St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-01
Five Men Killed and Eighteen
Wounded in the Terri
BILE Disaster.
Several Hundreds Of People
Killed by a Powder Explo-
sion at Annoy, China.
Eleven Persons Killed in a
Railroad Collision Near
Greenwood, KY.

MEADvILI.E. Pa, Dec. 31.-The de-
tails of the accident which occurred on
the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio
railroad five miles west of this city at
9:30 this morning, proves the disaster
to have been the most horrible that ever
occurred in this vicinity. The colliding
trains were the "Thunderbolt," a
through train from Chicago to New
York, consisting of one express, bag
gage, smoker, ladies' car and two Pull
man SleeperS, due in this city at $50 a.
H., and freight train No. %, west
bound double header. Both trains were
over two hours late. and the express be-
ing entitled to the right of way, was
running without orders. Simply taking
it for granted that the express was in,
Conductor Murphy, of the freight,
pulled out for Geneva, where he had Or
ders against trains IS and 50. Almost
simultaneously the trains swept by the
last two intervening stations, Geneva
and Buchanan, only four miles apart.
As the word was sent to the dispatch
crS office in this city, the inevitable re-
suit was certain. The two trains, the
"Thunderbolt'' running fOrty-Iive miles
and the freight train fifteen miles an
hour, met in a long forest hidden curve
with crash that was
TERRIBLE TO WITNESS.
Passenger engine No. 81 and freight
engine No. 81, seemed to raise bodily in
the air, and in an instant they were
standing on their furnace ends, pilots
pointed to the sky, and their drivers
locked in an embrace OF death. And
so tn y stood for hours, held firmly by
the ruins of the two trains Oh either
side. Both engineers and firemen of
the two coliding engines were crushed
between the iron ruins, the mangied
bodies of Engineer Swan and Fireman
Hume pinned to death, just as they
were Gil the point of leaping from their
engines. The sight was sickening, but
was soon covered from view by friendly
blankets. The baggage car, express car
and smoker of the passenger train. were
completely wrecked. The baggage car
was teleSc0p3d into the smoker like a
wedge, splitting it open and sweeping
every seat from the floor. The total
number OF passengers on the train was
fifty three, fifteen of whom were in the
smoker. Ali Of these were more or less
injured, and William II. Stephenson, of
Toledo, O., died shortly after being
taken from the ruins. The crash was
heard for a great distance, and soon the
neighbOrhOOd was aroused and men and
women were running across the fields
10 the scene of the ruin. The passen-
gers who were not injured seemed in a
daze. and for few moments the people
seemed SpeechleSS with the horror of
the accident. The
GROANS AND CRIES
that soon came from the ruins brought
the people to retaliation of the terrible
situation, and in very short time
large force of men were at work, SyS-
tena ically doing all they could for the
wounded and dying. The railroad COM
pany, after dispatching two railroad
crews to the scene of the disaster, soon
followed with passenger train on
which to transfer the passengers of the
wrecked train and bring the wounded
and such OF the dead as had been re-
covered to Meadville. The train was
supplied with stretchers, blankets and
all the horrible paraphernalia for carry
ing the dead, and the work of trans
ferring the wounded was prosecuted
quickly, yet almost in silence. The
several physicians of the city who went
out on the special train were busy at
tending to the wants of the injured, and
as fast as they uld be taken out of the
coaches, willing hands carried them to
the car which had been especially pre-
pared for their use. The wrecking crew
worked with will, and soon portion
of the mangled remains of Fireman
HumeS were taken from the wreck.
The almost unacceptable form pre-
sented a sickening sight. The limbs
and lower part of the body were
GROUND TO A PULP.
The aged father of Humes had az
rived, and his wailings when he gazed
upon the distorted body of his son were
heartrending. Engineer Swan was eX-
posed to view, but so tightly was his
body wedged in the wreck that no
attempt was made to remove it. A por-
ton of the body of Googe and also the
arm and shoulder of Fireman Irwin
could be seen. The work of clearing
the wreck was prosecuted in the face of
q driving storm of sleet that lasted the
entire afternoon, yet the horrible scenes
possessed peculiar fascination for men
and even women, who fingered about
the ill-fated spot until the horrible work
of the wreckers were completed. Those
of the passengers who were not injured
were transferred, and sent forward on
other trains, while the dead and
wounded were brought to this
city, the former to be taken to the
undertakerS and the latter to the hos
pital. Trains were run around the
wreck by the Meadville d LineSvile
road until the New York, Pennsylvania
" Ohio was finally cleared, about
O'Clock this evening. The railroad Off
cials behaved nObly in the matter, and
did everything in their power for the
comfort of the injured. They seemed
to realize that the most terrible disaster
in the history of the road was upon
them, and they accepted the gloomy
like men. Division Super
G. A. Brun and Train Master
John w. BabcOck, from this city, were
among the first to arrive at the wreck,
and both remained and gave personal
directions to the work. All information
possible was given cheerfully and all
done that seemed light and proper under
the circumstances. The following is
list OF casualties:
KILLED.
Engineer E. P. SWAN, Meadville.
Engineer WILLIAM G0oGE, Meadyille.