Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1864-11-11

The Lafayette (Ind.) Courier thus de.
scribes the late terrible railroad collis' =,
near that place:
Both trains were heavily l. demon
with even coaches and f. h"ndra,
and eight souls, and the e. u;th ny.
freight cars filled with .."uarnmamt not
tie. The engineer, C,eorre Lamb. of tn
cattle train, had observed the smoke O
c,r,p andsel engine just beyond tn
Uurve, anu 'F,versing his engine, hat
pafana p..ecked the speed of the trail
S 49, dread collision. He stood q
lis pos =, pale as marble, until the trains
Weie but a few rods apart, when h,
J"' .nped for his life, and with the fire
, man and brakeman escaped unhurt.-
John Written, engineer Of the express
having, as he thought, an undoubteG
right to the road, was unsuspicious o.
danger on the curve, and did not see the
other train until too late to materially
check the speed Of his W. train, much
less avert the disaster. He had barely
time to reverse his engine and jump for
his life, when the massive locomotives
and all their precious freight of human
life collided with a loud crash and a
power which shook the earth. Head
lights, cOw-catchers, and all the lighter
works were crushed like finder, and the
massive iron boilers received the full
force of the collision. All wa W. in
the twinkling of an eye, and in less time
than 1t takes to read this paragraph
tWenty-seven souls were swept into
eternity.
Next to the engine, as usual, was the
baggage car, belonging to the Lafayette
and indianapolis Railroad, next was a
LIST class coach belonging to the Michigan
Central road, and this was the fatal car,
in which Death held high carnival
The baggage car was about IA inches
narrower thar the passenger coach, and
a little higher Oh the trucks, and the
force of the conclusion drove it like the
smaller section of a spy-glass into and
through the passenger coach immedi-
ately behind. The baggage car remain
ed intact, and narrower, as We have said,
crushing through the coach,
sweeping OFT the top but leaving the |
sides of the car unbroken. Like a mon !
ster battering ram, it swept everything |
before it, and scarce a single passenger !
in the forward part escaped instantane-
death. I
AS it entered the coach it jumped the !
trucks upon which it rested, |
and the end dropping about II inches, |
for want of support, gave the baggage
car al angle of about 80 degrees. And
to this simple fact the escaped passen-
gers of the Inflated coach owe their |
lives. Had the baggage car gone through
the same line upon which it entered, |
not a soul could have escaped. Thus it
was that the forward passengers were
instantly crushed to death. A little
back, and the elevation of the:
car brought in line with |
tops of the seats, and here it was !
that heads were crushed like e%gg-shells. |
A little farther, and those only who |
were standing were struck down, while
but a step beyond, passengers escaped
without a scratch saw from the spiinters
Of the wreck.
Language has no power to 1epiet the
scene. Within the compass of a few
feet inside that fatal car wf.s compressed
the bruised and bleeding bodies OF the
dead. the MANNED and the dying. The
red velvet cushions had y deeper dye
the life blood of the victims, and
removal of tne bodies, living and
dead, from the debris of the car was full
of horror.
A number of the dead were so tightly
wedged between the bottom of the bag
gage car and the passenger coach, that
the baggage car had to be raised by jack
screws before they could be taken out
The a dripped with blood like a
slaughter-pen.
No ladies were injured. Conductor
Wright informs us that he was standing
in the third car, and scarcely felt the
force of the collision. Indeed he had no
idea that anything serious had occurred
until he went forward.
With hrf fnu- nx-nn0nn fl,4 WIDTH aS
were soldiers discharged and on fur
Tough. A mess OF five who hx<i togeth-
err faced death a thousand times on the
bloody fields OF battle was reduced to
one-as single survivor as we learn, and
he the only unmarried n of the five.
A few minutes before the accident, a
veteran soldier who had been three
years at the front, and once a prisoner
in Libby, and during al that time had
seen his family but once, spoke
tearfully to q passenger of his
wife and children, and passing for
ward to speak to a cOmrade was among
the first struck down. His lifeless re-
mains will go forward to his desolate
home tomorrow.
The baggage car was not wrecked,
and though dealing death in its course
throughthe passenger car, no Oneaboard
IL was seriously injured. MT. CnaSe, the
Mail agent, Steve Taylor, Jointly Lewis
ndothers jumped from the car and es-
capped with slight sprains.
1t is Il singular fact that all the ears
remained on the track. A pair of trucks
from one of the engines was thrown off,
but nothing more. Two gentlemen
stood on the rear platform OF the bag
gage car, and remained there during its
wild plunge through the passenger car.
One had his leg broken and q slight
bruise on the head. The other, legs
bruised. but not broken.