Ladies who drove out to the wreck from Danville fainted at the sight of the bodies. It seemed miraculous that any one should have escaped, for each car falling with the engine bounded from it and completely collapsed after striking the rocks at the foot of the trestle. All the express in the express car was practically destroyed except six crates full of canary birds. None of the birds was hurt, though the crates were in the thickest of the debris. Unofficial opinion is that the cause of the wreck was the high speed of the train on the sharp curve.
Railroad men believe a flange on the engine wheel broke.
Train No. 97 was running about an hour behind time. The mail bags in all the mail cars were torn open and the letters and packages were scattered, but it is believed none is lost. Fire, which appeared in the wreckage shortly after it occurred, was quickly extinguished by the Danville fire department. On account of the wreck, all traffic on the central and northern divisions of the Southern will be delayed several hours. Arrangements are being made to run southbound trains over the Norfolk and Western from Lynchburg via Burkeville to Danville, which will cause delays of several hours.