1922 — Aug 5, rear-end train collision, MO Pacific Railroad, Sulphur Springs, MO — 34
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 4-16-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
–34 AP. “Death Toll In Collision Stands At 34.” Joplin News Herald, MO. 8-7-1922, p. 1.
–34 ICC. Summary of Accident Investigation Reports No. 13, July-September 1922, p. 14.
Narrative Information
Interstate Commerce Commission: “Rear-end collision between two passenger trains at Sulphur Springs, Mo., on August 5, 1922, which resulted in the death of 32 passengers, 1 employee, and 1 trespasser, and the injury of 171 passengers, 10 employees, 1 mail clerk, 2 news agents, 1 express messenger, and 1 Pullman porter.
“This accident was caused by the failure of an engineman properly to obey signal indications and by the failure of the crew of the first train properly to protect their train, for which the flagman, conductor, and engineman are responsible….
“Northbound passenger train No. 32 consisted of 2 baggage cars, 1 mail car, 1 mail and baggage car, 2 chair cars, 3 coaches, and 1 chair car, in the order named, hauled by engine 5810….
“Northbound passenger train No. 4 consisted of 3 baggage cars, 1 mail car, 2 baggage cars, 1 coach, 1 chair car, 2 coaches, 1 Pullman sleeping car, and 1 dining car, in the order named, hauled by engine 5312….
“The train [No. 4] passed the station [Riverside] at 7.13 p. in., passed home signal 262, distant signal 232-D, and when opposite home signal 232 collided with the rear end of train No. 32 while traveling at a speed estimated to have been 35 or 40 miles an hour.
“The last two cars in train No. 32 were demolished, while the seventh and eighth cars were derailed to the right and came to rest down the embankment, badly damaged. One pair of driving wheels on engine 5312 was derailed and the second car in train No. 4 was demolished. The employee killed was the engineman of train No. 4.” (ICC. Summary of Accident Investigation Reports No. 13, July-September 1922, p. 14-17.)
Newspaper
Aug 5, AP: “(By Associated Press.)
“St. Louis, August 5. – From thirty-five to forty persons were killed and at least sixty injured when Missouri Pacific fast train known as No. 4 crashed into a local passenger train at Sulphur Springs, 26 miles south of here at 7:30 p.m., according to an official bulletin issued by the Missouri Pacific here shortly before midnight. Four rear coaches of the local train known as No. 32 were telescoped, the bulletin stated. The accident occurred at the railroad station where the local passenger had stopped to take water.
“Engineer Matt Glenn of St. Louis, on the fast train was instantly killed while his fireman, J. E. Tinsley was badly injured.
“Most of the injured, it was said, were Boy Scouts, who were returning from their summer camp at Ironton, Mo., about 100 miles south of the scene of the disaster. The names of the dead are not known, and many are said to have been so badly mangled that identification would be almost impossible.
….
“Among the first of the dead to be taken from the demolished coaches were: Rev. Vo. O. Panley of De Soto, Mo., Miss Irene Moon of Festus, Mo., and Engineer Gleen.
“One of the coaches was thrown into a creek, which runs along the track, and was completely demolished.
“The fast train was bound from Fort Worth Texas, and the local from Poplar Bluff….”
(Associated Press. “Forty May Be Dead From Wreck.” Sedalia Democrat, MO. 8-6-1922, p. 1.)
Aug 7, AP: “Sulphur Springs Wreck Casualties.” Joplin News Herald, MO. 8-7-1922, p. 1.
(Go to URL in sources below for listing of fatalities.)
Sources
Associated Press. “Death Toll In Collision Stands At 34.” Joplin News Herald, MO. 8-7-1922, p. 1. Accessed 4-16-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/joplin-news-herald-aug-07-1922-p-1/
Associated Press. “Forty May Be Dead From Wreck.” Sedalia Democrat, MO. 8-6-1922, p. 1. Accessed 4-16-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/sedalia-democrat-aug-06-1922-p-1/
Associated Press. “Sulphur Springs Wreck Casualties.” Joplin News Herald, MO. 8-7-1922, p. 1. Accessed 4-16-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/joplin-news-herald-aug-07-1922-p-1/
United States Interstate Commerce Commission. Summary of Accident Investigation Reports No. 13, July, August, and September 1922. Washington, DC: GPO, 1922. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=c3zNAAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0