The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-02-07
RAILROAD HORROR.
A Train Dropped Into a River

A-NDiA ANAL OllS. Jan. Ol.-Ihe NJ }
non passenger train due here az 1887
r met with terrible accident at the
= bridge across White river, sewn mil s
/ from the city. High water und. :
mined abutments and the locomoti, 9
ana Two cars dropped in the riy, :.
Inc engineer. fireman and two 9th r
tram men are reported drowned. ~ Il
SIX passengers are missing. A wreck
ing train with surgeons and other as.
slStance were sent from this city. Tha
missing and supposed killed in The ar.
cldent are: George Lowery, brakeman
Buena Vista; j. a. Rickett, baggage.
man, Louisville; John Brewer. en1i-
neer. Lafayette; Smith, express mes
senger, Indianapolis; Parm. bridge
foreman; John Bray, passenger, West
field. Seven passengers are said to ba
wounded.
On reaching the wreck a chaotic
scene was presented. The bridge and
cars were yet burning and those pres.
ent were so lacking presence of mind
as to be unable to extinguish the
flames or afford any relief to the
sufferers. The officials of the road
went to work vigorously and systemat-
ically and the fire was soon extin-
guished and the search for bodies
begun. Six persons were either killed
outright or burned TO death. The re-
covered were burned and
charr,d almost beyond recogni-
ton, being horribly mutilated.
and the only means of Identification
was the finding of incombustible
trinkets known to be the property of
the dead men. Following is a list of
the dead: .Iown Brewer, of Lqfayette.
Ind, engineer: j. f. Richards, baggage
master, New Albany; George Lowery.
brakeman, Buena Vista, Ind; Theo-
dore Parr, bridge foreman, Indianapo-
lis; Abel Smith, American express
messenger, Indianapolis. The only
passenger killed was John Bray.
stock dealer residing at Deming, Nm.
EX-Sheriff Deman, of Nashville, had
his right arm broken and was injured
badly about the head and body.
l.. Clark, of Westiield, Ind.
was injured internally and will die.
The other injured are: Jos. CLAY
brough, Frankfort, cut on head: A.
t. Cedigeo, Frankfort, body bruised;
w. p. Hawk. Westfield, head badly
cut; w. l. Swigert, Carmel, skull frac-
tured; Mrs. Sullivan ald babe, Car
mel, slightly injured; b. Snyder, Rec
coon, slightly injured. A gang of
workmen had been making repairs on
the bridge, and all of them were
slightly injured. The two passt myers
hurt, Seman and Clark, were
left at Broad Ripple ard the othe:s
were brought to this city. The acct
dent is now attributed to defective
threads on the supporting rods of the
bridge, the nuts on the end of the rods
fitting so loose that the bridge was I'M
able to support the weight of the
train. The scenes at the wreck were
extremely distressing. The dead were
IN the ruins of the smoking and bag
gage cars, one on top of the other, and
they were in deep water. A skiff was
used for ferrying the remains of
The dead to lard. B. j.
White, who was working under the
bridge when the train went over,
says he thinks the rods pulled through
,he nuts, letting the bridge down. To
Ill appearances one break occurred
within fifteen feet of the pier and an
other about midway of the span.
Whites escape was truly marvellous;
standing on the ice, the falling bridge
md cars struck him on the head and
lrove him through the ice and down
20 the very bottom of the river. The
'imbers did not rest upon him, how
,ver, and he swan out more dead than>~-
live, covered with bruises, but able
% walk. The newsboy of the train
ays he could have extinguished the
ire with one bucket of water, but it
vas not to be had. G. G. Loder and
]. b. Horton were sitting in
he smoking car. AT one end lay
man with his skull crushed and life
xtinct across him. Close to the red
lot stove lay Lynn Clark, heavy
imber binding one leg immovably.
1ader tried to find an axe, with which
he car is provided, but was on the
ther side of the car in three feet of
water. For Gods sake don't desert
ne,', cried Clark. "We did not desert
i'm" said Lader, until the flames
corched us and we almost suffocated
With smoke. Before leaving kicked
ut the window close by Clark and
eft him in agony. Presently the
ames burned the timber in two close
y Clark and he crawled out OF the
7indow which we had broken" In
We minutes after the train went
own" said Conductor Tosey, the
ntire wreck was wrapped in flames.
u 400 tuceh OhdO Oh " III n0V
OF escaped already were drowned.
rightful screams came from the
lins near the piers, but with two
tickets and no boat we were power
SIS, and all we could dc was to close
UT ears and pray for death to release
UT comrades" A patch of gray hair
lad to the Identification of John
ray. A train order in the vest
ocket led to the belief that n handful
{ bones to which were hanging few
lreds of roasted flesh, were the re-
lains of Engineer Brewer. A but
IN or spared half inch of sus-
ender or under garment led to the
notification of others. 1t is believed
lat all the killed have been recovered
lcept Thomas Parr, who was work.
q on the bridge and whose remains
e supposed to be at the bottom of
lie river. The bridge end train were
ltirely DESTROYED.