The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-01-06

feat in the Senate of the resolution pro-
posing an extra session next November,
the next regular;scssion will necessarily
be long one.-CandcaseR .ffom Ncws
and Courier.
A RAILROAD TRAGEDY.
Additional Particulars OF the Accident on
the North Carolina Central.
Tie Indian Creek trcstlc is abou, fifty
five feet high, and crosses deep ravine,
extending over nearly half. a mile OF
waste land. The train was composed OF
two passenger coaches, three box cars,
and a combination car. When j! reach
ed the trestle, as is customary, the Ell.
gineer Slowed up" The engine and
tender had just passed over the structure,
and the driving wheels of the locomotive
had scarcely cleared it, when crash was
heard by Engineer Hail from the rear.
He at once reversed his brakes and stop
ped the engine. He had hardly done so
when the whole train except his engine
was precipitated through the trestle work
to the ground, fifty-five feet below, and
with it all of the passengers and road
men, except the engine-driver and his
assistant. The structure was an old one,
but deemed safe, and so passed upon by
railroad men. 1t was about one hun.
dred and fifty feet long. Beneath one
end of it the water WAS quite deep, but
this was passed over in safety.
Almost as soon as the cars struck the
ground they caught fire from the over
turned stoves in them. These stoves
quickly communicated the fire 10 the dry
wood work of the cars, which were soon
in flames. As the wrecked cars were
piled upon one another, the unfortunate
inmates found it impossible to effect
their escape. Four of them were fairly
roasted alive in their horrible prisons.
Two men were so terribly burned and in-
jured as to produce death.
Goodson, Bloom, Mckenzie and War
lick were burned up. Smith was not
dead when his piteous appeal for help
reached the ears of the engineer, who
rushed 10 the spot where Smith was jam
med in among the wrecked cars. As soon
as the suffering man saw assistance near
at hand he besought the engineer in the
most heartrending appeals to save his
life. Engineer Hail made the most
heroic attempts to do so. He set ener-
geticaly to work to cut away the debris
by which Smith was held, in order to re.
lieve him from his fiery prison, but as all
of the brakemen and passengers were
either killed or disabled he could get no
assistance. At every blow of the engin-
GERS axe the man cried very piteously
for him to do his best to save him. Hail
worked with the energy born of despera-
ton, but the flames spread with great
rapidity, and the poor fellow was burned
to death before his eyes, and while the
ringing of the axe upon the hard oak
timber sounded in the burning mans
ears. Smith was q handsome fellow
about 25 years old, and brave as lion.
Although he was being roasted alive,
with the exception of his piteous appeals,
he bore his horrible suferings with n
courage rarely witnessed under such ter
rible circumstances. He spent last Sum
day in Charlotte, N. c., with friends.
S. w. Goodson, another one of the
passengers who was also burned to death,
was about As years old. He leaves a
wife and several children. He was a
native of Virginia. During the war he
was chief clerk in the Confederate Blu
reau for the Exchange of Prisoners, and
was we'll known to many of the officers
of the two armies. Soon after the war
he was connected with the Richmond
Examiner, under the late Fl. Rivers Pol
lard. Mail Agent Bloom and Brakeulep
Mckenzie and Warlick were at the bot
tom of the wreck, could not be extrica-
ted, and were burned up. 1t is probable
that they were either dead or unconscious
before the fire gained anv headway, and
were thus saved the terrible pangs of bc.
ing roasted alive.
Conductor H. P. johnson was found
half a mile from the scene of the disaster,
about half an hour after it occurred, sit.
ting down in the woods on fallen tree,
with a severe wound in the head, and
partially crazed from the effects of the
blow and the terrible scene through
which he had Just passed. All the
wounded persons were sent to Lincoln
ton, where they were kindly cared for.
Among those who were passengers or
officers on the train and saved are S. H.
Griffin. salesman for Austin, Nicholas &
Co., of New York; Richard Limcbrick,
of Cleveland, 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 painful.
ly. johnson, Griffin and Limerick are
in Lincoluton, the first named at a pri-
vate residence and the others at Burton's
Hotel. Five physicians are in atten-
dance, and they are receiving every
attention that it is possible to bestow.
The mail and most of the express mat
Ter were burned. The express safe was
recovered after the fire. All the cars are
either totally destroyed or utterly wreck
ed. 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 trestle,
the coaches following and piling up on
ton of them. The road on which this
accident occurred is only about 80 miles
in length, running from Charlotte to
Lincolnton, small town in Lincoln
County, in the western part of the State.
Superintendent johnson went to the
scene of the disaster early this morning.
Timber and other material have also
gone forward to repair the damage 10 the
trestle- work.
A Queer Contradiction,