Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-10-17
THE DEADLY INCLINE
Cincinnati the Scene of an Appall-
ing Accident.
An AWFUL DESCENT TO DEATH
The Disaster Caused by the Machinery
Refusing to Work-Six Persons
Killed and the Remainder
Injured.

terday between Twelve ana one O'CLOCK
1t was on the Mt Auburn inclined plane,
which lies at the head of Main street and
reaches to a height of between go and 800
feet in a space Of perhaps 2. 900 feet or less.
Nine persons were first reported killed.
Two cars are employ ed-one on each
track They are drawn by two steel wire
cables that are wound upon a drum at the
top of the hill by an engine located there
Nine passengers had entered the car at
the foot Of the plane and number were
In the other car at the top. The passage
of the ascending car was all right until it
had reached the top, when, to his I'M
speakable horror, the engineer found that
the machinery would not respond and
that he could not stop the engine. Only
one result was possible.
The car was arrested by the strong
bumper, which stops It's progress, and as
the engine continued all its force was ex-
pended on the two cables, and they
snapped like wrapping thread under its
enormous power. Then the car. with its
nine inmates locked within, began the
descent of that frightful slope. What
were the feelings and thoughts Of the fated
nine may hardly be imagined
The crash at the f, OF of tho plane was
frightful A cloud of dust arose that hid
the wreck from view for a moment but
when it was dispelled the scene was hor-
ribIs.
BrThe 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 In
the gutter. The truck itself and the floor
and seats of the car formed shapeless
wreck mingled with the bleeding and
margled bodies of the nine Passengers.
Two were taken out dead. One, a mid
dle-aged lady with gray hair, was recog-
nized as Mrs. Ives. A young girl of
twenty. Miss Lillian Oskamp, daughter of
Mr.. Henry Knei's, teacher, living at II
Euclid avenue, died soon afteryard.
FIVE others were injured, perhaps ia
tally and one man escaped miraculously
With but slight injury. The names Of
the injured are not yet fully aseertained:
Hon. J. B. Hol ister and n Mr., McFadden
are said to be two of them. Judge Hollis
ter is nearly seventy years old and can
hardly survive such a shock.
As soon as it could be done the dead
were taken TO the morgue to await full
Identification, while the wounded were
carried to the nearest places where EXAM
ination could be made The intensest ex-
citement prevailed and numberless in,
duirles were made bv friends who feared
members Of their families might be on the
fated car.
Judge W. Ii. Dickson was on the car,
and being 100 old to escape from such
terrible shock was one of the first of the
wounded to die. He was a we'll known
attorney. r.tired for q number of years,
and was a warm PERSONAL friend OF Presi-
dent Lincoln
The list f dead stands: Judge William
Dickson, Mrs. Caleb Ives, Mi Lillian
O,kamp, Michasl Knel,s, Joseph Hook
stetter, Joseph McFadden. The wounded
are; Charles McFadden. foot crushed;
Mrs. Hostett, r cuts aid internal INJURIES
Mrs. Joseph McFAdden.
Mrs. Ives was the wife of Cal, b Ives,
tr, asur,r OF the Gl 1be soap works at So
Water rect, and lived at Riverside She
was on her way to visit her son, Franklin
Ives, and Lis bride, nee B ,lle Duhme, " no
were married a few W eks ago. She was
about sixty year. DID, and her neck was
broken.
Joseph McFadden, sixty, a stone cutter
! of ITO Saunders street, Mt, Auburn, was
fatally injured, his right leg being crushed
and his scalp cut and he was suffering
severe internal pain, He died at 800 p.
M His sen, a young man, was taken
from-ths wreck with his foot crushed and
he was removed to his home.
The right leg of Judge William III. Dick
son, sixry-five of 1876 Auburn avenue, was
crushed an his scalp and face were in
jured. He could ak but little. He also
died. Q
Mrs, Hostetter, wife of William Hostet-
ter of Laist s. Hostetter, was barely con-
scious. She was severely injured about
the head. She lives at Oak and Bellevue
streets.
All those at the hospital are too badly
INJURED to recall the terrible scenes as the
car whirled them to to the bottom of the
incline, but an eyewitness describes the
accident a. follows; las car No 20
reached the top of the plane Goebel, the
cab man, forced down the lever which
shut off the steam. For some reason the
apparatus refused to work and the car
rushed on upon the iron railing. Goebel
bent oil his strength upon the lever but it
failed TO Ludge. On the car rushed madly
with the tremendous power that drew it
on. The iron work pierced deep into
tue "OOutH anu sun inc SdOlV
tugged. Finally with grating noise the
cable slipped from the bass clamps that
held it, the bolts that secured them opened,
and the car was free. The passengers,
unconscious OF the doom impending vera
about 10 step from the vehicle as 1t shot
downward upon its mission of death. The
passengers who had arisen fell together
upon 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 like a cord,
The car struck shot far out upon Main
street and shivered into a thou sand frag-
ments."
Charles Goebel, who was the man at the
lever, slys he complained that the cut
off" was not working properly and told
the engineer about it yesterday morning
and this must have been what was the
cause of the accident
The passengers in the other car at the
foot of the plane were locked in, as is al
ways the case. and were compelled to
await the conf Ig of the other Car and its
inevitable crash beside them at the foot
OF III track
TIE n, urt Auburn inclined p ane was
the oliest iu The city. Il was built TWEEN
ty-oDe years ago and this is the first acct
dent att; n led with loss of life at any Of
Z