Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-10-27
A Hungarian Horror.

An appalling railway accident, SINH
lar to the Tay bridge disaster. has oc-
CURED on the line connecting the occu-
pied provinces with Hungary. At a
small town called Esseg, on the confines
Of Slavonia, the railroad crosses wood
en- bridge over the River brave, which,
has lately risen considerably above
It's normal level. inundating great
part of the country through which
e flows. At Esseg it formed
rushing torrent, and yesterday it
had reached 278 centimeters above
aOod line. The bridge itself is some
what primitive wooden construction,
ceposing on piers of the same mate
cial. 1t has been used for railway traffic
for the last twelve years, but was to be
replaced by an iron structure next De-
cember. 1t must have been in bad con-
dition, as it had long been predicted
that sooner or later an accident must
happen. The heavy current resulting
from the flooded state of the river had
drifted all kinds of debris against the
bridge, which does not appear TO have
been provided with cut-waters. Hence,
the floating rubbish accumulated. and
this was doubtless the main cause of
yesterdays disaster. The passengers
of the Inflated train consisted almost
exclusively of n part of the Fifteenth
Hussar regiment, returning home on
leave from Serajevo and MOstar. Just
as the first part of it was crossing the
sixth and seventh arches of the bridge
the woodwork gave way, and, accom-
panied by loud crash, the engine, ten
der, two goods vans and two passenger
carriages were hurled into the swollen
stream below. Some thirty men were
drowned, the number of those who es-
capped being estimated at forty-nine.
The engine driver and stoker man
aged to swim ashore, and although the
breach measured sixty meters the rest
of the train remained on the bridge, the
coupling chains having, fortunately,
snapped asunder. Seventeen men were
more or less seriously injured, but the
officers, who were in the end carriage,
do not appear to have been hurt. An
engineer and his assistant, who hap
pened TO be on the bridge when the
accident occurred, also escaped, the
former by swimming ashore, and the
latter by catching hold of a projecting
plank as he fell. They were the only
eye-witnesses of what occurred. One
of the carriages fell on q sand-bank,
and the roof is just visible above water.
The other fell in the middle of the tor
rent, and was carried three hundred
meters down the river. 1t is hardly
necessary to say that the news of this
fresh disaster has caused profound con-
sternation throughout the country.
Although less serious in its consequences
than the catastrophe at Segedin, the
burning of the Ring Theater, or the
floods in the Tyrol, it is of particularly
distressing character. The poor fellows
who met with such an untimely end
yesterday had, after three or four years
exile and hardship obtained their we'll
earned discharge from the ranks, and
were, no doubt. eagerly looking for
ward to meeting their friends again.
Many of them had escaped death on the
battlefield in Bosnia, and others had
recovered from sickness that has lately
been SO prevalent among the troops in
the occupied provinces. Full of hope
and making merry as best they could
on their journey home, these thirty
young men were suddenly hurried to
their account. 1t is one of the saddest
accidents on continental railway record.
The disaster was due in great
measure to negligence. Several DAYS
ago the bridge showed signs of inse-
curity. Besides the locomotive and ten
der, the train consisted of an empty
brake van, an open goods van, two
closed vans loaded with corn, two vans
occupied by fifty-seven hussars, a lug
gage van, poSt-otlice car, and seven
passenger carriages. The engine was
crossing the sixth span when the bridge
gave way. The six vans composing the
front part of the train fell through with
the locomotive, the coupling chains
having broken, thus dividing the train
in two. Not the slightest trace has vet
been discovered of the engine and ten
der. The four following vans were
drifted by the torrent considerable dis
lance down the river, and eventually
stopped by sand-bank. Those con-
tanning the husSars were carried along
some three hundred yards and there
brought to 4 standstill. None of the
bodies have yet been recovered. There
were few miraculous cases of escape.
A pioneer managed 10 get out of one OF
the ill-fatcd vans. and hang on to the
telegraph wires, which, at the point
where the accident happened, pass
under the bridge. A lieutenant belong
ing to the husSars opened the door OF
the other van in time to save seven OF
his subordinateS. Two civilians among
those who happened to be on the bridge
as the train was passing got entangled
in the wreckage and were drowned.
Half a dozen more escaped by jumping
into the water before the final crash and
swimming ashore. The rescued soldiers
are all more or less seriously injured. =