The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1869-10-21
Frightful Railroad Accident. al most An
other Tragedy. oh

Engine No. eight on the w. U. r. r. which
+ left Racine on Thursday evening last with
the train known as the night express, when
approaching and within six miles of Savanna
Ills, $50 Friday morning, jumpedtthe track
destroying the locomotive and several cars
as well as tearing up a portion of the track.
Upon leaving the rail the engine ran on the
ties the length of several cars. but at last ran
into the ditch which threw herupon her right
side, burying one half Of her in the mud.
The tender turned complete somersault
alighting on top of and at right angles with
the boiler, crushing the cab as If it had been
an egg she'll. A fat car loaded with car
| trucks and Pile driver were thrown as.
squarely on top of the tender as if placed
there by human hands,and on top of this was
q box car loaded with lumber all of which
was smashed beyond recognition. Under
meath this mass of ruins next to the boiler
head were the engineer and fireman in hole
without room to turn in. The steam as 1t
escaped from the boiler made most an horr~
ible noiseand added to the peril of their con-
ditition were the fears that they might be.
burned or scalded to death. The bottom Of
the tank in falling broke in two, forming O.
small arch through which they made their
escape. The engineer A. Adams escaped
unhurt, the fireman j. A. Hutchinson receiv-
ed injuries that might have been more seri-
Gus. His spine was badly hurt as was his
right shoulder and fore arm, he received no
less than ten cuts and buses on his heah, two
of the cutslaying.bare the skull bone about
| two inches EACH. He was taken to farm
house near by where he was kindly attended
to by the inmates. His wounds were after
wards dressed by Dr. johnson of Savanna.
That these men escaped is'n.ore than miracu-
lous, their condition being one of extreme
peril The engine had four guages of water
and one hundred and ten pounds of steam,
had any of the water guage COCKS been brok-
en- their means of escape wouId have been cut
off and they must have been scalded to death,
The steam guage pipe was broken off but the
same shock threw out both safety valves the
quantity Of steam through the other brakes,
being SO much lessened thereby, it could not
injure them" When they had got from under
the ruins it would have been difficult to iden.
tify them SO covered were they with mud and
cinders besides their clothing being complete.
ly saturated with the water from the tank
With the exception Of two ladies none Of
the passengers were injured, one of them had
her arm bruised, another had one of her limbs
struck and discolored the whole length, one
lady was asleep with her babe in her arms, 1t
was thrown violently to the floor but escap-
ed injury. Where the train left the track Is
known as Carroll Hill, four miles below the
town of Mt Carroll and at that point was
decendi1g grade of As feet per mile, it was
running at the rate of twelve miles per hour
less than schedule time. The accident was
cause by defective joint. 1t was seen by the
engineer when within a few feet oft, but too
late to avert the danger The escape of all
concerned must be considered as Proyiden-
tai as nothing else could have saved them. 1t
might have been worse and as it is came with
in one OF being another chapter In the long
history of railroad accidents.