Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-01-11
SyoW-BOUND.
A Series Of Accidents on the Old Reliable
Little Miami, Causing Several
Inoonvsnient Delays.
Coaductas CogsWsai's Train, with a Few
Pleasure Seeding Passenger, "snow-
Bound" for Several Hour II They
sWhile the Hours Away" Amid
Danks Of the .Beautfful."

The severely cold weather has been too
much for even the old reliable Little Miami
railroad. and during the past two days it
eral most inconvenient delays. Neither the
wrecks nor the delays were caused by any
Of the employees OF the road, but simply by
what might be termed the perversity of the
weather.
THE BALL OPENED
at Cedarville on Saturday evening. As train
No. I, due In Xenia at $40 p. m. was DASH
ing along through blizzard, a broken frog
brought 1t to . somewhat uncesemonious
stop. The engine passed over it in. safety,
but one OF the baggage cars was thrown
from the track and slightly disabled. For
tlnately no serious damage was done, but
the train was delayed about three hours.
Among railroad men there is supersti-
ton that when one accident occurs another
may be looked for within day or two. In
this particular instance, as in many others,
the superstition has held good.
The second befell Conductor Cogswelrs
train which left here Sunday morning at
$40. There were not many passengers
aboard. but those who had ventured out
were Just rs anxious that there should be
smooth sailing as II the train had been load
ed to the guards. The personae of the
train. besides the officials. consisted Of Mr..
Grauer, of Harmony. who was called to
Xenia by telegram announcing the dan
gerous illness Of his sister. Mr.. John l..
Connable, all wreathed with smiles and be-
decked in his best linen, who was of to
spend Sunday with family and friends; a
poor colored woman. who had not
seen her mother for two years.
had gotten Sunday furlough
to give her aged parent a couple Of young
druggists whose names are withheld. be-
cause Of their mission-they were on an ex-
pedition to see their best girls. and don't
want 1t given away: also, representative
OF the GLoBE-REPUBLrC, whose mission is
ALWAYS known. There was some appre-
hension among the train men that trouble
with tho snow might be encountered, but
everything started off with = fizz and a
spurt which seemed to betoken good. Every
thing seemed to go smoothly, and the two
y. DIS settled down into their seats, ''while
visions of happiness danced DER their
minds; Connable sat smiling. as he almost
saw spread before him the good things al
ways provided for the Sunday dinner; the
colored woman seemed to be pleasantly con-
templating the motherly greeting, while the
others were making themselves as
comfortable As possible under the
circumstances Thus every thing
was gliding along. when all at once the train
came to q sudden stand as II she had gone
''kerchug" against some wall. For mo-
ment everybody looked alarmed and then
seemed to realize that we were in the midst
of snow drift which investigation showed
b be only too true. Engineer Andy Liv-
ingston was in command of the throttle.
and made every effort to extricate the train
from the snow prison, but it was no go. There
was no retreat neither could there be any
possible advance The whole ''shebang'
was - completely ''snow bound' as
were ever the heroes Of Winters
famous poem. The only way out
was to shovel out and the supply
of shovels consisted Of two. but the men set
at it with will and kept at it in turns, in
most intense and biting cold, like heroes.
The progress was slow, and as the minutes
grew into half hours, then hours, the wis
ions" of the two y. DIS began to change
from pleasure 70 disgust COnnable took
1t philosophieally, and the GLoBE-REPUB-
Lie man saw an item and proceeded to take
in the situation. For over two hours the
men shoveled snow like heroes before the
train could pass. Yellow Springs was
finally reached, when an appeal for aid
was sent to Xenia, and word came back
that train would be sent out to help us
through, with instructions to pass
at Old Town. Conductor Cogswell
again sent his train forward
only to stick in another bank half mile
beyond.
A wrecking crew, consisting Of fifteen
men under the command of A. T. Lee,
master of crews. left Xenia about half-past
eleven o'clock in an engine and caboose
with the intention Of going to the point
where the train was stuck and digging il
out. Lew Melting was at the throttle of
the engine, No. $50. As the train was
passing the Miami Powder Mills the stand
rod Of switch broke, causing general
smash-up. The engine proper got over
safely. but the tender took tumble side
wise, breaking the coupling be-
tween 1t and the cabOOse. The
switch was misplaced by the jar and tle
cabOOse was sent flying into some cars that
were standing on a side-traek, and badly
wrecked. The car was full Of men, and
for about half minute they were jumbled
together among picks and shOyels in a
rather rough manner. Fortunately, how
ever, none Of them were seriously injured,
three or four of them received some severe
bruises and strains. Manager Lee was
slightly injured in the back, and John
Maher sustained a severe wrench of the
back that may disable him for several days.
Mike DOnavin and another man, whose
name could not be learned, were also in
jured, although not badly. The accident
the sending back to Xenia for
another wrecking train. and shortly before
4 O'Clock Engineer William Ellis, with
engine $40, and Conductor John
Brown started for the mills to
clear away the wreck. Meantime
Conductor Coggswell and his crew were do
ing all they could to get out of their predic-
ament, and finally succeeded in extricating
from the drift. 1t was nearly
,ne O'Clock and the last drop of water on
he engine was in the boiler. As nothing
Else could be done the train backed to Vel
Ow Strings and remained there the rest of
he afternoon.
About five o'clock the wreck was cleared
rom the track at Goes, and Engineer Ellis
vent to Yellow Springs after Conductor
,Oggswelfs train. He finally worked his
way through the drifts and reached the