Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1889-10-26
FELL DOWN AN INCLINE.
A HORRIBLE ACCIDENT AT A GIN
CINNATI TRAMWAY.

of the Steep Grade Five Instantly Killed
and a Number Badly Injured.
At Cincinnati a car on the Mount Au-
burn inclined plane at the head of Main
street, which rises between go and 800
feet in space of perhaps ?, 900 feet be-
came unmanageable, rushed down the
plane, and was dashed to pieces. Eight
persons were locked up in the car, OF whom
sss were killed and all of the others badly
hurt. The dead are: Judge William NJ.
Dickson, aged 63, Michael Kneiss, Mrs.
Caleb Ives, Mrs. Mary G. Errett, and
Joseph McFadden, Sr. The wounded are:
Mrs. Agnes Hostetter Miss Lillian
Oskamp, fatally, Joseph McFadden, Jr.,
seriously, George Miller, fatally, and JOS
eph Huette, aged IA, badly cut
Several other persons who were near the
scene Of the disaster we're hurt by flying
fragments Miller was standing on the cor
ner of Mulberry and Main streets and was
struck by the roof Of the car. He is still
unconscious. Huette was badly cut about
the legs by flying fragments of the car.
There are two tracks upon the inclined
plane, over which two cars are drawn
one ascending ana the other descending
by two steel-wire cables wound around a
drum by an engine at the top of the hill
The ascending car having reached the top
of the incline Charles Goebel attempted
to force down the lever which shuts off the
steam and stops the engine. For some
reason the apparatus refused to work, and
the car rushed on upon the iron railing.
Goebe bent all his strength upon the lever,
but it failed to bulge. On the car rushed
madly with the tremendous power that
drew it on. The iron work pierced
deep into the wood flooring, and
still the cable tugged Finally with
a grating noise, the cable slipped from the
brass clamps that held them, the bolts
that secured them opened, and
the car was free. The passengers I'M
conscious of the doom impending, were
about to step from the vehicle as it shot
downward on its mission of death The
passengers who had arisen, fell together
on the flooring of the car Down the
plane of several hundred feet it shot, and
plunging fiercely upon the railing at the
bottom, dashed it to pieces. The car
struck, shot far out upon Main street,
and was shivered into thousand frag-
ments.
The iron gate that formed the lower end
of the truck on which the car rested was
thrown sixty feet down the street. The
top of the car was lying almost as far
away in the gutter. The truck itself and
the floor and seats of the car formed a
shapeless wreck, mingled with the bleed
ing and mangled bodies of the passengers.
Mrs. Ives was dead when taken from the
wreck. The Others named in the list of
killed died of their injuries soon after.
The intensest excitement prevailed and
numberless inquiries were made by friends
who feared members of their families
might be in the fated car. The horror of
the passengers locked in the other car and
compelled to await the coming of the
doomed car and its inevitable crash beside
them at the foot of the track may be
imagined
Judge Dickson, who is among the dead,
was one of the first of the wounded to die.
He was retired lawyer, and had been a.
warm personal friend of Abraham Lin
coin. He was crushed, and his head and
face were cut. He was conscious when
taken from the wreck, but unable to talk.
Mr.. Kneiss was a teacher in the third in
termediate school, and lived at IA Euclid
avenue, Mount Auburn, with his family.
He was on his way home to dinner. His
body was badly disfgured and was re-
moved to the morgue. Mrs. Ives was the
wife of Caleb Ives, treasurer of the Globe
soap works at 30 Water street, and lived
at Riverdale She was on her way to Wis
it her son, Franklin Ives, and his bride.
Her neck was broken. Joseph McFadden,
ST., was a stone cutter of no Saunders
street Mount Auburn. Miss Oskamp is
the daughter of Henry Oskamp
Charles Goebel, who was at the lever
and had the unspeakabe horror to find
himself unable to stop the engine says
that he complained that the "cut off, was
not working properly 81 told the engi-
neer about it this morning." he said, ''and
the engineer told me he had repaired it.
But it was evidently still out of order, and
this must have been what was the cause Of
the accident" Engineer Howard Wor-
den could not be found, although this is
not to be considered as evidence that he is
hiding.
The inclined plane on which the disaster
happened is the oldest in the city 1t was
built twenty-One years ago, and this is
the first accident attended with the loss of
life at any of the four inclined planes that
are in almost constant use 1t is too early
for an examination into the trouble with
the engine, but there have been only two
similar cases in the history Of inclined
planes here In both the Others the engine
was got under control before the cables
were broken.
James NJ. Doherty, secretary Of the
company operating the Mount Auburn
inclined plane, says that the cause Of tho
accident was a little piece of iron in the
cut off valve and was found the next
day after the mi hap by the
men who had taken the machinery
apart How it came there no one
yet knows. II was not broken of any OF
the surrounding machinery as far as has
yet been ascertaned. BY occupying a
space required for the rod TO move in it so
dsarranged the machinery as TO render it
impossible for the engineer TO shut OIL the
steam.
FIFTY MINERS KILLED.