SABOTEUR SOUGHT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20016, 15 August 1939, Page 5

SABOTEUR SOUGHT

NEVADA OUTRAGE

WRECKING OF EXPRESS TWENTY.ONE KNOWN DEAD FIFTEEN STILL MISSING SIXTY-NINE INJURED (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. Aug. 15, 10.40 a.m.) SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14. A widespread hunt has begun for an earless man believed to toe the saboteur of the express City of San Francisco, which was derailed in the Nevada mountains yesterday. He was seen peering down from the canyon walls after the crash. The object of the sabotage is believed to be loot from the dead and injured.

The identity of the Australian seriously injured in the wreck has been established as Mrs. Violet Tomlins, of Melbourne.

The casualties in the ‘wreck are now stated to total 21 dead, 69 injured, and 15 missing. Eighteen bodies had been recovered last night and three more were visible in the wreckage.

Tools which are believed to have been used in moving the rail were found near the scene, including two crowbars and a drift pin used (for splicing the broken electric cable.

Two or More Suspected , Officials said the crowbars indicated that two or more persons were involved in, the plot.

The plotters were evidently familiar with the railway mechanism, since they did not break the electrical connection between the rails. If they had the block signals would have automatically operated. The scene of the wreck was an isolated section, and hours elapsed before doctors, nurses and the rescue trains could reach the spot.

Farmers were the first and they had , a gruesome task removing many bodies. Nearly all the dead were found in the dining club carriages. The train, which connects San Francisco and Chicago, makes the trip in 39 hours, averaging 60 miles an hour. It travels 70 miles an hour on some level sections, but usually about 50 miles an hour in the mountainous area where the wreck occurred. Fears for the safety of ‘Mr. Justice Dixon, of the High Court, were dispelled when it was learned that he had departed from Chicago for San Francisco at 9.30 a.m. on Friday, thus passing the scene of the wreck considerably before the time of the tragedy.