The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1888-04-25
A Terrible Railroad Accident.


two miles from the Court House. Mr.. W.
W. (Bob) Hodge and Mr. T. JEFF Coles two
youngest children, Lille and David, were
coming to Manning, in wagon drawn by
two mules, to attend night preaching at the
Methodist church. They were little late,
and Mr. Hodge was driving very rapidly,
seemingly to have entirely forgotten tie
fact that it was train time. The public
road and railroad almost meet each other
about one or two hundred yards from the
crossing, and then each road making q
curve run almost parallel to the crossing.
With proper precaution one can see, when
the roads come nearly together, long ways
up the track, but Mr.. Hodge seems to have
been intent on getting to church, and Meth
er he nor the children thought to look for
the train, and they were driving so fast
that the noise of the wagon prevented their
hearing the coming train. It was about
8 quarter past seven o'clock. When the
wagon was about twenty or thirty feet Of
the crossing, suddenly the party became
aware of the fact that the train was almost
on them. Whether it seemed to Mr.. Hodge
too late to stop the team. and he urged the
mules on. hoping to cross before the train
came mp (the opinion of the fireman on the
engine, as he says Mr. Hodge WAS whipping
the mules or), Or when 3lr. Hodge saw
the train, he attempted to check up the
mules, but was unable to do so (the opinion
of the two chiidrenl will probably never
be known. But the team was not stopped,
and as the mules got or the track the south
! bound fast mail train struck them. Mr..
Hodge was thrown fifty feet, and in falling
his head struck against al old cross tie,
crushing his skull in several places, and
| causing instant death. The two children
were each thrown from the wagon, but
neither hurt. Lille was stunned by the
fall, and something punctured her clothing
in the back to the skin, but she sustaine2
no hurt at all save {. slight bruise on her
hand. David was not hurt at all One
mule was thrown hundred and twenty-five
feet, and the other taken up on the pilot of
the engine and carried for a quarter of 3
mile, till the train stopped. Both had their
necks broken. The wagon, a strong one,
was broken into thousand pieces. The
wagon body was thrown about forty feet,
and the wheels scattered from hundred to
two hundred feet The chair in which Lii.
lie Was sitting was completely demolished,
and the seat thrown seventy-fve feet. Da-
vid. about nine years old, as soon as he
could pick himself up. ran to his sister,
about thirteen years old, and tried to arouse
her, but could not. Then he ran to his un-
Gle Bob and attempted to arouse him. He
again went to his sister, and got her arous
ed. By that time the train returned to the
scene, and took the two children on board.
but Mr.. JEFF Cole coming up just then, they
got in the buggy with him
Mr.. Hodge was thrown or his face and
sustained the principal injury on the front
and left side of his head. He had an arm
broken. 1t IS very probable, had be been
thrown two feet further, beyond that cross
tie. that he would not have sustained any
serious injury. His body was brought to
Manning, and placed in the Furstenburg
hall, where it remained till Saturday.
Friday, coroner's Jury with Dir. ". J.
Clsrk as foreman, was empaneled at -
o'clock by Coroner P C. Cochran, and after
hearing testimony from Lille, David. and
T. JEFF Cole, J. Z. Price, -- Lucius the
baggage master, - Taylor, the section
master. w T. Nettles, .he enginee-, and G.
". Gruber, the conductor OF the train, the
evidence consuming about two hours of
time, verdict was rendered by the jury
that ". ". Hodge came to his death by
coliding with engine Of No. SO, the down
train. and that the killing was accidental.
The engineer was on the side of the engine
opposite to the wagon, and did not see the
wagon at sl. He testified that the mules
ran On the track Just as the engine was at
the crossing. The engine was only slightly
injured. The headlight was smashed in,
and the pilot broken.
The accident was o terrible one, and it
is almost miraculous how the little children
escaped unhurt It is thought by some
that they jumped out of the wasoa before
the train struck the mules, but they say
they did not. The little boy who was sit
ting by the side of Mr.. Hodge, opposite
from the train, says he did not see the en-
CINE till it was within few feet of the wagon.
The chair. as stated above, on which the
little girl was sitting, was broken into q
great many pieces
Mr. Hodge was q member oi the Man
ming Baptist church, and last Saturday
morning Rev. T J. Rookie, pastor of the
Baptist church of this place, preached
beautiful and appropriate funeral sermon
over the body of the deceased, after which
the burial took place in the Manning Gem
etery.
| MIR. Hodge wasa good citizen, but quiet
and undemonstrahve. At the beginning of