The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-02-01
STATEMENTS OF SURVIVORS.
The Miraculous Escape of Some ofthe Passel
gers-What the Eye-Witnesses Say.

The Miraculous Escape of Some ofthe Passen-
gers-What the Eye-Witnesses Say.
The stories told by the survivors of the wreck
are meagerly fragmentary, and none have dis
tinct recollection of little more than the re
alization that the train had plunged through the
bridge. All became frantic in their efforts to es-
cape, and in the excitement of the moment.
they were in no state of mind for observing
The sensation produced by the wreck the efforts
to escape, and the piteous cries of the men i'm
prisoned in the burning cars are the things i'm
pressed most wildly upon the minds of all. but
none of the survivors were able to give graphic
description of what occurred during the few mo
ments following the fall of the bridge until the
last faint cries of the helpless men who perished
were heard.
The escape from death of Benjamin J. White.
one of the carpenters at work on the bridge at
the time of the catastrophe, was little short of
miraculous. To Journal reporter who saw
him at his home later in the day, he recounted
the story of the accident: 81 was working with
| Thomas Parr, and within four feet of him. at the
time the bridge went down." said White. I'VE
were exactly on the spot where the first break
occurred, which was within twelve feet of the
us and the north end of the bridge were
Parker and Beyers Just as the bag
gage car got even with us the
break occurred, and we all went down together
Parr Beyers, and myself bengon the upstream
side of the bridge, and Parker on the down
stream side Something, which recognized as
bridge timber, struck me on the head as my
feet struck the water and forced me to the bot
tom of the river, where it doubled me up com
pletely. By this time the resistance Of the
water raised it somewhat, and, although par
TALLY stunned by the blow on the head, | had
presence of mind enough to extricate myself
from the timbers which held me fast. and rose
to the surface. / was so benumbed by the cold
and so badly hurt that for a moment
had to hold on to the timbers without
being able TO make any effort at escape, and
while hanging to them the wreck caught fire 1t
seemed as though a coal oil barrel had exploded
so quickly did the fire break out, and so rapidly
was it spread. Just after the fire broke out the
train-boy and a passenger whose head was being
badly cut and bleeding profusely, crawled out
through the roof in some way, and got away
The passenger was bewildered, and asked where
he was and what had happened. | could not
stop for explanations then, for I saw that in
another minute would have been burned. so
l let go and struck out for the shore The current
washed me down against the bridge and had
to use one hand most of the time to keep from
being drawn under the wreck All this time
could hear the people in the two forward cars
shouting and calling for help. | tell you. they
cried piteously! AT short intervals they seemed
to grow angry, and shouted savagely for help
but l was powerless, and so was every one else
who was above water The fire burned very
rapidly, and il was only few minutes until all
the cries silenced. AS | told you, Parr
went down within four feet of me- and
we were almost side by side when we
struck the water. In my opinion. he
was caught by the timbers and held beneath the
surface until drowned
The reporter asked Mr. White if the bridge
was out of repair, and what they were doing at
the time of the accicent. 1--WE had Just finished
screwng on the nuts to the rods, tightening
them up When the train struck the bridge
had Just finished chiseling around rod so
could take the burr off easily, and Parr was di-
recting me in the work. My belief is that the
accident was caused by the threads of the rods
pulling through the burrs, and that the cords
were not sufficiently sound"
Mr.. Semans was forbidden by the physicians
to talk to anybody after he had been removed to