Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-07-03
Tortured by Flames.
People in a Rail Wreck Roasted
by Inches.
THIRTY SOULS SENT TO ETERNITY.

Every Car In Train Piles Into Culvert
Twenty-Five Feet Deep-Fire Breaks
Out and Slowly Cremates the Shrieking
Victims-TweIve Dead Bodies Recovered
and Fifteen or Twenty More Probably in
the Debris-A Long List of Wounded
People-Other Disastrous Occurrences.
LYNCHBURG, Va, July 3-About 2 o'clock
yesterday morning an ast-bound passenger
train on the Norfolk and Western ran into
landslide near 1haxton's, station about
twenty miles west of Lynchburg, with
horrible results The entire train, from en-
CINE to sleepingcar went into the excava-
ton, and the wreck taking fire from gaso-
line lamp was completely consumed 1t is
impossible to give an exact list of the killed
and wounded on account of the meagerness
of the information obtainable. There is
only one wire in use between Roanoke and
the scene of the accident, and it is next to i'm
possible to get any thing over it but railway
business.
Names of the Known Dead.
The names of the killed as far as positively
iscertained are: Patrick Donovan, Lynch
burg, Va; Charles Bruce, Roanoke, Va,
fireman; l.. B. Summers, Abingdon, Va,
mail agent; A. S. Francis, Marion, Va,
mail agent; Nathal Cohen, Roanoke, Va,
| merchant, en- route to Germany to visit his
| parents; w. C. Stead, Cleveland, Tenn, en-
| route to England; j. w. Beal Cleveland,
| Tenn, en- route to Paris; A. Nj. James,
| Roanoke, Va, travelling engineman OF the
road; J. w. Linsay, Roanoke, Va, train dis
| patcher; John Kirkpatrick, Lynchburg, Va. /;
| Dennis Mellon, Roanoke, janitor of the gem
eral offices OF the Norfolk and Western rail-
road company, was en- route to New York to
be married; a little niece of Mrs Judge
| Thompson, of Staunton, Va.
1t is believed that fifteen or twenty others
persisted, as there were nearly seventy per-
sons on the train, and between fifteen and
| twenty are unaccounted for. The dead were
horribly cremated.
| List of the Injured.
| The injured are: Bishop Alpheus W. VIII
son, of Baltimore, wrist cut and body slightly
l@uised; j. f. Temple Pottsville, Pa, head
and limbs burned; F. T. Dexter, Beverly,
Mass, severely bruised on the head and
body; J. B. Young, Radford, Va, arm
mashed; Mrs Judge Thompson, Staunton
Va, bruised, and deranged with grief over the
death of her little niece; Roland Johnson
| Roanoke, Va, conductor, frightfully cut on
the head and face; f. c. Dubarry, superin-
tendent, bruised severely; W. c. Glass
| Roanoke, baggage agent, arm broken; W
H. Hayward, Pullman conductor, shoulder
hurt; j. u. Tanner, Lynchburg, Va, badly
bruised; Joseph Goldberg, New York city
leg and shoulder bruised and hand hurt
Miss Inez jackson, Texas, bruised; R. B
Goodfellow, Roanoke, hand and foot injured
J. c. Cassell, Roanoke superintendent, arm
| pff. hatf
cut and bruised; NJ. D. Temple, Chicago
back injured; Mrs r. b, Young, Marshall
Tex, body bruised
On the body of Mr.. W C. Stead, of Cleve
land, Tenn, was found the sum of Sl4, 900
He was on his summer vacation, and wa
going TO England
A Plunge Into n Chasm.
LATER 1t is now known that the cause o
the wreck was the washing out of a culvert
due TO the heavy rains of the past few days
The train was passing over the culvert wheI
the track gave way and the whole trai
went through to the bottom, twenty five fee
below. All of the cars five in number wit
the engine were piled up In a hopelessly con
fused mass The darkness which reigne
over all for a moment was quickly dispelle
D as the woodwork of the cars was ignted b
the flames from the lamps
81 Dreadful Deaths of the Doomed.
It was only few minutes after that th
wreck was all ablaZe. and to the horror {
bruised and broken limbs AMI mangled hodie
was added the certainty OF "A fearful death b
fire. Many had gone TO their death quickly
but the shrieks and groans of the wounded
pinned down by the heavy timbers and b
rods of twisted iron, as the flames slowl
crept toward them and began their awfl
U work, made the scene one of intense horror
1 Those who We're able to crawl from Tia
wreck lent their aid by the light of the fan
ing timber to their less fortunate companion
The Living Entirely Helpless.
But little could he done for them. The
were no tools on hand with which 70 cut tt
! timbers that held them down, and they la
L there helpless and were roasted in full sigl
a of those who had been fortunate enough
!, escape. Thus far the charred remains
n aS.sssss the wi.ais'''nn beings have been TAX,
l'axing Pigeon, with ra iR any Way to 'de'oa
ana III Is lInpOssIS.~
re them. Their names will not be known, uni,
sh a census of the occupants of the cars can
no obtained. 1t is believed that fully thir
er people have been killed.