The Lincoln County herald., 1870-05-19
Frighifal Collision o. Pacific Railroad
ElGHTEgN PERSONS KILLED, AND UP.
y Wards OF THiHTY wouNDES.
[From the Missouri Republican, 18th inst.l

q y ~ e N
From the Missouri Republican, 18th inst.l
nee again our community has been
startled by terrible railroad accident In
volving a deplorable loss Of life and a
long iistof wounded The scene Of the
calamity was about q mile and half this
side of Eureka station, about thirty miles
from st. Louis, on the Psoi6c railroad,
where . collision occurred between, the
down express train due in this city at 6
o'clock A. NJ, and an extra freigtt train
bound west. The 6rGs news Of the disaster
came down the line in an uncertain shape,
to the effec. that there was q train OF
The track near Euioks. Other rumors
prevailed respecting the matter, tut fin.
ally a dispatch from FrankIiu announce d
the fact that collision had occurred and
that number Of passengers we're killed
and wounded. .... ...t
x
The accident was a collision between
the east bound express train, due at St.
Louis at 6 A. M. yesterday morning, and
a west bound extra freight train that
left this city during the night previous.
The express train had Eve passenger cars
and baggage car, and the freight train
was long heavy one, drawn By power.
full locomotive. At the point Of the col
l;sion, mile and half cast of Eureka,
there is an mbank ment, fifteen feet high
where tie road curses SO sharply that
two approaching trains cannot see each
other until close together. IL was at
this perilous spot, Of all others, that the
approaching trains, each unconscious of
che others presence, and each thandering
forward at a rapid rate of speed, were
doomed 70 meet. There was but one in-
stana's warning Of the terrible danger to
which the express train was rushing, too
short to permit it to be averted. A boy
standing beside the engineer Of his train,
Mr.. jackson, was the 6rst to descry the
the smoke stack of the approaching
freight engine entering the curys at the
east, Just as the express entered it at the
west he pointed to it and directed the
attention Of Mr.. Jackson to the danger
at the same moment. Jackson instantly
reversed his engine. and gave the two
sharp quick whistles that call for the ap
plication Of the brakes. The brakesman
promptly responded at the word of COM
mand, aud put up the brakes close and
tight. This broke the force Of the ex
press trains speed somewhat, but not
sufficiently. No application Of human
power could brake up the heavy freight
train and bring it to halt under half a
mile. The two engines rushed at each
other like malign and enraged monsters.
grappled with tremendous crash, reared
from the track in mortal wrestle, aud
fell into helpless and disjoiuted fragments
on the ground. The shock was terrible
The tender, baggage car, aud tho two
forward passenger cars Of the express
train on one side, and the tender and
several box cars of the freight train on
the other, rushed into the crash with
their respective engines, leaving at that
quiet, rural spot, on that placid May
morning, a disordered end frightful rum
spattercd with the blood of forty human
beings, entrarped and mutilated beneath
its shapeless mass. There was no warning
to the passengers, and none Of them had
time to jump aud escape from the fate
that came SO suddenly and swiftly. One
moment they were in the repose Of imag-
ine1 security; the next they were crushed
dead, or mained between an iucumben
weight that held them as in vice. Th'
two engines were driven with such forc'
into each other, that it was almost i'm
possible. after the collision, to distin
guish the parts Of one from the other
the crushed cars were jammed together
the cars being shivered into Ions
slive9s, and the seats, wheels, trucks AM
irons blended into an indeseribable heal
that rolled off down the embankmen.
, The ahsee rear cars of the express trail
shared The concusslon, but escaped tn
fate of the tive forward ones. After th
collision they we're found standing still
and still on the track, with their brake
close up, showing that the breaksmen ha
done their duty we'll in responding to tb
engineers whistle before they leapsd fror
, the train.
: The spectacle was one impossible /
view without absolute hosror. As . sol
: der passenger said, II have bee
through many battles, but never saw s
sickening q soene." Il was chaos an
death combised. The engines both o
: the same side Of the embankment, wer
but heap Of battered fragments, Will
Q around on all sides was the confusion {
a ruin twice confounded. The baggae
car and the one next to it we're shivere
=, ss If BY an internal explosion, and th
rasze of broken timbers, iron rod
wheels, and other portions Of the ca
' looked like tho frantic work Of some in
fsrnal sgency. : 1t was q glorious Ma
day, and m,ngling with the bloody fral
ments strowed around, were the delica'
1t green blades and Jstems of spring ve
!. dure. But for hours after the collisio
y no opportunity was afforded to vie
the wreck in the aggregate. Ones ey'
wore constantly drawn to the vario,