St. Paul daily globe., 1888-01-07
A RAILROAD WRECK.
Five Men Killed in a Wreck
on the Canadian Pa
cific Road.
Description Of the Accident
as Viewed by an Eye
Witness.
The Union Depot at Atchison,
Kan, Destroyed by
Fire.
Three Men Terribly Burned
by Burning Alcohol
Other Accidents.
Special to the Globe.


WINNIPEG, Jan. 6.-The passengers
who passed the scene of the late acci-
dent on the CANADIAN Pacific at Middle
ton, 16S miles east of Port Arthur. ar
rived at Winnipeg to-day. The accident
was of a serious character, the two
freight trains having collided on high
trestle. G. a. Milligan, young man
just out from England, who was going
through to the Pacific coast, said the
accident happened between l and 2
o'clock Wednesday morning. He ar
rived at the peninsula on the eastern
train bound for Winnipeg at about 80
o'clock the same morning, and the train
stopped there until O'Clock at night,
when they were brought up to the east
side of the huge trestle. They were
then taken down the gulf,
eighty feet deep or so, to the
other side. All the passengers
were transported in a few hours and
started anew on their journey westward.
Milligan learned from inquiries at the
time of the accident that the freight
trains had met on the treStle spanning
the abyss through which they passed.
The freight going east was travelling at
the rate of about twelve miles an hour,
having just emerged from the tunnel
which is cut through the rock at the foot
of the hill to the north. The west bound
train was running much faster, prOba-
bly, twenty miles an hour, the engine of
the west train became fastened in the
treStle, and stuck there, while the ten
der and several ears jumped right over
the top and went
CRASHING TO THE BOTTOM.
The engine coming from the east
went through the trestle Immediately
after the collision, and took down a
number of the freight cars, he could not
say how many. Two engineers, one
fireman and one brakeman were killed
outright in the accident. One man,
wedged in under the wreckage, was
noticed to be alive after the accident,
and one of his comrades undertook to
remove him by grasping his hand, which
was sticking out. The reScuer was hOr-
riiied when he broke the mans fingers,
which had been frozen while he was in
this deplOrable position. The engineer,
for such was his position on one of the
ill-fated trains, was rescued from the
ruins in few minutes, but expired in
less than an hour afterwards. An injured
fireman was brought into Port Arthur
from the scene of the wreck. When he
saw the train coming to the bridge he
had felt that something was going to
happen, and jumping from his engine
made his way over the tops of the cars.
The man had
HAIR BREADTH ESCAPE,
as portion of the train had run over a
broken part of the trestle before he
cleared himself. In jumping from the
train the fireman received injuries
which may prove fatal. Milligan
noticed one man underneath the wreck,
all his body being visible except The
head, which was horribly mangled,
with the edge of the car lying on top of
it. The train hands supposed that the
boilers of the engines exploded when
the trains struck, and this caused the
bulk OF the damage to the bridge. No
body seemed to know the cause of the
accident. 1t was thought that the men
had been too long on the train going
east and had fallen asleep. Milligan
heard that the conductor of one of the
trains had gone into station along the
line and got a ticket, which he after
ward discovered was not marked 80.
K" The damage is estimated at
S1S0,000. Traffic was delayed forty
eight hours. General Superintendent
White being questioned, stated that the
accident was
CAUSED THROUGH A MISTAKE
on the part of the operator in not de-
tanning one of the trains. The trains
met on the east end of the bridge and
both engines were precipitated to the
bottom. Atkinson, an engineer, was
killed. HOLLYWOOD, pilot Oh one of the
engines, met the same fate. Brakeman
Oster and Fireman NichOl were also
killed, Fireman Haynes escaped with
a broken leg. Two engines and twelve
cars were badly wrecked. No estimate
has been made on the damage to the
rolling stock although 1t is believed it
will be 100000