The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1886-11-04
Railway Disastersfn Miehiga,,

Inc most disastrous railroad accident in many
years took place on the Chicago Milwaukeeax
81. Panl Railway at an early hour Thursday
morning. The new fast s.timed', train for 81.
!, Pauf and Minneapolis. which leaves Milwaukee
at ilve minutes past ten p. M, was ditchedb an
! open switch near Rio, a small station about
tetfleen miles east of Portage, and twelve or
thlileeh people were burned to death in one of
| the cars. The railway officials report The nnn-
Der at twelve, but what appears to be the re-
mains of thirteen have been taken from the
wreck. A number of persons were Injured
more or less.
There are two side tracks at the scene of the
disaster, and at the time the train was due they
both were occupied by freight trains. one by a
wild train and the other by train No. IA, Con-
ductor FL. p. Hankey, which had just pulled in
from the west to allow the limited express to
| pass. No. II was very long and the conductor
was at the head of the train, relying upon the
brakeman to attend to the switch. One report
says the rear brakeman, whose business it was
to close the switch after the train for some
reason neglected to do SO. The other and more
probable story, is that he started back to close
the switch, but before he could reach it The ex-
press which does not stop at any except large
places, came tearing down the grade at fifty
miles an hour, and left the rails at the open
switch. The siding Is in a cut where the road
curves SO that the switch light cannot be seen
from the east until train is within few wards
So the engineer of the express could not see the
switch light turned wrong until too late to stop.
The engine left the track, ran short distance
and brought up against the side of the cut, top
ping over. The baggage car and two regular
coaches followed, while four sleepers kept the
rails. The engine and cars that went off were
badly smashed and soon took fire from the
stoves. Engineer Little and Fireman Eagan
crawled out from under the locomotive badly
bruised and scaIded. The sbaggagemans had a
leg broken. All the passengers In the sleepers
got out uninjured, except for slight bruises, but
in one day coach the passengers, with four ex-
captions. were burned to death.
The people in this coach were waiting death,
hemmed in and kept from escape by the wreck
The fire spread so rapidly and burned SO fierce
ly that it was impossible, after the first few
minutes, to render any aid in extricating them.
The night air was rent with the awful shrieks
Of the dying sufferers, and the train hands and
passengers who had left the sleepers after the
full extent of the disaster was known could do
nothing but stand back out of the range of the
deadly heat. and know that all in The burning
coach must die. DR.. Smith, of Chicago, one of
| the passengers in the coach, managed to crawl
| out with but slight injuries
Among the passengers were Mrs. c. R. Scher-
| er, her mother, Mrs. Rosina Jener and two
| children. Mr.. and Mrs. Scherer managed to
| push the children through an opening in the
wreck before the flames drove the outsiders
away, and the children were secured, while
| the other members of the family perished The
three children and DR.. Smith were the only
persons in the car who We're saved The car
was doubled in the centre in the form of an
l"A, J" and the passengers were pinned into their
| places beyond the power of help.
The loss life could in great measure haye
been ayerted had there been appliances for ex-
tinguishing the flames, as nearly all the persons
who persisted were burned to death. No water
was at hand and no successful effort could be
made to fight the fire.
The victims struggling in the wreck could be
plainly seen by the light of the flames. One wo-
man, large and stoutly built, could be seen
making frantic efforts to free herself from the
broken timbers that held her to the floor of the
ear. She was unsuccessful. and her struggles
and awful screams were soon stopped by death.
One beautiful young lady succeeded in raising
her head and the upper part of her body above
the wreck. Standing surrounded by flames for
minute or two, she stretched out her arms
and called in piteous tones for aid, and then fell
forward dead. An old man with white hair and
beard, pushed his mead and one arm through
hole in the roof of the car called out that he
knew he must die, and wanted message taken
to his ''poor old wife, but neither his name nor
address could be learned. and in less than q
minute his hair and head were in flames, and
his awful cries were silenced by death.
The mail car was entirely destroyed. John
Berch, the route agent, and his five assistants
escaped, though badly burned. They made a
violent effort to save the mails, and succeeded
in taking out nearly all the pouches containing
letters About go bags containing other mail
matter were destroyed.
MILWAUKEE, Wis, Oct 29.-Conductor Han
key, of the freight train who fled into the woods
Immediately after the catastrophe occurred on
the Milwaukee and st. Paul road Wednesday
| night. has been found wandering around in
raving condition. He is likely to become a
hopeless maniac