The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1877-11-01

-FOUR MEN KILLED OUTRIGHT AND
ONE MoBTALLY WOUNDED.

AL n lew rOuS eaSU OF tne raliIotu
bridge at Ely's Mill, this morning,
November 1st, 1877 Day Express east
collided with Empire freight west,
with terrible consequences, and evil
IDENTIFY through an oversight on the
part of the Express engineer. The
freight train received orders at st.
Mary's to run to Ridgway, regardless
of Day Express east, the Day Express
received orders at Johnsonburg to ruin
to Ridgway and wait for the freight
train. Mr., Butler the passenger con-
ductor says, that his train kept the
main track, and the coming one was
to take the siding. He and his en-
gineer, as was their usual custom, de-
cided to run to the upper end of the
switch, on the main track, and then
wait until the freight train had taken
the siding, being busy taking tickets
and answering questions, as conduc-
tors usually are, he did not notice that
they had passed the end of the switch
until he was hurled among the seats
by the shock of the meeting trains
: the distance from where they should
have stopped, near the end OF the
; switch, to the place of the collision
being inside of half mile. 1t seems
unaccountable how it could be posi-
be for an engineer to pass through
bridge and so far beyond his intended
stopping point without seeing his mis-
take. OF course, the conductor should
have noticed the error, or the passage
of the bridge should have awakened
him to his danger, but when we take
into consideration that he was busily
engaged and his mind absorbed with
his duties, their seems TO be an excuse
that will exempt him from the charge
of criminal carelcssncss As we have
: no desire to do injustice to either the
7 dead or living we will await the ac-
ton of the Coroner's jury which ad
iourned until tomorrow.
THE KILLED.
Calvin -. Shearer, of Renovo, engin
Ger of the freight train engine, No.
1i2O, leaves wife and three or four
children. He had run on the road
; between seven or eight years.
VIM Collinge, of Kane, engineer
E OF day express engine No. 1887, an
Englishman by birth, and one of the
oldest and best engineers on the road,
5 having been in the service of the 2. 4
t Il. II. II. Co for the past thirteen years,
e and was a careful man, sober and in-
a dustrious, having been II raiiroader in
e England before he came to this
a country. He was A years old last
I March, and leaves n family of nine
children, five boys and four girls; the
, eldest q young man of 25 years, and
the youngest a boy between three and
four years. Collinge's wife died last
| winter, since which time he has been
q subject to fits Of mental abstraction,
and who knows bat that one of these
fits caused him to forget when so much
4 depended on his vigilance. Until
within a few weeks his son had fired
for him, but, at the fathers request,
@ was transferred to the mail train, so
q that, in case OF an accident, father and
f sou might not both perish, seemingly
i IL premonition of the terrible event.
- Norris Farrell, fireman OH day ex-
press, was single man, aud made his
home at Emporium with an unmarried
y sister. Mrs. Frank M'G!0in of this
. place being a sister OF his, another
brother having been killed on the rail
- road about year ago, and their father
and mother having both died within
- q short time.
VIM. Stevens, head brakeman OF
the freight train, had been on the roat
about two months, and leaves wife
" and two children at Remove. An eye
= witness says sthat Stevens was severa
cars in the rear Of the engine whel
they struck, and was thrown Will
terrible force into the air, and coming
down was caught in the wreck one o
= his legs broken clean of, and the othel
terribly bruised. When first founc
Y he was discovered hanging with hi,
Y, head downward between the two en-
ct gines, and was observed to throw nj
5, his arms and gasp few times 70
A. breath. He was fastened so firmly
n by pieces of the wreck that he coul,
ot not be eXtricated until q saw was pro
Il, cured and the timbers sawed out.
~ THE WOUNDED.
VIM. Gallagher, fireman on til
freight train was found under til
ID engines with both legs broken, hi
le head cut, and his hands badly bruised
H. He was removed from the scene of th
as wreck to the Thayer House, without
y groan escaping his lips, yet while hi
~ mind seemed clear, he did not appea
IS to realize what had happened, and II
IL idea of the accident could be learne
lie from him. The wife of the wounde
M man came here from Remove on tn
so , O'Clock train, and watched by III
sh side until about O'Clock when h
in breathed his last. Mrs. Gallagher il
or formed lis that a child of theirs wa
ey burned to death less than year ag'
aud that two children are still livin
N, the eldest being six years of age.
lie, VIM. Miller, brakeman on ii