Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-11-01
TENNESSEE.
Five Men Killed by the ExpIO-
sion of a Locomotive.
The Railroad Track Torn up
and Nfneiy-ei ms 9ars.
~ Destroyed
rom the Nashvllle Press and rimeel

From the Nashville Press and TimesJ
One OF the sRdest and most destructive
accidents which has occurred on the
railroads. centering Ia this city, hap
psned yesterday on the Louisville and
Nashville road at Memphis Junction.
tbs locomotive of train No. 9, due in
this city ATLAS, exploded about 5 O'Clock
yesterday morning at the above men,
toned station, killing five men outright.
The train stopped at the Junction TO take
on some freight, and also to attach two
empty box cars, which were to be
brought to this city. Wood and water
was also taken by the locomotive, two
brakemen and the wood passer getting
upon the engine after they had finished
throwing ON the fuel. The train then
started slowly up the grade. All five
together with the conductor,
standing upon the locomotive. The lat
ter dropped off after q moment OF two to
board the cabOOse. Hardly had be
stepped upon that car, which was, IS is
customary, the last, when the boiler ex-
plOded with q fearful conclusion, and the
train came instantly to a dead HIATT.
They were only about q quarter Of q mile
from the station when the accident hap
pened, and were not running more than
five miles an hour. The conductor
FASTENED to the head OF the train, where
a terrible scene of wreck met nis z re.
The locomotive was entirely gone
blown to pieces and scattered over
a space of many yards. The sriv-
ing wheels were thrown right and
left of the track; the smOke-5tack
was sixty or seventy yards away; the
boiler tumbIed off some distance from
the track the wood work Of the engine
reduced to kindliag wood, and the ten
der torn into fragments and pitched of
the track. The i've men whom ne had
left e moment before in the flush of life
now lay, two OF them, fifty yards away,
and the other three somewhat nearer, ali
but one, mangled and dead. Destelle,
the engineer, and jerry higgins, the
fireman, were thrown far into the brush
wood on opposite sides of the track. They
were savagely mutilated, as wa also the
wood pssseT, Jerry Carroll, who vas
found not far from the fireman. The
two brakemen, John Brown and John
Welsh, lay nearer the track, and one OF
them, though frightfully injured, lived
until noon. There were bus seven men
on the train, and but two escaped. Had
not the conductor left the locomotive as
he did, there would have been but one
survivor.
The force Of the conclusion is repre-
scented as having been slmOstirresistible.
Four of the twenty-five freight Car
which composed the train were wrecked
pastS repair, and several others stove
up aud sadly damaged. The track was
also torn up, ever the ties being broken
at the point Of the explosion, and the
timbers scOoped out by It's terrible
power.
Tho bofIar o1noor7 70 bo1o oi,,., uau
Just outside, and forward of the fire box,
the solid wrought iron being twisted ss
though it were brown paper. The fire.
box Itself Was blown into fragments and
scattered on either side Of the track.
The cylinders appear to have escaped
damage, but the remainder of the ma
chineTy was twisted into a tangled mass
or thrown clear away. OdrRilrOai men
cay they never saw a worse wrecked To-
connective. The people at Memphis
Junction were thoroughly astOnished at
The explosion, and some thought IL the
shook of an earthquake. The wind VS.
rattied aBd the ground ltsslf fairly shook.
The conclusion was distinctly heard and
the shock plainly felt at Bowling Green,
four miles away windows ratified ana
croekery ngled as though under the in
huenes of a score Of heavy pieces Of ar
tiiisTy, fired Close ct hand, ali at oDcs.
mi P~vPIe " urcIupn juno iJn wars
not slow in conjecturing the cause of the
shock, and D-ariy The euJIra town
FASTENED up to the wreck and hurriediy
cared Tor the dead, ii the one man still
labOriously breathing and insensibie.
Toe Northern bound passenger and the
Southern bound passenger trains met at
the wreck and transferred. The train
due mere at 5.20 nm. did mt arrive until
after eight.
The cause of this sad accident is IN
known. When the conductor left the
locomotive a moment before the accident
there were three gauges Of water. The
accident must evidently be set down to
those inexpiicab!e causes which scientific
men have not yet been able to discover,
much less to explain. The locomotive
Dover Nc. 81 was in good repair, and
was considered a good, safe and service
able engine.