Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-09-05

FURTHER AccO~ nts Of the Terrible Acct
dent Oh the Rock Island Real,

al particulars OF the sad accident near
Des MONIES, Iowa, on the 2Sth ult.: All
the wreck has been moved. The wat
er has all passed away, and no bodies
have been discovered to-day. The list
of killed is seventeen, and wounded
thirty-fve. George Love, son of Judge
Love, d. T. Calendar, of this CITY. and
Mrs. William Grow, reported missing
last night and supposed to be killed,
were heard from to-day, each having
missed connection with the Inflated train.
The dead have been packed and care
fully prepared IN baskets for removal to
friends as fast as they can be ascer-
tanned. Tonight the bodies of George
Rockwell and John Brajee were sent to
Rochester, n. Y; Charles Thompson,
to Middleton, Conn; F. B. Becker to
Providence, R. L.; and g. Berry to
Schenectady, N. Y. The wounded are
faithfully cared for, and are rapidly re-
covering. Every train carries away
some, and all, with two or three excep-
tons, will leave in two or three days
L. B. Spencer, of Lathrop, Ia, and ".
T. Caldwell are seriously, and it is
feared, fatally injured. Conductor Jack
Partridge, reported fatally hurt, is doing
officials and citizens are active in doing
all possible to aid the victims of the
disaster. The train was shattered to
splinters and the wonder is that, out of
such a wreck, there should have been
so few killed. The contents of Bar
NUNS advertising car were placed in a
store on the street. and are a greater
curiosity than the big show The cor
oner will begin a legal investigation to-
morrow morning r. r. Cherrie, of
the firm of A. B. Meeker & Co., Chi
cago, and niece, arrived at Omaha to-
day from the scene of the disaster on
the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad
east of Des Moines Mr. Cherrie saws:
/" The accident occurred about half past
2 o'clock in the morning 1t was rain
ing fearfully at the time-pouring
down. was In the sleeper, partially
awake, and felt two Or three slight Jars.
[ raised the window and looked out,
and heard the rush of water below. /
knew that something had happened,
though | could see nothing. 1t was
very dark. | got up and put on my
pants, and the first thing [ saw was peo-
pie rushing out Of the rear end of the
car next to us, and it was not long be-
fore I knew the character of the terri
BILE accident. OF course, everything
was confusion, and it was some little
time before those who were unhurt
could get to work and relieve the 9TH
ers. 1t seems stone culvert had re-
Gently been built, and on each side of it
was trestle-work that was being filed
up with earth. The fireman, who es-
capped, says everything looked right
when they ran on to the bridge, but the
next thing he knew was that he was "
ing along side the engine in the mud
below. Engineer Rakestrard called to
him, but that was the last the fireman
heard of him, and he probably died al
most instantly afterwards. There were
thirteen persons in Barnums advertis-
ing car. The car was completely ami
hilated. Seven Of the occupants were
killed, three badly wounded, and they
will probably die, and three were slight
ly wounded. 1t was miracle that any
body at all got out of this car. One Of
the wounded men was carried down
stream and landed on a small island,
from which he was afterwards taken off,
The baggage car shot across and over
the engine, and landed on the bank be-
yond, with a rail through it lengthwise,
and one through it sideways. 1t sits
fiat on the tracks, right side up, but
without the trucks, which disappeared
in this wonderful leap. The employees
in this car were not hurt, Strange to say,
and even some blooded pigs that were
being shipped by express were unharm-
ed. The baggage was not damaged at
ALL The smoking car then came along,
plunging downward, the rear end rails
up and allowing the next passenger
coach to go under it, and then the next
car went under this last coach, and the
rear ends Of the two last coaches resting
on the bank. There were three cars
thus wedged in; one on top of the other.
A lady crawled up through a hole and
got on top of the smokingcar with
child in her arms, and got down on the
roof of the next car, where she left the
child. She then returned down into
the smoking car and brought up anoth-
er child in the same way, and next
helped out an old lady from the same
place. I helped her down from the car
myself. Out of that hole which she
had left, we took out five or six others,
among whom was the conductor, who
sons got out themselves without aid
All that we helped out were severely
wounded We then went into the car
and made thorough examination, but
found nobody but dead persons, Of
whom there were four or five. By this
time it began to grow little light, so
we could see better to work. Up to this
time we had feared that the cars were
going to tip over, but we now saw that
they would remain upright. We got
under the rear of the top car, as well as
under the other two cars, and released
four more that were fastened in. We
used rope to pull them out. corps of
physicians and train wreckers now ar
rived from Des Moines, and they all
went to work with will. The physi-
clans especially deserve the greatest
credit for their untiring efforts to re-
lieve the suffering They did noble
work The ladies in the sleeper also
rendered efficient services in assisting
the wounded. A girl who was pinned