Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-04-30
TWO TRAINS COLLIDE.
Two Men Killed. and Several SeriOusI,
Injured.

| Last Monday at 10 P. NJ, eight miles
south of Carondelet, a special train colided
with the MonteSano Accommo dation, Trough
| neglect of the De Soto train dispatcher to
notify the latter of the extra. We take the
| account of the accident from Tuesdays Re
| publican:
The accomm odation left Moniesano at the
| usual time, II 40 O'Clock, with John McGov-
| ern at the throttle and james shannon firing.
| Almost at the same instant the special left
| Carondelet, and young Philip rnland to bet
ter eni,v the scenery took seal beside
Stevenson in the cab. The tracks from
tarondrlet to MOnteSann follow the river and
are protected by an emhankment which
ries from ten TO w entv feet in height. There
are many curves, but decidedly the worst
one i where the collision occurred. Ihe
special. after getting under way, was run
nins N the rate If thirty five miles an hour,
while the .ccpmm rdatinn coming north iid
not go faster than twenty-five miles.
Eight miles below Carondeet there stands
beside the track large house which : used
aS a boarding house by section hands and
which, from the color, is called the "White
house." Between the latter and the next
point, called cliff, i the fatal curve in
which the trains met. For a half mile below
'White house" the road runs south and then
suddenly takes sharp turn and darts off
southwest. The emhankment all the way N
this point is fully thirty feet high, and where
The emhankmrnt stops the water begins. The
current sets in strong from the Illinois shore,
and stepping into the water means sheer
descent of nearly thirty feet more.
Ii was in the neighborhood Of l o'clack
when both trains approached the corner.
.jutting bluffs hid them from each others
view, and the danger was not discovered I'M
til the engines were within 100 yards of one
another. The discovery was made stimuli
| taneously on both trains. McGorern, en-
gineer of the accommodation, put on the
steam brakes and, observing that the train in
front was coming at terrific speed, he lost no
time, but jumped out of his cab down the
embankment into the river. James Shan
non, his fireman, followed, and also brought
up in the river. Luckily there was large
log floating about four feet from the shore,
tn which both men chung and were saved.
The three men on the special engine made
desperate attempts at the same time to save
their lives, but fate was against them. En-
gineer stevenson jumped down the embank-
ment, but struck on his back, fractured his
spine and received other internal injuries
that will result in his death. Fireman Louis
Christ did not jump soon enough, was caught
| in the collision and instantly killed. Young
Philip Tolard did not jump at all, but stuck
to the engine and was instantly killed. The
collision wedged his body in the tire-bOX and
it was horribly burned. The baggagemen
also jumped and escaped with slight injuries.
The accommodation engine was completely
| were thrown against the bluffs on the right
hand side and the trucks and cab down the
embankment into the river. The special en-
gine held the track, though very little re-
NAMED of her but the trucks. The escaping
steam enveloped the wreck and this was fol-
lowed BY an additional horror in the shape of
fire. The passengers in both trains were
dashed against the seats and many received
serious injuries.
Those who were comparatively whole came
forward as soon as it was safe to approach
the wreck, and with few bucketfulls of
water extnguifhed the fires. Stevenson was
attention possible was paid him. The man.
sled bodies of the other two men were plac-
ed in the baggage car, and a messenger was
sent back to MonteSanO with orders to tele-
graph Carondelet for aid.
Shortly after = O'Clock Il relief train was
sent down and the passengers, all dead and
wounded, were brought to the city. The
wrecking train was next Summoned and 4
large gan" of men were put to work clear
ing the track. A Republican reporter ar
rived at the scene a short time after the ac-
cident and found everything in a chaotic
state. The wreckage was strewn along the
ton engine was badly di>jointed piece of
machinery. 1t was smashed into 4 half a
hundred pieces, and what portions of it were
not in the river were strewn along the en-
bankment. The rails were twisted and torn
up and the ties tossed about at right angles.
The wrecking party went TO work with en-
ergv, and by O'Clock the track was repair
ed and cleared The wreck taken to
De Soto, All trains last night were held at
De Soto and kimm>wick and were several
hours late in reaching the city.