The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1974, Page 17

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
15
as myself, some engaged in rescuing
people from the coaches. As in a dream
I heard someone shouting that the
coach was burning. Paul Thorlaksson,
a staunch pillar in times of adversity,
warned us that it was not safe to re-
main where we were standing, and
that it would be advisable to go behind
the train. We promptly heeded his
advice. Some of our belongings were
saved, largely through the efforts of
Stefan from Ljosavatni (Lake of
Lights), who like the boy on the burn-
ing deck, remained in the coach for
some time in order to throw out as
much of our luggage as he could. A
doctor who had arrived on the scene
recommended that we be taken to a
neighboring town called Muir. There
I was taken to a house along with
other Icelanders. A girl in that house
asked me if any of us spoke English. I
foolishly answered, “No, Madam”,
which convinced her that I had some
knowledge of the language. There-
upon sihe led me upstairs to act as an
interpreter to a badly injured Swed-
ish girl. My condition was such that I
could not be of much help, nor was
she capable of answering my questions.
(Translator’s comment: It appears
that St. G. St. had some knowlege of
Swedish). A doctor dressed my wounds,
and gave me a liberal portion of an
alcoholic drink. Every effort was made
to cheer us up. The lady in charge was
as considerate as a loving mother.
Shortly afterwards the Swedish gir!
died. Previously her mother and a sis-
ter had died. The poor father who sur-
vived had lost his wife and two chil-
dren. A German woman and her in-
fant child were crushed between two
coaches; both died.
A series of mishaps that led to the
accident occurred during the night.
A wheel under one of the coaches had
broken. The train could not move
while repairs were being made. The
neighboring stations were promptly
notified. The nearest station agent
sent a signaler, named Brown, to warn
an oncoming train. The lazy lout of
a signaler answered with curses when
admonished by his superior to go far
enough to be able to warn the train
in time. Due to reduced visibility on
account of fog the engineer did not
see the signal in time, but he was able
to reduce the speed of the train from
30 miles per hour to 10 miles per hour
before it crashed into the rear of our
train, ruining two coaches. Had he
not been able to do so, all the coaches
would have been ruined and most of
the passengers probably killed. The
newspapers reported that Brown had
been arrested, and that there would
have been no accident had he obeyed
instructions. Some of the Icelanders
in the rear of our coach had seen the
approaohing train. They had warned
the rest of us before jumping to safety.
The Icelanders most seriously injured
were Eirikur Hjalmarsson, a lady
named Herdis, her son, Kristjan, Sig-
urbjorg from Mjoadal (Narrow Val-
ley) and myself. Eirikur and I had the
long convalescence. The others re-
covered rapidly.
After a short sojourn at Muir, we
resumed our journey to Grand Haven,