Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-03-08
THE Acknowledgment
Official Statement as to the Causes Of the
Sad Occurrence.
Col. Sam. Tate's Version Of the Affair."
at was Simply an Unfortunate
Accident"

lsleu at W atef NAAley, MISS We 6NtAaOt
the following full and complete statement,
from Col. sam. Tate, in regard to the late
terrible accident on the Mississippi Cen
trail Railroad:
Finding so many vague aud wild rumors
going the rounds Of the press, IN relation
20 the unfortunate accident at Buckner's
rrestle, near oxford, on Friday last, nj
they arc so far from being correct, l deem
1t a duty 1 owe TO myself and the road, as
well as the public, 10 make this official
statement OF facts:
Ihave done nothing but build and OPP
crate railroads tor 10 years, and think l
know something of my duties and respon-
sibilities. l was on this unfortunate train
from Grand Junction to the fatal spot,
md shared ali its responsibilities and
dangers. When the train arrived at Grand
junction, i found it was behind time NIFTY
minutes. l said 10 the conductor, ''get
of from here as sOOn as possible, occupy
Is little time in transferring baggage as
you can" The first six miles of track,
rom this point to DAVIS Mill is new fish
bar track, most of il laid within a few
weeks; all are new, large ties; over that
portion Of the track, the train very prop
srly made good time. When the engine
stopped for water at Davis Mill, l walked
! forward to the engine TO see who W; $ run
ming it, and found Mr.. Louis Kell, one of
our best and most experienced men, in
charge. / said to him, "kell, the track Is
not so good from here TO H~udsonvllle,
and YOU must take a moderate and steady
speed 10 that point" He said, 81 fear l
shall lot be able to make my passing
! point withthe up-train at Holly Springs"
/ replied, "You had better miSS yOtF
| passing. point thai take any risk"
He said ''all right" On return
ing TO ny place in the car, / met
Mr.. John Adams, the conductor, reported
20 him what l had said to kell, the engi-
ueer, and said to Adams, LOOk TO thus ;
and when YOU get 10 Jacksonville, report
20 me your lime" 1 willdeteruaine wheth-
er you can make your passing point at
Holly Springs or not / took my stand
then on the back platform With the road
master, Mr.. Mcdonald, and watched, es-
pecially, the running of the train until
we arrived at Jacksonville, and i know II
was run at a very moderate speed. Just
as the train was stopping at jacksonville,
the conductor, Adams, came to me and
said he had plenty of time to make his
passing point at Holly Springs. I asked,
hOu much. He replied seventeen min
utes," to run seven miles, and n miles
Of that next Holly Springs is a straight
line. / said, ego ahead, but run it.Safely.
II ANYTHING occurs that you don't strike
the straight line before your time is up,
tag your tram at once yourself" He re-
piled " all right" We proceeded. These
are the only conversations, 1
had with either the conductor or I
engineer on that day relative to running |
of the train. 1 gave no other instructions. !
Mr.. Mcdonald, rOadmaster, and myself, |
stood on the back platform all the way, |
watching the runnlng Of the train, Il he 1
with his hands on the brake, by my direc-
tions, to stop the train if the engineer at
tempted 10 run any extra speed. Some
may ask, why this p~recautiOn? l nswer
because ! know the disposition Of railroad |
ma "a uBaEa nm time when hakfnH and .
had a very heavy load of passengers, and
I did not intend TO take any risk. We ar
rived at Holly Springs al 2:l7 pm. all
right, having left junction at l:lO, max
ing the run, twenty-five miles, in n
hour and seven minutes. We Oned there, 1
occupying only fifteen minutes and leav- 1
ing at 2:32 pm, and ran on 10 Oxford, /
making h usual stops, and arrived there
at .OZ-dlstance tWenty-nine ana a quar-
ter miles; time, one hour and thirty min
utes-the regular schedule time being one
hour and a half. We left Oxford at 4;lO
pm, and three miles south. when run
ming not exceeding schedule time-twen-
" miles per hour-and Just as the engine
and tender passed on to Buckner t~restle,
one hundred and sixty feet long and thir-
ty-five feet high, on a slight curve, the
mail and express car being next TO the en-
CINE. broke a pedestal, dropping the end
Of axle, forced the fange of the wheel
NIE ran vi Nub OGAG1AAD u ~
curve, jamming the truck and forcing the
track out of line as the truck went over
on the crOss-ties. It ran over the first
seventy feet OF the bridge on the ties, be-
fore any portion of the bridge gave way,
that portion still standing after ne acci-
dent, with all the marks Of the wheels on
the ties: after al the rear part OF the train
had passed over il, the wheels breaking
The ties in two and spreading the string
ers, the trucks fell through low enough
10 strike the cross cap or the treStle near
the middle of the bridge, knocking it for
ward and pulling the side siIls, and fall
ing against the next bents in front with
the front part Of the train on them, carry
ing away the remainder Of the bridge in
front of where the first bent was knocked
down.
The engine and tender going on safely,
the mail and express, the baggage and
second-class passenger car going over with
falling par OF the bridge, and tumbling
down the bank IN the south side of
ravine, the next passenger car dropping
into the rayine, almost level, by which
time the space in the middle ofthe bridge
was open and the last car pitched n fore
most from the top of the highest part Of
the trestle and struck the car hat had
gone down Just ahead Of IL, near the CEN
ter on hereof, and passed entirely through
it, crushing II 10 pieces. Here was the
greatest fatality.
I was thrown to the front end of last
car and went dow with it, with forty or
fifty persons lying on me for twenty
minutes, crushing me very severely. In
five minutes after i was relieved from the
wreck. I inquired of Conductor Adams
if he had sent a man back TO flag the ap-
preaching train. He said he had. ] also
ordered a man to Water Valley with the
engine for physicians and aid for the suf-
ferers. Mr.. John T. Watkins, a clerk in
the superintendent office, was on the
engine at the time of the accident. After
assisting a few minutes TO rescue the pas
sengers, he walked back TO oxford, three
miles, and there met and notified the APP
preaching train of the sad affair, and re-
quested all the physicians in the place to
20 10 the aid of these people, many of
whom, as well IS citizens, did so, and gave
every assistance in their power. So much
for the statement that q Mr.. Edgar mi
raculOusly saved the approaching train,
as stated in some of the newspapers. /
had a man stationed more than a quarter
of a mile from the break TO stop 1t, and
another walked three miles 10 meet it,
and did 50, and gave it notice,
as will ppear from the certificates here
with attached. II will be seen from the
statements, that the train ran of the
track before IL reached the trestle and
that neither defective trestle nor track
could possibly have caused the accident.
1t was SIMPLY one OF those unfortunate |
accidents, that has come by the breaking
of machinery when the train was run
ming at regular schedule time, but hap
pened at a most unfortunate spot, where
the cars fell a distance of forty feet, and
it is well known that no cars are or can be
uiit TO stand a fall of that distance with
ont being smashed up, especially when
going at the rate Of twenty miles an hour,
which speed is demanded by the public,
and is not unusual. These cars were all
new and built in the most substantial
manner.
For the satisfaction of the public, who
seem to have a feverish anxiety about the
condition Of this road, I will state, that
after the close OF the war, the whole of
the cross ties on the road, had to be re-
newed, the scarcity of labor and means to
do his work as rapidly as the public
demand it, rendered it necessary for the
company TO put in every character Of tim
Der and size and shape of ties they could
get. Many Of these ties were decsyed
when came on the road in July, 1865. /
commenced at once removing these ties,
especially joints, centers and quarters,
and have put down l50, 600 new ties of the
best quality since / have had charge of
the road. / foundit necessary to contract
Tor ties elsewhere than on this road. /
have contracted for every tie l could get
on the road; have increased the price
twenty-five per cent. and have contracted
for 10000 cypress ties near New Orleans
and nifty thousand more on the Paducah
and Gulf road, together with all
l could get on the line of