The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-11-20
INTO THE MISSOURI RIVER.
The Stories of the Survivors OF the Late
Terrible Bridge Accident.
Prom the 81 Louis Globe Democrat
JOHN SUMMERS

The Stories of the Survivors of the Late
Terrible Bridge Accident.
prom the 81 Louis Globe Democrat
JOHN SUMMERS
Law on his back in bed, and in q low voice
that spoke OF the pain that he was suffering,
said: ''I live at Malvern Junction, Iowa, and
was on nv way to Buffalo with some stock.
l was asleep in the caboose at the time, was
awakened by loud noise; saw by the roof
Of the car that we were falling; then came
crash, and the side of the 'boose cayed in;
something hit me on the head, and the next
knew some people had me out on the bank.
went to sleep again then and when L woke
I'D it was in this room, and they told me my
leg was broken in two places. 1 amt dead
yet, and 1 calculate to pull through"
FRED DAVIS,
youth of %, halls from Malvern juno
ton, Iowa, and was John summers 8
"pardner." Fred told his story to the re-
porter in free-and-easy manner: was
on the outside platform Of the caboose hold
ing on the railing and looking at the bridge.
/ was holding on to the railing; Jack, my
'psrdner,' was sleeping inside. All OF sud-
den there was kind Of jerk; Just one little
jar, and then l could hear the cars going
down, making an awful noise: Pretty soon
the caboose began to go too. 1t was KIND OF
smooth and easy, l couldn't tell how long
| it took to fall. 1t wasn't pretty long, can
tell YOU. l was lust as cool as am now, and
! / can remember how felt; but L can't eX-
plain. felt kind of like was gone. didn't
get excited, but / held on to the rail until
got down. There was a crash, and l got
| Knocked down fiat. You know how the ca
boose was split up Maybe, for minute or
so, didn't remember any thing until heard
| lack Summers groaning. The stove had got
upset, and lot Of the fire fell on me. l re-
member how it burned at the time. There
was whole lot of little boards on me, but
crawled out and crawled over to where
Jack was, and staid with him until they
took us off. l thought last night / was a
goner; / felt sick, like / wanted to vomit;
| but am all right now, and am going home
in day or two"
from the st. Louis Times.]
sTRAHAN's MIRACULOUS ESCAPE.
The seventh occupant of the caboose was
j. NJ. Strahan, whose escape from the ca
boose, as it was about to go down, was ex-
| ceedingly narrow. In conversation with a
Times reporter yesterday he related his ex-
perience as follows:
al am farmer and reside near Malvern,
Mills County, Iowa. / had five carloads OF
cattle and five of hogs in the train. When
the train started got into the caboose and
| stood in the rear end as it went on the
| bridge. Barnhart, one Of the brakemen,
came in, got drink Of water and chew OF
tobacco and then went up on the top OF the
car. The train was moving along very slow
ly. There were four drOvers in the car be-
sides me, and Charley Irwin the other
brakeman who died here a little while
ago. When the train got well on the bridge
Mr.. Hyde was asleep on his seat
and SO was Mr.. Summers. Mr.. Wearen and
the young man Davis were sitting down, but
| ! don't know whether they were asleep OF
not. After we had been going along on the
T., ard OF
| in the front Of the train. / couldn't describe
it but it was a peculiar kind Of a noise that
startled me, although did not think at the
time that an accident was about to occur
But it seemed such strange noise that
thought would try and see what it was.
stepped out on the rear platform OF the ca
| boOse and Just then heard a crashing and
splashing in the water. As l stepped on the
platform looked off and saw good chance
to get onto the timbers of the bridge. l die
so and looked around and saw the car next tC
the caboose Just going over the open place IL
the bridge. Almost instantly the caboOst
followed and went crashing down on the
other cars. was startled, of course, and
knew in an instant that something terrible
had happened, but 1 could do moth.
ing at that time, so walked
back over the bridge into town. When left
the car and went out on the platform dIdn'
say any thing to the other men, because die
not think that an accident was going to hap.
pen, and even when l got off the car die
not know what was going on until saw the
train going down, and then it was too late Il
do any thing to save the others. Before the
train went down it was moving along steady
and nice and when / heard the noise had NJ
idea what it was"
Mr.. Strahan, whose manner indicated thai
he was possessed OF remarkable degree Of
self-control, is tall, plainly dressed man
! III ly a
of his life on farm. While he seemed Il
feel that he had very narrow escape h'
treated the matter rather indifferently Al
though it had been an everyday occurrence
HOW IT HAPPENED.
From information CLEANED from various
sources the following appears as correc
statement of the accident and its attendan
circumstances: The train was special one
and was made up at Malvern, Mills County
Iowa, Of II cars filled with live stock for TIT
st. Louis market and caboose. Eleven o
these cars contained cattle and six contained
hogs At MOberly it was taken charge OF b,
Conductor o. G. Kinley. The conducto
registered at st. Charles at $40 o'clock ant
stepped into the locomotive. When thu
tssin started to cross the bridge there wer'
five drovers and a brakeman in the caboose
and another brakeman on the, roo
Of the car. Ten minutes are allowed
in which to cross the bridge = tina
is, it must not be crossed in
shorter time than that, but more time ma.
be consumed in transit if it is thought nee
essary. 1t was exactly 500 O'Clock when tn
trellised portion of the bridge was reached
and Conductor Kinley stepped from the en-
CINE to the bridge to watch the train as /
passed over, intending to Jump on the ca
boose as it came along. The engine and on
car passed the western span in safety, whel
suddenly the conductor was startled by
crash, and the second, third and fourth car
sank into the river, breaking the coupling o
the first and second cars. The rear portion
Of the train remained on the bridge an in
slant, and was then drawn into the yawnin
abyss and disappeared with terrific crash