Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-01-06
PERILS OF THE RAIL.

SOME RECENT RAILROAD ACCIDENTS.
A fearful and sad accident happened to the
passenger train OH the western division of the
Carolina Central Railway, on Wednesday az
ternuOn, :2.2nd ultimo, by which several per.
SONS lost their lives, and others were severely
wounded. What added to the horrors of the
affair, was the fact that the cars took fire soon
after the accident and consumed the bodies OF
five men. The Charlotte Democrat publishes
the following particulars Of the accident:
''The mixed passenger and freight train
which left Shelby ut O'Clock on the 22nd of
December, fell into Indian Greek trestle, three
and half miles west Of LincOlnton, with
frightful results. The trestle is 90 feet high.
The train was made up of two passenger
coaches and three box cars, all OF which were
consumed by fire caught from the stoves.
There were five white and four colored pas
sengers OH board. Only two of the white pas
sengers and the Conductor we're recovered
from the burning debris. The names ofithose
saved are:
Capt. H. p. Johnson, conductor; Richard
Limebrick, foreman of Schenck, Ramsouy q
Co.'S cotton factory, in Cleveland county, for
merly citizen of Stafford county, Va. s. III.
New York City, All three Of these are more
or less injured, but are not considered dam
gerOus.
Those who were burned in the wreck are D.
F. Bloom, mail agent, of SQharl0s,e; Bill Nc
Kenzie and James Wadick, cql6red brakes
men, of LncolntOn; f. w. SDaith, salesman
of Benedict, Hall & Co, Of New York; S. w.
Goodson, of Statesville, agent Of the Pied
mont & Arlington Life Insurance Company
of Richmond, Va.S ~
The body of Bill Mckenzie was taken from
the burning train badly disigured. No other
Of the dead bodies recovered can he recog-
nized. sEMs, I
The engine crossed the trestle in safety, and
the engineer aHd fireman consequently escaped
It is impossible at present to account for the
accident whether the trestle gave way, or
whether the cara jumped the track and carried
the trestle down.
The United States nan and >the express
freight, were both DESTROYED, except the Ex-
press Company's safe, which was recovered af
ter the burning of theicar. q IA
On the day before Christmas, q freight train
and delayed passenger train on the Airline
Railroad, collided about ten and q half miles
from Atlanta, in DeKalb county, Ga. Peter
Keys, the engineer, and Jim Collins tcolored),
the fireman of the passenger engine, were
killed. The two engines telescoped and are a
total wreck. No other person was injured.
Trains were delayed several hours BY the de-
bris OH the track. .sasy
Another frightful accident happened on yne
same road on Mondays the 9th ultimo. 1t
occurred about 7 o'clock, A. NJ, 500 yards
west of Paw Creek trestle, 9 miles west OF
Charlotte.
Two freight trains, of the usual size, left
Charlotte that morning in sections-one about
fifteen minutes behind the other. At Paw
Creek trestle fourteen cars Of the forward
train, Engineer Anthony, broke loose and
stopped, after running a short distance. In
the rear were Flagman Bob Griffith, OF Char
lotte, and six passengers, three Of whom were
colored When the detached cars stopped,
Flagman Griffith jumped off, and, having told
the trainmen to notify the passengers that
they had broken loose from the remainder Of
the train, Immediately started back to signal
the second section, which he knew must be
only few miles behind. He had not gone
back far when he heard the approaching train
blow, and then realized the fact that he could
proceed no further because of the trestle,
which is $50 yards long and very high. He
waived his flag as the engine, in charge OF En-
gineer Wisenberry, came in sight, and the en-
gineer expressed his recognition of the signal
ny luluCuldltly UlOWulS Oli D1ahCo3 buo Aito
train was heavy, and he was nearing the bot
tom of one of the biggest grades on the road.
Hence it Was impossible to stop. As soon as
he realized this fact, and before crossing the
trestle, he reversed his engine and continued
to blow on brakes. Realizing the catastrophe,
he left his seat, and standing in front of the
fire box with his hand on the lever, awaited
the shock It came, and he was partially
knocked down by a stick of wood from the
tender, but was otherwise unhurt, though al
most entirely shut in by the mass of debris
which was thrown against the engine. His
life was probably saved by the fact that the
rear Of the tender was thrown to one side,
thus diverting the full momentum of the train
from the engine to the side of the cut, against
which the shattered cars were piled up. All
the passengers in the cab of the foremost Sec
tion were either killed or seriously injured.
Thomas A. Gather, of Charlotte, escaped
with broken ribs; but Philip S. Whisnant, also
of Charlotte, Charlie Sellers, of Castor coun-
ty, N. c., and negro named Ned Stroud,
were instantly killed. The wreck caught fire
and burned up, and at least one man was
burned alive, as his cries could be heard, but
nothing could be done for him. Mr.. Gather
was the sole survivor of the passengers in the
cab.