The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1889-06-14

pi,t> compiling them % the next rail aud
tho fragments are still united ~ che
plates. Natural Law would seem % shpw
that the first place where they should
have broken was NJ the joints
| There Is little 20 indicate the late prss-
ence ~ q railroad from here 10 the upper
| part Of the C''s.emaugh. Tho little plain
| into which the gap widcned here. and la
| which stood the bulk ~ the town, II
| wiped out There Is not the slightest in
| dication that the center ~ the plain was
/ any thing bur iood-wasnel gulch ia
some mountain region.
At the upper end stands = fantastic col.
lection ~ ruined railroad equipments.
Three trains stood there when the hood
swept down the valley. The outside one
vas local passenger. with three cars
anil q locomotive. II stands there yet
the ears tilted by the washing ~ the
track. but comparatively uniuiured.
somehow a couple more locomotives have
been run into the sand bank in front.
freight train ssood upon the track
wh~rron large collection Of smashed
cars has its place nov. II was broken all
u pieces Inside ~ all was the lay ex.
press. with its baggage aud express cars
and AZ the end three vestibule cars. Il
was from this train that a number os pas.
seu-rrs-fitteen certainly. and no one
knows how many more-were lost.
When th~ alarm came. most % the pas
sengers fled for the high ground. Many
reached il. Others hesitatei on the way:
tried 10 run pack. and were lost. Others
stayed On the ears. and after the first
rush q the hood were rescued alive.
some ~ the freight cars were loaded
with lime. and these leapel over the ves-
thule cars aud set them on fire. and
quickly had the cars blazing. Three ~ the
veStlbale ears were burned down b tho
trucks These and the peculiar shaped
iron frames Of the vestihules are all that
show where the cars stood. The reason
the dooI dill not wipe out these three
trains entirely j. supposed 10 be that just
IN front ~ them and between them and
the Hood. was the round-house filed with
engines II was a large building. ard
probably forty feet high % the tops OF
the ventilators in the roof. The wave of
wrath. eye-witnesses say. was 30 high
that these ventilators were beneath il.
The rouni-bouse was swept away % its
very foundation. anil the hpol PLAYED
fack-straws with the locomotives But il
<plir the torrent. and part 81 il went
down each side " the trains. saving them
from the worst ~ its force. Thirty-three
locomotives were in and around the
rount-house and repair shops near. Of
these twenty-sN have been found. or at
least traced. part ~ them being found
scattered down into Johnstown. aud one
tender was found in Stony Greek.
The other seven locomotives are gone
not trace ~ them has been found up 70
this time II - supposed that some IL
them are in the sixty acres " debris at
Iohnsto~n above the bridge. All the To-
romotiyes that remain anywhere within
sight 81 the rOund-h0use. all except those
attached q the trains. are thrown about
u every direction. smashed. broken and
useless except for old iron. The tenders
lre all gone. Being lighter than the To-
romotive~. they foated more easily. aud
we're more quickly carried away. The en-
yineS were apparently rollel over and
over. in whichever direction ran the cur
rent which had hold OF them. AMI occa- I
,ionally we're picked up bodily and \
down again. wheels upor which,
ever way CHANGED 20 be most convenient |
ID the food. Most OF them lie ia five feet |
= mud and gravel. with only part show
ing above the surface. Some are out in |
the bed ~ the river.
Ia the town 81 Conemauyh there are
pnIy thirty-ei.ht persons positively (
known 10 have persisted.