Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-07-06

| House and being cared Tor.
V. Halle, Point Isabella, Indiana, IS
mentioned among the wounded. His IN
juries however are only slight.
Thos. nj. Dunn, husband of the lady
who was killed, was badly hurt IN the
back, and received injuries which IL is
thought may prove fatal.
John Campbell of this city son OF the
late Rev. John P. Campbell, had his head
| cut and leg considerably bruised.
MIR. Wilhoite of this place had his leg
| broken.
]. M. Thompson of Amherst Court
House, Virginia, had his hip injured and
was cut in the face.
Miss Glenn Leake of this city had her
arm and wrist fractured.
w. Walker of Union City had his jaw
broken.
The conductor of the train Mr.. Lands
had his leg broken.
Two brothers named Pegram were also
wounded, but only slightly.
S. S. Brown of this city, jaw broken
and internally injured.
Robert Daniel, Bedford county, arm
broken.
Statement of Conductor Davis.
Conductor Davis had passed over
| the bridge, No. z, with train No. 4, at 5
o'clock P. NJ, coming to Nashville, and
passed safely, the bridge being regarded
in sound and safe condition. Bridge
No. was built four years ago, and is
of the Howe truss pattern. The bridge
beyond it was torn away last year and
! rebuilt, but No. z was not deemed unsafe
and was permitted to remain. Train No.
8 to which the accident occurred, left
Nashville, bound west, at $40 P. M. Mon
day evening. The train was composed
of one baggage car, one second class car,
one first class ladies coach and sleeping
car, and between ifty-five and seventy
five passengers. The train arrived at
Bellview, twelve mile from Nashville, at
$40, on time, and dropped several pas
sengers. 1t proceeded two miles further
on to bridge No. z, over Harpeth, and
the scene of the disaster, IA miles
from the city. On reaching the
bridge Conductor r. L. Lands rang the
bell to notify the engineer that he
had a passenger to let off at
Smiths Mill, flag station about fifty
yards beyond the bridge. The speed of
the train was slsckened at this signal,
and as soon as the engine struck the
bridge, the engineer felt it giving way,
and soon the crash came. Had the
train been running at the usual full
speed when crossing, the Conductor is of
opinion that it would have passed safely;
but running slowly, with q view to stop
ping it, it was precipitated below. The
locomotive and baggage car passed safely.
The lady who was going to get off at the
| flag station was among the killed. The
train fell distance of "a feet, there be-
ing ten feet of water below at the time.
| The ladies' coach and the sleeping car
tumbling cross wise, the wreck falling in
the river in the shape of at. The scene
that followed beggsrs description. The
screams of the living, the frantic efforts
| for life, the groans of the wounded, and
bleeding forms of the dead to be rescued
from the wreck, so recently full of hope
and lusty life, presented a sad and
| sickening scene, the like of which has
| never before been witnessed in this COM
| munity. Most of the killed must have
been killed outright, or have died in
| few minutes after the crash. Mr.. Lands,
the Conductor, is badly hurt A deep
| abrasion appears across the temple pene-
| trsting to the bone, and several inches N
length. His leg is also badly broken and
badly shattered. He is at the CONNER
cial Hotel, and in fair way to recover.
What a Passenger Saws.
r. T. Stone, Talledega, Ala, passen-
ger on the sleeping car, was lying In the
lower berth about midway of the car.
| He says he was about half asleep, and
was aroused by crash and falling mo.
ton of the car. The conductor and the
porter came tumbling down the passage.
| He realized q serious accident at once.
The car was stopped at an angle of about
| As degrees, the rear end hanging on the
| railroad track, the front down at the edge
| of the water. He said he knew that as
soon as the car stopped its motion, that
| the danger was over. He put on his
! clothes as soon as possible, and climbed
| out at the. rear, as also did the conductor
and colored porter of the sleeping car,
and another gentleman passenger who
were all that were on the sleeping car.
Mr.. Stone and the others withhim then
| consulted as to what they could do to re-
| lieve those in the cars below. Their
| screams were heart-rending. We went
| down, said he, and reached the ladies'
car, where we commenced taking out
those we could reach by tearing off the
sides of the car. Taking out the dead
| bodies we laid them on the bank, and
relieved those who were still living. A
| few of the neighbors soon reached the
| place, az well as train from the West,
bringing additional assistance. We got
out, says Mr.. Stone, all that were in the
ladies car, except, perhaps, some who
may have been in the crushed bottom of
the Car. He left the scene about day
light and came to this city.
What superintendent Thomas has
| 10 say of the AceidenI-The Ru-
mOrs ATIOat-NnrrOw Escape of
| mr. Thomas, etc.
Superintendent Thomas, who repaired
to the scene of disaster upon the first in
timation of its occurrence, says that the
broken timbers, 80 far as he was able 10
examine, were sound, and he was not
able TO discover from what cause the IN
fortunate accident proceeded. Numer-
GUS unfounded rumors as 10 recent move
ments of suspicious characters in the
vicinity of the accident are floating about
the city. Reports in existence to
the effect that the pockets of
the dead and wounded were
rihed and robbed of valuable contents are
supposed to be equally untrde. The
watches and pocket-books of some of the
killed are in the possession of honest per-
sons to be properly disposed of. 1t is now
thought that seventeen persons were
killed and twenty-three wounded. At the
wreck early this morning, Superintendent
Thomas made narrow escape from being
hurt by the accidental explosion CT g p;s-
toll in the pocket of an over coat thrown
| out from the mass of articles in one of the
wrecked carr. The ball grazed his face,
but did him no injury.
The place of the accident was in Da-
| wilson county, within two miles of the
Cheatham county line. At liz O'Clock
to, day Coroner Brien, accompanied by q
| jury of inquest, composed of mechanics
and builders, proceeded in special train
to the scene of accident, and all the cir
| cumstances connected with this most ter
rible occurrence, will be most carefully