Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1880-04-09
From Huntington.
THE ACCIDENT AT THE GUYANDOTTE
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. BUSINESS ON
TUE a o.. &C.

THE AccrDENr AT THE GUYANDorTr
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. BUSINESS ON
THE C. s. o., &c.
Correspondence OF the Stanton VINDICAToRl
HUNTINGTON, ". VA. March 81, 1880.
Yesterday morning about 8 A. M, as a
west bound freight train in charge of Capt.
Charlie Kilgore, consisting, of twenty.six
cars and a caboose reached point few
yards east of the Guyandotte bridge Ia
large iron bridge which spans the Guyan-
dotte river three miles from Huntingdon
from some cause, one of the cars jumped
the track, and by The time the engine had
passed the first span with about twelve
cars, several other cars had also left the
track and were thrown against the side Of
Il u bridge with an immense force, and
with a loud crash the entire span with
nine Cars was precipltated liItO the river
below, a portion of the train remaining On
terra ttrnnt a portion on the bridge with
the engine, and the remainder a twisted
mass Of timber and iron far below, partly
in the wal er and partly on the narrow bank.
From some inlammable material contain
ed in one of the cars, probably matches,
a fire broke out immediately. and as the
car timbers were broken into ki1dling al
most and very dry the fire was soon in all
immense blaze. Six of the nine cars were
burned, 18th car wheels, paints, nails.
spikes and a general ASSORTMENT of mer-
chandise. Whole bales Of woolens, rolls
of wall paper, bales of c1rsets, callcoes,
&C., could be seen burning. The tire was
so rapid aud much OF the material 50 coma
buStible, that in d short While The gteater
portion was consumed. though much Was
-, l,v 0npditjnn r;
was truly fortunate that no ono was on
either of the ill fated cars. But as IL hap
pened, the conductor was in his caboose
and near was one brakeman. and III the
front. of the train was the other. ms us
what is known as a Through bridge and
is one OF the handsomest structures on the
line Of the road. being built almost entire
ly of iron, consisted Of three spans Of $50
feet each, and about 81 feet above the wa:
ter. 1t Is situated just few hundred
yards from the mouth of Guyandotte rlv-s
or and was thought to be substantial in
every respect. There are few, If any
bridges that could have wit hStOod such a.
force as was hurled against this one. 20
superintendent Mallory, always equal.
to the occasion, was at the scene of the
disaster in a short time with a construe-
tion train and large force of bridgemen,
sc. In few hours after the occurrence
carpenters were at work framing the tres
tie which will succeed the unfortunate
iron span for the present, the debris was
being removed and a ferry had been estab
lished to transfer passengers. Ere this
reaches you communication direct will
have been established, and trains running
across. The banks of the river near the
bridge are crowded with people from all
parts of the country, intent upon the
movement of this busy workmen.
The rush of business still continues and
Capt. Charlie Hunter has had to increase
his already large force of hands at the ele.
vator and tipple. Thousands of kegs of
spikes from the Tredegar works of Rich
mond, have been reshipped here within
the last few days, en- route to narrow
gauge railroad in Colorado. Among 9th
er shipments, I noticed fifteen fiat loads of
car trucks for the same road. NfAbers
of hands are passing here daily dustheir
way to contractors on the western extern
sion.
On The WING.