Omaha daily bee., 1889-04-29
AN lNClPIENT ASHTABULA.
Frightful Disaster On the Grand
Trunk Road In Canada.
FIRE LAPS UP THE FRAGMENTS.
Seventeen Persons Killed and Fifteen
Bodies Burned Beyond Recog-
nition-Thc Wreck ana the
Ruins Described.
An Early Morning Horror.

gine ran into water tank. Two cars were
tclescoped and Immediately took fire. All
the dead, seventeen in number, haye been
taken out. The first body identified was that
OF II. S. Gurnay, OF Chicago. He was in
stantly killed but not burned. An Italian,
name unknown, was also instantly killed.
The other fifteen were burned beyond the
possibility of Identification. About twenty
persons were injured. but only one or two Sc
riousy. None of the train hands were
killed. The fireman was slightly burned and
received scalp wound.
The train was composed of an engine, two
baggage cars, a smoker, a Chicago & Grand
Trunk through passenger coach Watash
COACH Wagner first class coach, Pullman
car and two Wagner sleeping cars in the
order named.
The accident occurred at junction where
a"Y'' is built. This "Y' is used to switch
through trains for the Toronto branch from
the main line. The train is said to have been
running at speed of forty miles an hour or
more. When directly ON the switch the en-
Rine jumped the track and plunged into a
water tank, which stood in the space between
the "Y," smashing the tank into atoms
and turning it almost upside down. The
baggage cars came directly after the engine,
and the first of these was pushed over the
engine and thrown on the main track, leav-
ing Its wheels behind it.
The other baggage car caught fire from the
engine and the two were soon in flames. The
coaches following, with. the exception of two
Wagner cars in the rear of the train, were
huddled together by the shock and soon
caught fire from the baggage cars. The
passengers on the tram, numbering over one
hundred sand fifty, many of whom were
ali Mt n m hn1 tprr
ence. The majority of those on board the
train were able to get out of the coaches be-
fore the fire reached them, but in the con-
fusion that regned it is not known how
many victims were left to the mercy of the
flames, pinned in by the material of the
wreck and unable to extricate themselves.
r. s. Gurnay, Of Brooklyn. had his head
completely severed from his body by piece
of flying debris. Rudolph Devier was also
instantly killed.
AS soon as the engine rolled over, after
striking the water tank, Engineer Watson
\ ard Fireman Chapman crawled out from
underneath It, neither being much hurt An
I auxiliary train was sent out from this city
Immediately on receipt of the news of the
accident, and the passengers, including the
injured and two of the killed, were brought
to this city The two Wagner cars in the
rear of the train were uncoupled from the
others, and were saved from the flames. A
large gang Of employees worked increasingly
>at the wreck, doing their utmost to eXtin-
guish the fire. There was great difficulty in
securing water, owing to the tank being
smashed, and the fire held sway for many
hours before thorough search could be
made through the debris.
Up to o'clock the charred rem aims of
eighteen victims had been exhumed from
the wreck. In no case was there enough
of the body left to identify the remains or
to tell whether they were of the male or
female sex. Among the wounded now in the
hospital are the following:
James A. Palmer, lion, N. Y, head cut,
but not seriously hurt.
Hamilton Clark Chicago, double fracture
of right leg, bruised badly, head cut and
probably internally injured. OF all the in
jured, he is the worst.
Anthony Maaz. an Italian on his way from
Wisconsin 10 Italy, head cut.
Edwin Chapman, fireman, mead badly cut.
Enoch Kenyon, of London, England, ribs
broken.
G. c. Azbeli, Etwardsport, Ind. slight in-
William Leipty, Chicago, ankle badly
sprained.
head.
George White, Il German, on his way from
Illinois to Union Hill, right hand cut of and
Andrew j. Carpenter, Yankton, Oak, in-
jured about the head.
S. q. Young, Chicago, slightly hurt.
Joseph Morris, East Sioux Falls, Dak., on
his way to Clark's Island, Me-, scalp wounds,
bruised leg and shoulders, not serious.
About sen others were slightly hurt, but
not so badly as to prevent them confirming
their journey. 1t was o'clock this evening
before the tracks were cleared. The
wounded in the hospitals arc all doing we'll.
As far rs can he learned, there was no
negligence on the part of the railroad com
pany The train simply jumped the track at
the frog.
The screams of men who were being
burned to death in the smoking car could be
heard above the noise of escaping steam and
roaring flames. Conductor Poole says that
the train was fifteen minutes late, but was
not running more than twenty miles an
hour When the accident LEI, happened as as
that particular place at greater
speed. The place where the accident oc-
Cured is considered dangerous, as there is a
switch, or rather sharp curve hence the
prccautoa of running slowly: Seven cars
q baggage car, two frstcluss. coaches,
smoker, first-class day coach and two
Wagner slecpers-werc burned there being
no. u vestigc Of wood or anything that would
burn left. The baggage car was demolished
and the engine was most completely wrecked.
The loss to the company will be enormous,
Many of those on the train were going to
ICW lDTh W participate III tHc
festivities Most of the passengers lost all
or portion of their baggage and clothing,
and largo amount Of mails were lost by
fire.
Another report OF the accident says that
the remains OF from sixteen TO eighteen were
taken out of the wreck. They were cut TO
pieces almost To a man, and burned be
yond all possibility of recognition. They
were huddlod together in heap IN one end
OF tho smoker and were pinned in by the
timbcrs, which mado il impossible for them
TO extricate themselves. Nothing could be
done for them, as the GerceIess of the flames
made ii out of the question for the men to
rescue them. The only way in which it could
be ascertained that frcm sixteen TO eighteen
bodies had been taken ont was from the
fact that legs and arms corresponding 10
about that number were found,
The remains were taken TO the city ho3-
pital and placed in the morgue awaiting
Identification. An inquest will be held TO-
morrow. IL will be days before tho dead are
identified. Some of the Youaded were also
taken to the city hospital.
A Passengers Story.
SuspESsIoN BRDGB, n. Y, April eS-A.
special train on the Grand Trunk cams In
today about / 40 p. NJ, having on board
about seventy. flyo of tho passengers who