Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-10-11
Death sAvful Revel.
A Frightful Disaster on a Penn
syIvania Railway.
PLUNGE OF AN EXCURSION TRAIN

Down a Seventy -five-Foot Embankment to
Destruction - Eighty Souls Sent to
Eternity and $50 wounded-Meagre
Particulars of the Terrible Occurrence
Fatal Accident at Quincy, nis.-Fan of a
Stand with 5000 Persons on It-Five
Hundred of Them Injured, an Unknown
Number Fatally Partial List of the
Wounded.
WILKEsBARRE, Pa, Oct. IA most ap-
palling accident took place between and
o'clock yesterday evening on the Lehigh
Valley railroad at point midway between
White Haven and Penn Haven Junction,
near the little place known as Mud Run The
loss of life was awful The estimates at II
O'Clock place the number of dead at eighty
and the injured at over 100
The annual convention and parade of the
Father Mathew society of the diocese of
Scranton was held at Hazelton yesterday,
and enormous crowds went down there from
Luzerne and Lackawanna counties. Seven
long trains with the cars crowded to the
doors passed White Haven yesterday morn
ing, filled with people from these two coun-
ties.
The Lehigh Valley has short cut from
White Haven to Hazeton, but the superin-
tendent of the division vas afraid to trust
the heavy trains over the bridges on that
line and sent all by the old road by Penn
Haven junction and then up Beaver Meadow
branch to Hazelton From White Haven to
Penn Haven the track runs close to the river,
the embankment beng high and steep in
many places, and at Mud Run, where the ac-
cident happened is from sixty to eighty feet
| high. The trains of course, took the same
route on the return, the first section leaving
Hazelton about 5 o'clock and the others fol-
| lowing as rapidly as possible The first
| three sections came through all right, but
| the fifth section, running at good rate
| of speed, crashed into the fourth sec
ton while it was standing on the track at
| Nun Run. The result was awful. The cars
were crowded to the doors, many women and
| children being aboard The ears were
smashed to pieces and hurled from the track,
rolling down the steep embankment. For
| tunately the river was low or tie cars would
have gone into the water and the loss Of life
would have been still more terrible The
| news of the disaster was first received in this
| city about 40 p m, and aroused great ex-
| element, for the fourth section was filled
largely with Wilkesbarre people.
The only Information is from passengers
| on the Central railroad trains, who report a
| horrible condition Of affairs the groans Of
the wounded being heard across the river
where the tracks of the Central run. At the
station here hundreds of people were gath
cred on the platform, many weeping for the
safety Of their friends supposed TO be on The
wrecked train
Several cars of the forward section were
telescoped and forty persons were killed out
right and about an equal number injured
many of them probably fatally. 1t is i'm
possible TO ascertain the names or residence.
of any of the victims, but their number
given above is approximately accurate.
LATER-The last reports place the number
of killed at eighty, and the number of in
jured at over $50 There is not a worse spo
on the line for such al accident The tract
there runs close beside the Lahigh river,
steep emhankment sixty to seventy-tive fee
high, running down from the tracks to tn,
river The tracks of the Central railroad o
New Jersey run along the opposite side o
the river, and the passengers on the TRAN
that reached here at 10 o'clock had distinc
view of the awful scene by the light of glim
mering Lamps and torches.
They say that the cars were smashed t
pieces and hurled from the tracks, and tina
several bad oiled part of the way down tn
steep emb4nkment and others were STANDING
right across the track The spot is desolat
one The nearest town is White Haven, fou
miles away, while in the other direction tn
nearest place is Mauch Chunk The railros
officials at this point absolutely decline to sa
| ANYTHING whatever about the accident