The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1874-07-10
A WATER SPOUT.
Fifteen % Twenty-Four Inches of Rainfall
III Five Hinutes-TWo Railroad Trains
Wrecked, Fireman Killsd, and an En-
giuee. Badly Injured.

III Five Hinutes-Two Railroad Trains
/ Wrecked, a Fireman Killsd, and an En-
ginee- Badly Injured.
From the Austin MIMI Register. June >
\ great fall of rain. extending over a
/ comparatively small extent of country.
( took place east of BrUwnSdalr. on Sat
| ur,lay last. about IL \. NJ
Tie storm came from the southeast.
/ apparently, and struck the Southern
/ Minnesota Railroad four miles east of
this place. The cloud WIS not large but
dense. and the conditions necessary 10
irS condensation were fnltilled 80 sud-
denly a> 10 pr-cipitate its contents 10
the earth in an incredible short space OF
time. Ia fact. such a rapid fall OF wa
t"r was il that by many it was called n
vrritable wafer spout. We have no
means of determining how much fell.
but it it is computed that at least fifteen
inches of water lSOme say two feetl fell
in oHe-third as many minutes. Even
the ridges for Il moment We're covered
with Il sheet of wafer several inches
deep. Had the rain fall extended over
a great extent Of country. the conSe-
gUeHcrS must have been terrible. As IL
was they We're bad enough. About four
miles east of this place the Southern
Minnesota Railroad crosses Il slough, the
distance from ridge TO ridge on each
side being perhaps one half mile The
embarrassment where it crosses the chan
mel Is about fourteen feet high. and has
"a culvert eight feet wide by six feet
high, 10 discharge the surplus water of
the slough, which Is dry. however. most
of the time The basis drained bv il 10
the place where it crosses the railroad
has an area OF about tiye-eighths of q
square mile. and yet. small as the area
was. the culvert. though probably dis
charging at the rate of more than 12.-
900 cubic feet per minute, did not suffice
to carry off the water, and in a short
time a lake of several acres in extent
and reaching 10 within only three or
four feet of the top of the embenkment,
was formed, and the pent up waters were
rushing out at such ferOcious rate that
the culvert was turned ont and gap
twenty or thirty feet wide i'll the EN-
bankment speedily followed. The rails
and ties held together, so that the break
could not be discovered by an approach
ing train until within few feet The
passenger train bound west and due
here at 11:17, came in during the storm,
luckily escaping the terrible calamity
which must have befallen it had it been
an hour later. IN eastern bound freight
train due here at 2:07, was more unfor-
tunate. The engineer discovered the
break only in time to put on steam in
the vain effort to make his engine clear
the break. The frail support sank be
meath it, and it plunged madly into the
I,.,lF -
chasm, forming, with the engine. a
bridge over which two or more of the
empty ears. driven by the momentum
gained by the previous deep descent.
passed and, leaving their truck with the
general wreck, rolled down the embank-
mrnt on the further side The eighth
car, loaded with wheat, stopped with
one end resting on the bank and the for
ward end resting on the rear of the now
thoroughly demolished engine. The re-
manning ears. with the cabOose in which
We're some fifteen or twenty persons, re-
manned on the track But what of the
two doomed men on the engine. The
cab was crushed to atoms, and the
whole upper part Of the boiler was
stripped -SmOkestack, headlight, bell,
whiStIc-aII swept oil by the ears which
IEiS>ttl over. anu tittt ttlTlS OL TIE it'll-
der. five ears. and the trucks of three
more, was piled where the fireman and
engineer went down. Then. too. a pro-
truding rail had been driven through
the engine from front 20 furnace, and "a
Hood of boiling water was pouring ont,
adding to the agony and danger of the
unfortunate men. IL seemed miracle
that either should escape instant death,
Il. 4. L.
and shoulder, and fearfully scalded,
managed To- crawl from the wreck and
i now under treatment ut this place
with a prospect of recovery. The
scaided and manglcd body Of the fire
man was not found until the next morn
ing when the clearing of the wreck be
gan.
The computation above made of A.,
OID cubic feet per minute n the dis
charge from the GXS lOut culvert was on
the suppOsitiOn Of ten mile an hour cur
rent. l;ut when the dam WIS formed.
and the water was y feet deep, the cur
rent must have attained velocity of at
least twenty miles an hour, and the vol
mne Of nearly lOO, ,OJj cubic feet per
minute What wonder then that the
stout 12x12 solid timber, forty feet long,
with the vast uperincliliDeEJ WelSllt OF
earth, should be swept away. But after
the gap, twenty or thirty feet wide, had
been formed. the water sank bus little
for several hours, and when the fated
train went down, still retained a depth
of ten feet, and the discharge must have
been $50. 900 to POO, 600 cubic feet per
minute,
In the sIouglls and creeks below where |
the rain fell the Hood did not rise by de
grees. but came rolling down with the
noise of many waters in Il great tide 1
from two to eight feet high, according /
10 the width between the banks. The l
roar Of the spout, and even the crash Of |
the train, a. it went down, was heard |
fora distance OF five or SIX miles.
The damage TO the road has been re-
paired, and trains are running aS usual. !