Chaos and death in Lorenzo
By Sandy Vasko
I ambivalent about trains. For instance, I hate them when I am stuck at a crossing for 15 minutes. I like them when I travel across country. So much nicer than flying. Some say that trains are more dangerous than planes.
For the most part, travel by rail is considered safer than driving. Not so in the 19th century, before instant communications, computers and double tracks. Today, we look at a particularly bad wreck. Warning, some descriptions may not be for the sensitive.
This story takes place in the hamlet of Lorenzo, just west of Wilmington. It is located where Lorenzo Road crosses the tracks, and apparently looked then pretty much as it looks now.
From the April 12, 1889 Joliet Republican: “A pleasure party turned into one of mourning in the twinkling of an eye — 19 miles west of Joliet, on the Santa Fe railroad, is the hamlet of Lorenzo. The place consists of a depot, a big brown colored house where the section foreman lives, and an unpainted building occupied by Mr. A. J. Robb, with a small stock of groceries, which is retailed to the farmers in that neighborhood. Lorenzo is 1 mile west of the Kankakee River, and until Wednesday morning nothing had transpired to lift it out of obscurity.
“But by noon Wednesday the place was known all over the United States, and the yeomanry – men, women and children – within a radius of 20 miles had material enough to talk about to keep them busy for the next twelve months.
“The cause was a railroad collision, whereby 4 unfortunate persons had been killed, and 3 terribly hurt. The cause of the accident was the crashing of the engine of a freight train into the rear coach of a passenger train. At 4:24 Wednesday morning a passenger train with a special car containing 7 persons, was just leaving Lorenzo, when a freight train struck the special car, going straight through it, to within 5 feet from the further end of the car.
“Those in the car were John F. Hart, wife, and son Robert W. Hart, niece Miss Alice Winslow, Mr. Harry Williams, and 2 colored attendants, Thomas Smith, cook, and Harry Herring, porter. Mr. Hart is a director on the western division of the Santa Fe and was on a pleasure trip, returning home to Boston, where all the parties live. Those killed were Mr. Robert W. Hart, the son, Miss Winslow, the affianced of Mr. Hart, and the two colored men.
“Those injured were Mr. John F. Hart and wife, Mr. Lamb, and P. L. Palmer, fireman of the freight engine. The injured were taken to Chicago on a special train and given medical aid in Mercy hospital. All were horribly scalded, especially Mrs. Hart, who was burned about the abdomen, shoulders, and face. The dead were taken to Chicago on the afternoon passenger train, where they were coffined and sent to Boston for burial.
“On the arrival of the train in Chicago the injured were taken to the Mercy Hospital. No one was allowed to see them, but a member of the hospital staff was found who had seen the ill-fated travelers, and he said Mr. Lamb was not very badly scalded. Mr. Hart would lose his sight.
“P. L. Palmer, the brakeman who was riding in the cabin of the freight engine at the time of the accident, was a wretched-looking being as he walked excitedly up and down the inside of the parlor car in the depot, waiting for the patrol wagon to take him to the local hospital. His hands, the flesh of which had been cooked to the bone by the escaping steam, were done up in bandages dripping with Vaseline, and a peep through a crevice in the dressing revealed flesh of the pale pink hue of par-boiled meat.
“His face was red and swollen from the scalding. It was daubed with Vaseline and from his chin the oil dripped down, but brave as he was, he could not keep back an occasional cry of pain. He lives at Brighton Park near Chicago, he told this reporter.
“The scene at the little depot at Lorenzo beggars description. When the jury and party arrived upon the scene a throng of neighboring farmers had gathered from every quarter, and the fences were lined with teams for nearly a mile. While in the depot impromptu bunks had been formed and the bodies stretched thereon.
“The bodies presented a heart-rending appearance, having been literally cooked to death; the flesh on the face and other parts of the bodies was swollen out of all proportion, while their tongues filled their mouths completely when wide open. The skin peeled off in great flakes, presenting a ghastly sight.
“The solemnity of the occasion caused everyone to involuntarily speak in whispers, or a subdued undertone, while in a neighboring pond a countless number of frogs chanted a requiem which caused strong men to shudder.
“At the scene of the wreck two freight cars which had been loaded with hogs were broken open and 19 hogs were lying or crawling about, all more or less mangled or scalded, and some humane gentleman recommended that they be killed outright in order to put an end to their suffering, but the loss of human life was so terrible that but little heed was paid to the poor brutes.
“The wrecked coach, the California Central, was most completely telescoped, not a piece as large as a hand being left inside of it, and wood, glass and metal trimmings were actually ground to powder, although the sides and part of the top remained intact.
“The colliding engine was N0. 716 an immense six wheels was completely trimmed of every protuberance, and the front end of the boiler was stove in, thus allowing the boiling water to escape which played such havoc in the wreck.
“The jury, after viewing the bodies and the wreck, returned on the special at 3:30 p.m., and at once repaired to the court house and commenced the examination of witnesses. All witnesses having been examined, the jury went into deliberation. A verdict is expected shortly.”