The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-08-19
NORTHEAST, ERIE Co., Pa, Aug 10.

NORTHEAST, ERIE TO-, fA', aug To-
Editors IntOllgenCcr:
Before my letter reaches you the tele-
graph will have advised you Of the
frightful accident which occurred with
in q quarter OF q mile Of this place on
the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern
railroad at an early hour this morning.
The through night express East, which
left Erie about / o'clock, consisting Of
baggage car, one mail car, five passenger
coaches and three sleepers, containing
about three hundred passengers, came
laundering along at fully the rate OF
forty.fiye miles an hour, being somewhat
behind time. a
When at the point indicated, the en-
gineer discovered something wrong with
the track, and had scarcely time TO re-
verse his engine and put on the air brake
before he found himself landed against
fence about thirty feet over an embank-
ment The locomotive, tender, the mail
and baggage cars and the first four pas
senger cars we're hurled over the embank-
ment and jammed together In a frightful
way on the side Of the embankment and
the field below. The locomotive i'm
bedded itself in the earth, and lay top
down, the wheels being high in the air.
The tender lay beside i, partially over
tapping, while the mail and baggage cars
we're tossed around and all huddled and
crowded loosely together, having been
thrown crosswise, and were badly
broken. Three OF the passenger cars
lay in like position, all having broken
from the trucks and launched many feet
below. The fourth passenger car went
only little more than hallway over the
embankment, and was but little injured.
Several OF the trucks and wheels were
completely buried in the earth, and others
we're thrown hundreds OF yards from the
scene OF the disaster. But few Of the
seats in the cars we're injured, but one
car was completely overturned and lay
in that position.
The wrecked cars, wheels, &C., as | saw
them strewn over the ground to-day,
must have covered at least half an acre
Of space, presenting one OF the saddest and
most complete scenes Of demolition ever
witnessed. The loss to the company in
property alone cannot fall short Of 49,.
600, to say nothing Of the Encouragement
OF trains, &C., on the road.
Strange as it may seem, but three OF
the hundred and thirty one persons who
we're so unexpectedly hurled over the EN-
bankment we're injured. One man,
W, II. Clemens, Of Cleveland; o., was
passing from one car 10 another just as
the crash came, when he was caught be-
tween the bumpers and severely crushed.
He died about noon to-day at the hotel,
the railroad station in this town, he was
taken from the wreck and conveyed to
this hotel, when il was found that his legs
were crushed to jelly. It was thought
best not tDamputate as the unfortunate
man could not live. Mr.. Clemens was
conductor on the Atlantic & Great West
ern Railroad, and was of on furlongh
on his way to visit his father at Albany,
N. Y. lie was about thirty years Of age.
married man, and leaves wife and two
children. Another man had his arm
broken, and a lady had her arm badly
bruised.
1t is said the accident was caused by a
rail having been torn up and misplaced
by some cowardly miscreant. Several
hundred persons were on the ground in
the vicinity Of the disaster, when l was
there to-day, and all were loud in their
denunciation OF the wretch who had
caused such loss and woe.
A wreck train with u large force Of
workmen was on the ground at an early
hour this morning. The track, which
had been torn up for about twenty or
thirty yards, was speedily re.laid, and
the work OF reconstruction was progress
ing rapidly. !,
Last night seems to have been bad
night for fires. The handle factory in
this town, an extensive concern engaged
in the manufacture of wooden clothes
racks, hoe, rake and shovel handles, to-
gether with several contiguous buildings,
was destroyed by FIRE. Loss about forty
or fifty thousand dollars. Insurance
twenty thousand dollars.
An extensive coffin manufacturing es.
tablishment, between this town and Erie,
was destroyed by fire about the same
time. Loss fifteen or twenty thousand
dollars. Both were frame buildings,
several stories high, and the conaagra-
tons Illuminated the country for miles
Inround. VIM. II. o.