The Portland daily press., 1881-01-24
RAILROAD ACCIDENTS.
Train Thrown from the New York
& Lake Erie Road.
FIVE POSTAL CLERKS BURNED TO
DEATH.
Two Passengers Killed on the Chicago g.
Rock Island Road.

CHICAGO, H., Jan 2l.-Three passenger cars
OF the express train on the Chicago, Rock Is.
land & Pacific Railway, which left Council
Bluffs yesterday morning for Chicago, were
thrown from the track by a broken rail near
Pond Creek, ILL.,, early yesterday morning.
One of the cars took fire from the lamps. Two
Of the passengers were fatally injured, and
four others were SO seriously hurt that they
were obliged to remain at hotel unaer doc
tors care.
Mrs. Kirby, Of Nevada, O.. was SO badly
burned that she died q few hours after the &C.
cident occurred. The conductor of the train
was badly burned in his efforts to extingush
the flames in which Mrs. Kirby was enveloped.
Matthew Phelps, of Grinnell, received such in
ternal injuries that it Is thought he cannot re-
passengers who were left at Tiskilwa, and
whose exact condition is not known:-Mrs. E
W. NJ. Hatton of Paterson, Ia. Mrs. j. d.
Orr of Winterset, Ia, Byron Phelps of Deca-
tur, Ill.,, j. W. Puggett of Chicago, ILL.,, and
Belgian, whose name is not known. The
officers of the Rock Island road, from whom
the above information is obtained, state that
the accident was unavoidable, as the track was
as perfect as money and care could make it.
BINGHAMToN, N. Y, Jan. 23.-The Atlantic
express, east bound, on the New York, Lake
Erie and Western Railroad, was thrown from
the track at 1916 this morning just west of
Tioga station on the Susquehanna division, 2i1
miles from New York, by the breaking of q
driving axle in engine 453. The tender of the
engine, postal Car and two baggage cars were
burned with their contents except portion of
| the baggage, which was saved. Postal clerks
| Joseph, Redinger, Seybolt, Ingram and Jax
| and messenger Brewer of the United States
| Express Company were burned in these cars
| and their remains are nearly unrecogniZable.
| Two day coaches also left the track and were
destroyed by fire, but as they had not upset the
| passengers were all enabled to escape unin-
| jured excepting that some received slight
| scratches. No injury happened to the other
day coaches or sleeping coaches or occupants
After several hours delay a new train was
| made up which reached New York this eve
| ming. The bodies of the victims will be sent
to New York and delivered to friends. Bags-
gage master Perry had an arm dislQeseed,
NEW YORK, Jan. 22.-Anotller account of
| the accident to the Erie train says the speed at
the time of the accident was So miles an hour.
The train left the track on a level where there
was no embankment. The engine kept its
feet. Engineer Tom Dewitt applied the air
brakes as soon as he felt the shock, and the
I cars stopping very quickly the forward ones
turned over two or three times, Some going on
| one side of the track and some on the other.
| The engineer and fremen escaped unhurt.
The postal Car almost instantly took fire and
burned like gunpowder. Every man in thecar,
four in all. were roasted to crisp, the remains
of one man who weighed over 200 pounds be-
ing gathered up and put in a small box. In
the express car was messenger Henry G.
Brewer. Efforts were made to relieve him. A
hole was made in the side door of the car SO
that he got his head out, but his legs were
fastened by mass of express matter. The
train men tried to pull him out but the flames
drove them away. They saw his hair and
whiskers burned off and saw him put his hand
up to his eyes and then he receded back into
the flames. Five men in all Were burned.