The daily gazette., 1879-10-11
SECOND EDITION
DreaGfM Raitroad Collision.

The Casualties About Twenty Per-
sOns Killed and TWenty.Nine
WOunded -"FOrty Minutes Late''
-Bungiing and cklessness that
Caused the Disaster.
-' JACKSON, Mich, Oct. 10, 1879.
One of the most shocking disasters
that has occurred in the West since Ash
tabula, and one of the most frightful in
the history of Michigan railroads, befell
the west bound Pacific Express, on the
Michigan Central Railroad, which left
Detroit on Thursday night at half-past
ten, forty minutes behind its schedule
time. The deplorable results which fol-
lowed are due to this fatal delay. The
train " as composed of fourteen cars
seven Wagner s'eepers, four passenger
coaches and three mail and baggage cars.
Next to the mail car was an emigranr
and second class car nearly filed with
passengers. The train attained . high
rate of speed after leaving Detroit to
make up the lost time, and, when near
Jackson, at siding slight down grade
accelerated the speed, which at that time
was not hss than forty miles an hour.
Here a switch engine, whose driver was
working upon the main track taking ad-
vantage OF the time of the supposed de-
layed express, was encountered with the
most appalling effect.l The two engines
were in twibkliDg reduce 10 the most
complete wreck that it is possib BILE to
imagine, hopeless and undistinguish-
able mass of broken and twisted metal
The tender OF the express engine had
te'escoped into the baggage car, which
| in turn was forced into the mail car
to the right ON the eIEbankment and
crushed back into the two following
| coaches.
| TIE KILLED.
The following Is a list of the killed, as
| far as can now be asceriained:
| Garland, Mrs, Of Philadelphia.
Garland, Mis-, taged ten), Of rhiladel-
phia:
Gilbert, Milton, of Detroit, engineer
of the express train.
Jones, George A., CT Chalado, Pa.
Infant daughter of Mrs. George A
Jones, Of Philadelphia.
Morgeon, Louis, of Buckingham
Canada.
Rice, John, of Philadelphia.
Rice, Mrs., of Philadelphia.
Rice, M So, of Philadelphia.
Smith, g. b., of jackson, fireman o
the express train.
An unknown man with dark clothes
dark moustache; head crushed; feature.
unrecogniZable.
An unknown man, about thirty-ont
years of age; light brown hair and sand,
moustache.
An unknown nan, supposed to be
sailor. He has on one arm the Initials
&c. +. Rs and device with the words
"Faitb, hope and charity"
Five bodies, crushed, mutllated, an
! unidentified.
1t is thought that about forty wer
: wounded
SAD SCENES AT THE WRECK.
The scene which followed the coils
ion was terrible. When the baggag
, car came in contact with the telescopes
coaches there was a heap of bruised
bleeding and dying human beings, who's
means and cries filed the air. Mutila
ted bodies of the dead could be seel
among the debris of the wrecke,
coaches.
Under the shapeless mass which wa
once the express engine were the bodie
of the engineer and fremen, which wer,
extricated an soon as pessi BILE. Deatl
| 10 tutu duu many Oi tuo OJu6T VlCbluu
must have been instantaneous. The en-
gineer and fireman of the switch engin,
seeing their peril in tune lsaped from
their places and escaped injury. TIL,
late ness Of the hour and the darkness 0
the night rendered the work of extri
eating the victims necessarily slow an,
tedious one, but scores of ready hand
were actively engaged in doing all tina
! could be done under the distressing cir
| trv viuo l.;
incidents occurred and many acts of here
ism were recorded. The news of the di.
, aster soon spread through jackson an
by day break the crowds at the catastrc
, phe were numbered by hundreds an,
greatly hindered the work of the res
cuers and required The constant effort
and watchfuluess of the police. Th
} railroad officers summoned hacks, omni
, buses and whatever vehicles could b
and " wouL ded to the city and provides
for their immediate wants, while tn
f citizens were doing all in their power l.
mitigate the horrors of the accident.
1t required two hours to extricate Al
thur Roger from the wreck.
The saddest case which came uude
my observation was that of Willie Rice
> a fair-haired and bright-eyed little boy
four years Of age, whose father an
D was found clasped in his dead mother
: arms, and so fastened in the wreck tina
it took three hours to extrlcate him
His |. fl leg was broken and his left arr
and chin badly cut. His family lived Il
Philadelphia and were on their way
some point IN the West.
Mrs. George A. Jones, of Chalado
Pa, who was on her way to Nebraska, t.
joiu her husband, who recently move
there. She had with her her family cor
sistlng Of five children. OF these littl
girl, eighteen months old. was killed In
stantly, and the mother never saw it al
ter the accident. One of the other child
rem sustained a slight confusion in tn
head,
The track, where the accident occur
red, passes through a somewhat dee
cut, and,the ROAD is of course completed
blockaded, The morning Eastwar
bound express was obliged to cross owe
to the Lake Shore and Michigan South
ern Railroad and reached Detroit vi;
Monroe many hours late. Que of tn
most miraculous facts in connection
W tn a he accident was that none in th
sleeping cars were in the least Injured
while it seems impossible thatsu col
lision could OCCUR without resulting Il
general rui n to the entire traip.
At this writing tho doctors are of tn
opinion that all the wounded will 500
recover, but the extreme heat whicl
prevails here will no doubt seriously re
tard this.
WHO Is TO BLAME.
The investigation into the cause an,
reSponSi b,lity for tho accident Is nov