Daily Republican., 1881-03-26
rHROUGM AN OPEN DRAw.
The FearfaI Plunge Of y r. w. &
B EHE,n Int tho BrAnsywi Inc
Greek EsIs Morning An Escape
& nBer aud "a C0ei FireHan-De-
taIlH of she AMair

Greek EsIs Morning An Escape
Almost miracu Ons "A Grave En-
SnYer aud ~ CoSi Firenan-De-
Iaiia Of the Aasir.
What WAS but little short of q mira
ole prevented one Of the most serious
4ocidsats this morning the Philadei,
paia, Wilmington and Baltimore Bail.
road has ever sustained. IL was only
oy tbs me!est chance, the moet narrow
margin, that the bridge over Brandy
vine Geek was kept from being the
scsne Of irightfui disaster.
THE AccIBsNT.
The accident happened early this
morning, when the snow storm, which
cOnmeucei to tail at the early dawn,
was at lls height. At 7.40 O'Clock
James johnson, one of the tenders OF
'he railroad bridge across the Brandy
cine, Opeued the dr&w to allow the
passage up stream Of the steam tug
Falcon, having in tow canal boat.
About tAis time the fast southern express
da- this city at 1853 O'Clock was ssen
usit a mile up the track, approaching
at a IithtenluE rate, A moment there
after, sine tram thundered on to the
bridge. with slaokeniug spssd, and the
| sngiue rau up to tho draw ard plunged
over iuto the creek, the cara stopping
as, un toe brink.
A FRARFl'L PLUNGE. |
The train, consisting of four passeu-
ger coaches aud one baggage car, was
occupied cnIsfy BY southern boand
passengers. /. was drawn by engiae
No. 80 OF tae P, ". & h. Company
Evans c. Hemphill, an old and tried
englu.@, had charge Of the engius.-
E,gsr A. CoraeLius was his fireman.
rue draw in opening ha1 worked the
Signals all right. the one turthest up
the track ESCAPED the engineers eye on
account of the driving storm, and he
was not aware OF his danger until pas
slug the secOu1 signal near Bowers, |
Dare K CompapyS works. Theu he,
gave tns Wnl5tLe Of down breaks, "a
| which Sculoed ont as the train was
Just forty fset from the bridge.
WDen tbs traia passed BoWe.s, Dare
& COMPANY . Sbop II vas running at
the rata OF nearly So miles an hour.
The sudden application Of the air
brakes checked To, momsntum greatly,
and when sho tresclerous draw was
reached the train was scarcely moving.
Snow on the track forced the engine
forward and sle broke loose tfom the
train and Lumbled forward into the IA
tai gap, vita crash that mingled with
escApip steam and made noise which
was tr!ghtful Indeed.
CRUSHED IN TUB CREEK.
| All this time tho Falcon with her TOW,
the canal boat, was moving slowly
through the draw. This tug bost had
Just passed the upper end OF the pier OF
tho bridge, and the canal boat was half
way through. And 80 1t WAS that the
huge locomotive in plunging from the
bridge shove struck the boat aDidshlps
with a crash that sounded above the
!, escs ping steam and force that broke
he; alInos. IN two and crowded her
: Incl plesSIy down upon the bottom ofthe
oteek, complete wreck.
4 Two NARROW ESCAPES.
= Two narrow escapes, which in both
instances ara truly remarkable, We're
e made willie this was transpirirg-oDe
o By tue engineer and fireman OF the ill,
; lated engine, and the other by those
o upoa tue canal boat. When the engine
vas many fesL from the draw engineer
v HsMphill and fireman Cornelius saw
# that the engine must inevitably plunge
a Into the creek. With tortitude that
! was as unanimous a. it was nchls they
, both mSde up their miDds to stick to
!. their posts. And stick they did, only
II leaving the engine when she was hurl-
C I'd into tn. gap. Then it was that the
engineer jumped, and fireman Corne-
q lius with cool hand ard q steady
}, lhaud tore the escape valve from its
, place, thus allowing the steam tc
+ run out, preventing an explosion,
u and followed him. Never was lesp
u for lie made under more perilous cir
" cumstapces with more precision ano
'e good luck, rIboth men landed upon
70 the bow OF the canal beat, out OF harms
81 way Both we're nninjured with the
OF exception Of q bruise to the hip Of the
engineer.
d The other escape was even mora
o. wonderful. On the canal boat were q
70 man and a woman. The former was al
the tiller and the latter In the cabin
the msu was struck by flying frsE-
nents OF broken timber, but the woman
who WAS inside the boat when the hull
10 was crushed 30 like an egg.shell, was
t. rot even roughly knocked about. A
ia moment after the accident she Chamber
., ed no the pier on to the bridge. wit n.
n ont assistance, with her arms full
n of bed clothing, ect., taken from the
d canal boats cabin.
b rHRpIBLE LOSS OF LIYI PREVENTED.
70 ItwSs only by the timely applioa'
n tion and efficient working Of the air
to brakes that an appalling loss Of life WAS
u nrsy spted. Had the train run thirty
D. fsst furtLer the cars would have piled
II into the creek, on top of each other,
J. and. OF course the result could moi
have helped being serious. On the
= other hand, had tbs engine been re-
Q vsrsed aud the air. brakes applied
70 when tbs train was fftsen feet tuhher
II up the track not even the engine
would have gone into the creek. As
1t was the escape was truly wonderful
in every respect.
yHB TRACK CLEARED.
y The accident caused delay to the
train OF about half an hour. On the
y arrival Of the news of the disaster a.
the P. w. l. B. depot Assistant Depot
Master Brison, went out on shifting
=, |engiue, and soon had things put to
81 rights and the train on her way to Bal
timore again. Trains are running IS
usual.
% The engine is a total wreck, and lies
10 l.; 81. o.oat IN ton Of the canal boat