Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1888-10-18
THE WORST on KEcORD.
FrIehtfal SAiIroAd Accident, in which Eighty
Persons are Killed and Many More Injured.

II WORST on RECORD.
FrIehtfal SAiIroad Accident, In which Eighty
Persons are Killed and Many More Injured.
A terrible railroad catastrophe occurred in
Pennsylvania in which s~eventy-five or eighty
persons were killed and a number injured
The accident took place near Mud Run sta
ton. Agranl parade of Catholic societies
tool place at Hazleton and alarge excursion
was run from WilEesbarre for the occasion,
composed of lodges, band and sight-scers
from W~ilkesbarre, Napticoke and other points
along the line. The excursion train was run
in two sections and upon the return trip the
rear section ran into the forward section at
Mud Run with disastrous results. Seyeralears
of the forward section were telescoped ana
nearly eighty persons were killed outright
and about an equal number injured, many OF
them probably fatally.
The accident occurred at night. The next
day was a sad day at Hazleton. As soon as
the news of the accident reached this city the
widest excitement prevailed. Thedepot wa
thronged with friends and relatives OF those
on the Inflated train. all seeking Information
of their loved ones, but little was received,
and all had to wait for some one coming
from the wreck. As the hours ad-
yanced the suspense grew more and moreag.
onizing, and the scene was most narrowing.
n IuIItH hummer VI me fiutiNtF VI Az 'NtA
and many who feared that friends were on
the ill-fated train crowded the streets OF
Wilkesbarre from eaTiy morning. An I'M
mense throng surrounded the Valley depot
and surged backward and forward in their
anxiety TO obtain the latest particulars OF
the sad affnir. The scenes at the Lehigh
Valley depot beggar all description. Hun
dreds of men, women and children thronged
the platform and waiting rooms, the sole
TOPIC OF conversation being the awful disas-
ter.
As the morninghours advanced the crowds
at the Lehigh Valley depot augmented until
fully a thousand excited, s%orrOwful people
moved in and out of the building in nervous
trepidation. Mr.. Essor, was at Snpt. MitcheLls
Office all day, said the road carried 5,05O
passengers on the excursion. There
were e~ighty-seven coaches in oil, and
the train was broken into eighty sessions.
Before the accident four sections of the ex-
cursion train had passed Mud Run. The tram
ahead of the one that was run into laid at
Niue Run, waiting for a regular passenger
train to go by. When this train passed, the
train that lay ahead of the one hat was
wrecked pulled safely out. The other then
pulled up ready to start after the expiration
Of ten minutes, the time fixed upon as the
division between the running of the exeur-
sion sections. Every precaution was taken
TO warn all approaching trains that the sec
ton was on the main track, and Operator
Slogan hung out a red light at the station,
while lanes Hunnigan, the rear brakeman,
was back on the culvert with a red light.
which he says could be seen for a half mile
down the track. James X. Mckinley, re-
corder of deeds of Luzerne county, was on
the section that ran into the preceding train.
He said:
| vas in the second car from the engine,
and saw the train ahead OF us. We we're
running Mt the rate of about fifteen miles an
hour, ] should judge. ] realized that there
would be "A mishap. but / could not help my
self. Ii was impossible TO get out of the ear,
and | did not think it would be serious my
way. The crash was n terrible one, though
none of us in the car in which / was seated
were injured, nor were any of us thrown over
the seats. But the scene that followed makes
me SILVER; | have heard and read thrilling
accounts of railroad disasters, but never
pictured in my mind anything like this. The
horror of the moment cannOt be expressed in
words. We ran to the cars in which lay the
injured people. One would say, o lift that
iron and take me out; for Gods sake help
me-" Another wauld exclaim, My leg is
fast; cut of my leg; get an AK and cut it of.
Still Others begged for help in various ways
and with the most piteous appeals. Every
few minutes one of the poor victims would
die. Some were being scalded by the escap-
ing steam, some were crushed to death and
some dying slowly of their awful injuries.
10 COX on anu Df pOhtIltSh 10 tiisE hIu
was enough to drive a man mad. hope !
may never witness such n scene again.
The bodies OF the dead were emoyed to
White Haven, where undertakes cared for
them as best thew could, preparatory to re-
moyal TO this city.
At 6:30 in the evening the funeral train ar
rived in Nilkesbarre, bearing hfty-seyen
dead bodies. They had been partially pre-
pared for burial, and lay upon boards placed
upon the backs of the seats in three passPn-
ger coaches. 1t was al awful sight indeed to
look through the long coaches at the bodies,
each covered with a white cloth, here the
form of boy of twelve years, and beside
il a staISart man. As the train drew
up to the T:lkPsbaFre depot a dozen police
men were required to keep back the frantic
row of friends and relatives who had come
from Scranton and Pleasant Valley to meet
their dead. The train then continued on it's
way up the Delaware & Hudson road TO
Miners Mills and Scranton. The people in
the special coach again began the claper For
permission to enter the funeral cars. but
were again refused, it being alleged that no
one had the KEYS. Several who were in search
of missing friends became desperate and soon
broke down the ear doors and began a fran
tic search for their loved ones. Clothes were
torn from the mangled and scalded bodies,
revealing the gay uniforms OF st. Aloysius
men, cadets and other members of societies.
Those who knew their relatives were on
board also hoeked into the ears n began
Tearranging the attire or covering of the
corpses. Many were distorted aud in hor-
rihle attitudes, and friends ~endeayored to
lessen their frightful appearance. 1t was as
the train drew up ut Pleasant Valley that
the most heart-Tending scenes were enacted.
Ropes had been stretched about the depot
and guards kept the immense throng back.
The shrieks and screams of stricken friends
and relatives were pitiful in the extreme.
The first body carried out was that of Oscar
Gibbons, thirteen years Of age, borne in the
arms Of his ~stalwaTt brother; than one after
another foFty-six white sheeted bodies we're
carried out and given into the charge OF
friends. The shrieks and cries of the
women and the hoarse shouts and impreca-
tions of the men made N terrible scene.
When all we're out the train again pulled
QUIT bear the remaining dead to Scranton,
Minooka and points beyond.
There are ten bodies still unidentified IL
is impossible to tell the number of wounded.
Twenty-Five were brought to the hospital. and
numbers of Others slightly injured have gone
to their homes or are being cared for else
where. The loss to the Lehigh Valley Rail-
road company will be over 81 200, 600.