The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1881-01-06
ON AND OFF THE TRACK.
A Column Of Railroad Items.

America is now so lattIced with IRON
tracks and the popular demand Tor fast
time. even at the risk OF reckIe-sness, Is
so fraught. accident. that Il would De
easy to fill an entire newspaper every
week with Railroad items. North
Carolina's 300 miles OF track haveseut
in a savage report for the past fortnight.
To many of our readers the facts are
already known, but as "a faithful, chron!-
cler of State items we must briefly re
view them.
INDIAN CREEK.
The Carolina Central i. in two Dlvis-
ions; the Western division extending
from Charlotte TO Shelby. Oh Wei
nesday, Dee. %, Capt. Harry Johnston,
son OF Superintendent V. q. Johnston,
was going on his morning trip with a
mixed train, consisting Of two passen
ger and four freight cars. At Indian
Creek. four mile. West Of Lincolnton,
is a ~trestle $50 feet long running out 10
the bridge over the creek, and at some
points nearly 90 feet nigh. When the
train reached the tre>tle a. lis customary,
the engineer slowed up" The engine
and tender had just passed over the
STRUCTURE. ISI q clash "a5 81 -
Engineer Hail. He at once reversed
his breaks and had hardly done so when
the whole train except his engine was
precipitated to the ground, ffty-feet
below. Almost as soon IS the cars
struck the ground they caught fire from
the overturned stoves in them. As The
wrecked cars we're piled upon one an
other, the unfortunate inmates found
it impossible to effect their escape.
Four of them were fairly roasted alive
in their horrible prisons. Two men
we're so terribly burned and injured as
to produce death. The killed are: r.
n. Smith, a salesman for Bendict, Hall
& Co, of New York s W. Goodson,
of S~tatesville, late of Richmond, and
J. F. Bloom, mail agent on the train I;
William Mckenzie colored JAS. War
lick, col, and a nan whose name 10 un
known. Smith was not dead when his
piteous appeal for help reached the
ears Of the engineer, who rushed to
the spot. The Suffering man besought
him in the most h~eartrending appeals
to save his life. Engineer Hail made
the most heroic attem pts to do SO. He
set to work to cut away the debris by
which Smith was held.
At every blow of the engineers X
the man cried very piteously for him
to do his best to save him. Hail work
ed with the energy born of desperation
but the flames spread with great rapid
ity, and the poor fellow was burned
to death before his eyes, and while the
ringing ofthe axe upon the hard oak
,-aka-. An cd in tho htrrn1nn ynQn'S
ears. Smith was handsome fellow,
about 25 years old, and brave as a lion.
He spent last Sunday in Charlotte, with
his friends. s. w. GoodsOn, another
one of the passengers who was also
burned : o death, was about IS years of
age. He leaves a wife and several chill
dren. During the war he was Chief
Clerk in the Confederate Bureau for
the Exchange of Prisoners. Soon af
ter the war he was connected with the
Richmond Examiner, under the late Ii.
Il. Pollard, Conductor II. p: John
son was found about a half an hour af-
ter it occurred, sitting down in the
woods on a fallen tree with 8 severe
wound in the head and partially crazed
from the effects of the blow and the
terrible scene through which he bad
just passed. All the wounded persons
we're sent to Lincolnton, where they
were kindly cared for. Among those
who were on the train and saved are
8. II. Griin, salesman for Austin, Mich
OILS s. Co., of New York; Rich'd Lime
brick, CT Cleaveland, n. c.: Engineer
Hail and Fireman Smith All of the
survivors except the two last named
were more or less injured, some of them
quite painfully. The mail and most OF
the express matter were burned. The
express safe was recovered after the
fire. The railroad authorities are at a
loss to what to attribute the disaster.
Some think the box cars jumped the
track and then knocked down the
t~restle.
Supt. V. Q. Johnston, at Whining
ton, on learning of the disaster, mount
ed an engine at -p. M, and by 4:3O
a. IN. was on the spot. 225 miles dis
tant; the fastest travelling ever made
over that route. Route Agent Bloom
had been SO long in his position, his
comrades were wont to say jocosely that
Death alone could get him off. 1t was
a fearful realization. He was insured
in the Knights of Honor.
PAW CREEK.
Strange to relate, the dreadful scene
was to be repeated, in almost every de
tail, four days later at another point
less than fifty miles distant, on the
Charlotte and Atlanta Air Line-the
great Piedmont Route from Richmond
to the Gulf. Nine miles from Char
lotte the road crosses Paw Greek, with
a long ~trestle, similar to that at Indian
Creek. Two freight trains left Char
lotte In sections-one about fifteen min
utes behind the other. At the trestle
fourteen cars of the forward train broke
loose and stopped after running a short
distance. In the rear car were a flag
man, Bob Griffith, and six passengers,
three of whom were colored. When
the detached cars stopped Griffith
jumped off. and having told the train
men 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 a few miles behind. de