Mexico weekly ledger., 1888-10-04
MIRACULOUS ESCAPE OF THE
PASSENGERS FROM A
FEARFUL DEATH.
Luck Characterizes the Wreck
The Train Only a Lightly Load
cd One-What Would Have
Happened Had all Train
Been on Time.

at O'Clock a. m. Monday. George
Moresey, of Moberly, was the
engineer and Frank Clark, known
as "Hatchet," was firing. Con-
ductor MeLain was in charge of the
train.
The best explanation of the
wreck is found in Engineer More
sey's statement, though expert
railroad man differ with him as to
the cause of the wreck. Mr..
Moresey says:
THE ENGINEERS STATEMENT.
1--WE were out of Mexico about
ten minutes late and l was down
in the cab tellingthe fireman some
thing when I felt some sort of a
jar. Jumped to nay seat and that
instant / felt that we were riding
on the ties. I jumped right
through the front window of the
cab and out on to the side of the
boiler. l looked around me and
saw the train going to pieces in
every direction, the cars going
down into the ditch at either side
ofthe track. I called to 'Hatchet,'
my fireman, but he had left the cab,
too, jumping to the left into a
fifteen foot gully. The smoking
car rolled over toward him and /
thought he would be crushed, but
he saw the danger as soon as l did
and got out of the way. The con-
ductor at once came forward and
we at once got torches and went
back. We found the train just as
you see it. The sleeper was on
its rear end, almost straight up.
The passengers had all found their
way out of the windows, and aside
from a man whose ear was badly
jerked, 1 don't think one of them
was hurt. On...the other side
the south side of the track, lay the
three chair cars and the smoker.
In one of the chair cars we found
a lady who was very badly hurt.
The other passengers in the car
were only scratched or bruised, but
every one of them was about
frightened out of his wits. We
found injured passengers in the
other cars, but strange to say, in
all the wreck, no one was killed.
In the smoker we found a man
who was worse hurt than anyone
and I think his back is broken"
When questioned as to the pro-
bable cause of the wreck, Mr..
Moresey said:
THE WORK OF WRECKERS.
"As soon as 1 found time, I went
to where l first felt the jolting of
my engine and I found one rail
taken completely out. The spikes
were by the side of the track and
some wreeking tools were lying
about. l learned a little while ago
that the tools were taken from the
Alton section house near Mexico"
nrr1 urrxJT, 1I, nrr, rrnErT~
The train wrecker theory does
not find favor among railroad men
generally. The wreck occurred
on a graded piece of road, or either
side of which is a ditch. The fact
that the engine remained upright
on the road bed makes it highly
probable that the locomotive
spread the rails and, passing over
the break, left a gap which the
train could not pass.
A more complete wreck never
took place. The fine coaches are
piled high-some on their backs,
some on their ends, while others
lie sideways. 1t is only a miracle
that a dozen were not killed instead
of less that number being injured.
Had the trains all been on time,
the heavily laden east bound train
from Omaha would have been the
one to reach the point of tho wreck,
instead of No. 5. 1t is lucky that
all the trains were late.
The escape of Mrs. Mccarthy
/ alive is deemed miraculous. She
was thrown violently across her
car and through the double glasses
of the closed windows. Once out
side, she fell a number of feet into
a slough, rolling under the car.
She was found in that position, un-
conscious, a half hour after the &C
cident. The railway surgeon thinks
she will die.
Hundreds of curious persons
gathered about the wreck all day
asking questions and bothering the
workmen who were hurrying aside
the debris from the way of other
trains. All the Wabash trains ran
over the Alton from this city to
: Ceutralia.
A LITTLE GIRLS PREDIcAMENT.
1 A little girl named Files, who
: was with her mother, Mrs. Mary
l Files, of Texas, was found an hour
after the wreck hanging by a foot
to one of the hat racks in the top OF
one ofthe chair cars. She was not
hurt, but was mighty glad to be re-
. leased from her awkward position.
Mrs. Files was mourning her little
girl as killed when she was found.
THE INJURED.
j Following is a list of those who
were seriously injured
Nicholas NJ. Bosley, of st. Louis,