New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1859-07-06
Railroad Disaster.
aREAT LOSS or LIFE.


GREAT LOSS OF LIFE.
An accident, attended with frightful loss Of life,
occurred on the 9th ult, the Michigan Southern
Railroad, near South Bend, Indiana. The stream
where 1t took place is naturally small rivulet, but
was much swollen by the heavy rains the previous
afternoon and evening" and tive food of wood which
passed down probably choked the culver converting
the embankment into dam, and the great weight Of
water, with the concussion OF the crossing train,
caused the cuvert to give way, and the train to be
thrown from the track. ......
There we're about $50 persons on the train. Thirty
three persons were taken from the ruins dead and
fifty to sixty others wounded.
From the Chicago Times of the 3Oth ult we extract
the following:
The train was bound eastward-it started from
Chicago at O'Clock the same evening-and had
among the passengers several of our citizens and
several persons, male and female, who were friends
of or known to many of our citizens. Several ndi-
viduals of both these classes are, alas dead and
scores Of people here are plunged in deep grief But
the loss to this city is small compared to the aggre
gate loss. The number Of the dead has not been
accurately ascertained but 1t is admitted to be not
less than forty-two or fortyfve and it is possible
nay probabe-that it is much greater than this est
mate. From the accounts we publish this morning,
it will be seen that the lost, far as their names
and residences known, are from widely different
sections, however; the most Of them resided in East
lOcdlltless Inc uDSL Oi L0eLn, pr0D8Dy were re-
turning visitors to the West. We hope to present
all the particulars in our next issue.
Accounts differ, as they naturally would, in the
general confusion, as to the cause of the accident
1t had been raining heaviy-but no rain was falling
at the time of the disaster. 1t happened at cul-
vert--but it is not known whether the track was al
ready washed away before the train came up, or
whether, the culvert being clogged up and the em.
bankment saturated with water, it gave way under
the weight Of the engine The latter is the inference
that seems best warranted by the facts, as we learn
them. 1t is said that nd whistle was given-no
alarm Of any kind gave the passengers ntmation Of
the danger into which they were being hurried
This could hardly have been the case, had not the
l track been in place. Besides, the rush Of water
through and over the culvert and embankment, down
the channel of the small stream was great and i'm
> petuous. Another fact which goes to support the
conclusion that the track was not swept away before
the engine was upon the culvert Among the sad
incidents, to the surviving passengers, of the fearful
night, we have heard of one lady who was taken by
the current Of the rushing waters and borne down thu
If stream and lodged in the top Of low tree-the
water in its sudden rse being close up to the trees
, branches. While in this fearful position she says
she saw two other ladies swept past her crying fo
help As the flood subsidized these unfortunates wer
rescued. One gentleman, who, with his family, wer
IS on the train, himself safe, but missing his family
searched the stream and the ruins for them. H
found two of his children drowned and his wife deaf
under the rubbish, and his other child also dead
?. clasped close to its mothers bosom!
~ A lady, who was not much injured from the acc
le dent, could not find her husband and child sh
10 searched faithfully, until worn out with searching
. when they were found-dead. She then take
u to house in the vicinity. Sitting down in chat
to rest herself she instantly fell over and expired
"a But of these painful particulars shall have
10 than enough from our correspondent, who dis
patched by the first conveyance to the of th
~ disaster.
OF The wounded are suffering severely from their il
~ y. juries, and some of them cannot live. What thes
III positive facts and positive uncertainties will foot
in the aggregate number of deaths, is too fearful
contemplate.
10 The following is list of the killed. so far as asce
IL tanned
sc Hartwell, Express Messenger; Engineer and Fir
man, both named Chulp; Darlington, Baggage MAJ
th ter; c. W. Smith, Road Master; Mrs. E. G. Gille
is and child, and Stone Mills, of New York Thoma
n. Mishan, of Michigan City.
he The following are the names of wounded as for
as ss ascertained:
ed Fred Miller and Augustus White, of Holmesvill
or Ia; E. NJ. Knapp of Hudson, Wis; Miss HIATT
pt Knapp, Auburn J. K Gardner, Jonesville, Mich
ne P. Quinn, G. Anderson and W. R. Anderson, all
lie Ainsworth, H.; A. D. Pser Chicago D. p Rhode
Or. Cleveland Miss Moore, Freeport Mr.. and Mrs
- der, waukesha Wis; Messrs. walworth, father al
as son, and G. Bennett, Adrian, Mich; Oscar Warpeto
ch and NJ. H. Regan, lady and daughter, Rockford II
81. s. G. Rose Coldwater W.J Hawk, Charleston, Va
,ot G. Yaw and lady, Osego Co., N. T.; A. Van Syc
it wife and four children, Warren, ohio-himself al
,b one child seriously Stephen H. Arnold Decatr
at Iowa Mary Coates, Youngstown, Ohio; Miss d.
,ly Porter Hudson, Mich
nd The following were not injured:
gs R. W. TAFT, Susquehanna Depot, Pa Z. A. Gurle
ar Addison, Vt; Henry Grease, Philadelphia; Cals
Hogan, Milwaukee.
Az The train was running between ten and TWEEN
miles an hour. The train going west passed over t
&: embankment safely three hours before the accden
the A dispatch of the 2Sth from Chicago says:
lch The following are further particulars of the RI
me road disaster. OF the killed we have the followi
rg, additional names
icy j. Mccarthy, Holmesville, Ind; Mary Cowan a
tly Mr.. Waworth, Adrian, Mich; Mr. Sumner, Chicag
rty man, name unknown, had on his right arm the i
zen tials W. s. E. s.; Mr. McWeaty, Fond du Lac coun
Wis., Richard Muldany, Calumet, Ind; Mr.. Street
led Sparta Wis; Harry Feckinger, Reading, Pa; B.
we Mccullough, Lawrenceburg, Pa; two boys nam
Tidwell.
=, The other seventeen bodies are so disigured th
he it is impossible to indentify them Thirtyfou de
w bodies had been found up to 10 o'clock this evenir
Several other passengers are missing, who are su
, posed to have been drowned and their bodies float
a1 ea away Several of the injured not expected
o[u live. These Mrs. Regan, Of Rockford, ILL.,; 10
70 D. Wiss, Patrick Quinn, Of Ainsworth, ILL.,; e.
~ n Smith, banker, Wall street, New York; another
SUI 'll' Walworth of Adrian, Mich.
e No fault is attached to the officers of the train
,un ,me the passengers.