St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1884-05-31
A FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT.

the Victims Cremated in Burning Car
Authe Result of Carelessness.
(" PITTSBURGH, PA, May IT,
:. freight collided with the gravel
Il train on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad,
: one mile east of Connellsville, between
n nine and ten O'Clock yesterday morning.
: Anumber of laborers, variously estimated
: at from twelve to twenty, were killed and
$ many were injured. The scene of the
(. disaster Is on sharp curve just west of
! the Sheer sand works. The freight train
:, was heavily laden with ore. The camp
9 train consisted of six cars. 1t contained
: about fifty men, who had just been trans
: ferred from the Pittsburgh Southern Road
and were on their way to the Ohio Pyle
falls to work on the east end OF the division.
Both trains were going at a high rate of
speed and came together with terrible
crash. The engines remained on the
track and telescoped each other into the
smokestack, but the heavy tenders jumped
into the air and fell, the freight tender
upon it's engine and the gravel train ten
der back upon the first car in the rear of
it.
Here was the scene of death. Six men
were killed outright in this car, and four
others, fastened down by the broken tim
bers, were roasted TO death, the car catch
ing fire from the overturned stove and
burning up before the stupefied survivors
could comprehend the awful situation of
their shrieking companions. Three men
escaped from the car; one ofthem assured
your correspondent that the fire Could
have been eXtinguished had water been
| applied in time.
The wreck itself was CHASTITY sight.
The tender of the freight engine stood
thirty feet in the air at the side of the
| iron car that was burned, and there could
| be seen sitting amid the glowing embers
and twisted iron rods and ashes three |
gFlnning skeletons, one sitting bolt up
right apparently peering into the flames |
that had smothered out his life as well as |
those OF his companions.
AT noon a large force of hands were on
the ground extinguishing the flames, and
the wreck train was at work pulling the
debris away and rescuing the charred re-
mains. The burned trunks of four of the
victims were taken out. Across the
breast OF one the white, unsinged flesh
contrasted strangely with the blackened
surrounding. That spot was where the
heavy timbers caught him and held him
in the grip of fate until the flames left
nothing but headless, armless, legless
trunk. The remains were reverently,
placed on board, carried aside and Laird
down upon the green grass, spotted with
purple forest flowers. Alean and hungry
looking mountain dog shifted the roasted /,
flesh, and licking his chops descended on 1
the remains. Fortunately he was discoy-
cred and driven away.
When the wreck was cleared away it was {
discovered that twelve persons had been |
injured and fourteen more were missing.
The bodies of ten of these were recoV-
cred. The others are supposed to have .
been completely consumed. Of those re-
covered only two-Cassidy and McDer- !
mott-could be positiI ely Unidentified. :
The others were burned shapeless. One {
of the injured. T. O'Shea-iied on the .
way to the hospital, making fifteen deaths,
as follows: :
Patrick Cassidy, aged forty, residence b
Ind. /.
Scott Desmott, aged twenty ,Ursina, t
Dennis Ward, aged forty, residence I'M tt
known. n
Shebeyneuman, residence unknown. $,
Owen Conley, aged thirty. Pittsburgh. b
John Perry, aged thirty, Johnston, Pa. b
Thomas White, aged twenty five resi- n
dence unknown. r.
Eli Sloan aged twenty-five, residence v,
unknown.
Joseph Desmond, aged thfrty-one resi-
lence unknown. !,
Patrick Kelly, aged thirty-seven, resi-. e. e.
lence unknown. n
John Hughes, aged forty-four, Cumber. h h
and, Nd. ~
John Comfy, aged forty, New York. &c &c
Timothy Shay, aged forty, Stanton, " !"
"a. q
J. T. o'shea, aged twenty-one, Cum e e,
)erland, Md. ~
The latter was fireman of tae freight - -
rain and the others laborers. - -
WOUNDED. "
The wounded are as follows:
James Smith, laborer, scalp wound. ar
Samuel Clay, engineer of the camp II
rain, right arm broken. ia
William McNulty, laborer, Philadelphia, RI
light ankle fractured. wi
Daniel Albright, laborer, Ursina, Pa, Sc
eg broken. hu
w. j. Borns, clerk, right arm broken. he
Thomas McCabe, laborer, both arms of
roken. CO
-Four Swedes, whose names are un. re-
nown, were also injured, but not co
ms
The injured were sent to the West of
Hospital at Pittsburgh, and gu
ne dead were brought to Connellsville Re
Or burial. tic
Coroner Britton arrived at the scene of He
he wreck in the afternoon, and held an ye
lquest. The testimony showed that ms
le train DISPATCHER, Gilbert Lewis. to