder hurt

Mrs. B. A. Davis, Independence, Mo., head cut

Judge W. E. Conner, Sedalia, Mo.; head injured

B. Doehla, Kansas City, Mo.; slightly injured

D. Doehla, Kansas City, Mo.; slightly injured.

Mrs. Helen McKee, Frankfort, Kas.; breast and head injured

C. E. Wickham, Kansas City, Mo, leg injured

W. M. Estes, back and shoulder injured.

W.S. Hyer, Warrensburg, MO.; back injured

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020274/1904-12-04/ed-1/seq-24/;mode=full

CONDUCTOR HOOTON SAYS TRAIN WAS RUNNING SLOW

The wreck at Holden, Mo., according to reports received by General Manager Sullivan, is supposed to have been caused by a broken rail.

The conductor of the train, J. C. Hooton of St. Louis, in his report on the wreck stated that he had been warned that the stretch of track was in bad condition, and for that reason the train was not going at a speed exceeding eighteen miles per hour. 

As soon as news of the wreck reached the railway officials, relief trains were sent out from Sedalia, Kansas City and Warrensburg, and the wounded were taken to Kansas City.