The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-12-30
COLLISION ON TIE RAIL-
One Train Plunges into Another
in Georgia.
Ten Persons Instantly Killed and
Many More Injured

At midnight the other night, on the Geor-
gia Pacific railroad, seventeen miles from
Atlanta, the Georgia Pacific train was run
into by the East Tennessee train. Eleven
persons were killed instantly, and six seri-
ously wounded. OF the latter one died soon
after, and the death Of another was expected.
The East Tennessee trains have the right Of
way over the Georgia Pacific
track IS far as Austell. The Georgia
Pacific train pulled out of the station at 10
o'clock P. n. At 10:45 the East Tennessee
train pulled out. The Georgia Pacific train
stopped at the water tank, and while taking
on water the East Tennessee train came up be.
Pacific train. The Georgia Pacific train was
what is known as the night accommodation,
and vas composed of stock cars and coach
es. The stock cars were nearest the loco
motive, and next was q coach divided into q
baggage car and smoking coach The last
coach was divided into apartments, one with
sleeping berths and tho other containing reg
Georgia Pacific train had barely stopped,
was running a little, so the conductor
stated, when the East Tennessee
train came laundering along at
the rate of twenty-five or thirty miles an
hour. In the passenger coach Of the Georgia
Pacific train some of the passengers were
sleeping and others were awake and talking.
Without warning there came a terrible crash,
and the scene was Immediately transformed
into one Of confusion, destruction, and
death. Souls were hurled into eternity,
and the air was filled with the groans
of the wounded and dying. At one side of
the water tank there is a ~trestle, and the
rear end Of the last coach of the Georgia Pa
cific train was standing on the edge of the
trestle. When the East Tennessee locomotive
struck this coach it plowed its way through
as far ss the dividing partition, splitting
the car in half. The shock moved the Georgia
Pacific train fifteen or twenty yards, and
when it stopped the escaping steam from the
East Tennessee locomotive filed the rear
coach and Immediately all the lamps were
extinguished, the darkness making the scene
more dreadful and appalling. News Of the
accident was telegraphed back to Atlanta
and a special train sent out. In the mean
time passengers and railroad hands who were
'unhurt removed the dead and wounded into
the baggage cars on tho two trains, and when
the special train arrived they were sent onto
Atlanta.
The special train arrived in Atlanta early
the next morning, and the dead and wounded
passengers were placed temporarily in a
small house near the Georgia Pacific depot.
The dead were as follows:
Bernard Peyton, Birmingham, Ala, attor-
new for the Georgia Pacific Railway COM
pany: Nathan Stanley, Admission, Ala. j.
w. Pierce, San Angelo, Tex Jacob Banks,
Fairburn, Ca: Mrs. Mary Banks, wife ct
Jacob Banks: B. Bright, Fairburn, Ga; E.
T. Hull, Forest Station, Ca. a two-year-old
child of B. Bright: two children, three and
six years of age, belonging to J. K Brown.
or the wounded, who numbered ten, Mrs.
Bright died soon after the accident, and G.
W. Belton's death was hourly expected. All
of the unfortunate victims had been scalded
by hot water and steam, and their faces and
hands were terribly burned.
Among the injured mon was j. b. Sink, OF
Salem, Ala. who told his experience.
Il was sitting" he said, 'in the rear OF the
sleeper, which was the last car on the Georgia
Pacific passenger train, when the east Ten
nessee locomotive telescoped our car. There
was instantly a burst Of scalding he: steam,
which filed the car, and, as l afterward
learned, the floor was flooded with scalding
water, causing terrible death to every one
who was thrown 10 the floor and rendered
helpless to get up"
Among the wounded men brought to the
hospital were C. W. Bolton, of Fort Worth,
Tex, stock dealer and a partner Of A. w.
Price, of Fort Concho, Tex, who was killed
instantly. These gentlemen had on the train
the famous mare GYPSY, which they had
bought in Atlanta and were taking to Texas
in a box car. The car was totally wrecked,
but the mare came Town on her feet in the
debris unhurt. This was one Of the most re-
markable incidents Of the accident.