The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1890-12-24
d LAD HALLWAY WR1 ID
TWENTY PEOPLE KILLED IN A
CANADA HORROR.
An Entire Train Hurled from Bridge
Thirty five Feet tn tho Ground Below
Over Score Killed and Many Passsn-
gers Injured Beyond Hope of Recovery
How the Accident Occurred.

to-day, on the opposite side OF the river
from which the town is built.
The Halifax express, No. 33, going to
Montreal by the Intercolonial Railway,
was due at 11:15 o'clock this forenoon,
but was reported twenty minutes late.
On approaching the town, and when a
few yards from the bridge which crosses
the principal street near the parish
church, the entire train, with the excep-
ton OF the engine and baggage-car, was
precipitated over the bridge into the
street below, carrying with IL all OF its
occupants.
80 far as can be ascertained, the num-
her OF killed will exceed twenty. The
names are not all obtainable, but the
dead bodies which have so far been ex-
tricated number fifteen.
Among the dead recognizable are:
Captain Belanger, OF Bathurst, New
Brunswick; Joseph L. Blais, Kamouras-
ka; Joseph Leclaire, Lewis; Blaunlein,
brakeman; Leclerc, a boy of Lewis;
Dronne, Gauvin, Winner. The last
three belong to Quebec
The following received injuries: Mr..
and Miss Fuller, of Halifax, severe In
ternal injuries; Mrs Fuller, fatally hurt;
Mr.. Cote, of st. Gervais Rimouski, in
ternal injuries; Newsboy Michaud, OF
Lewis, badly bruised; Thomas Foley, OF
Halifax, large hoe i'm his head and badly
bruised about the body; Miss Foley, les
daughter, slightly bruised: Michael lie
Bet, aged rs, Of Kamouraska, fatally in
jured: Brakeman Peaulcu, fatally in
jured; Everiste Coyett, st. Claire, seri-
ously injured about body ana internally;
Mrs. e.. Gagnon, Lewis, right leg badly
crushed and internal injuries; Dionne,
merchant from 81. Denis, contusions
about head and body and interal injuries;
Simpson. Montreal, insensible when
seen, bruised in face and legs; Mr.. and
Mrs. Peaulcu, from st. Anne de la
Pocotiere, severely injured; L. Wilson,
from Nova Scotia, right leg fractured
and bruises in face; Mrs. Beauchemin,
from st. Perpetue, injured internally, leg
broken, and face horribly mangled;
Yermigetide Gagnon, from st. Felicite.
leg broken and head cut in several
places; f. j. Farrell, Dundas, Ont, in
ternally injured, removed TO Jeffrey Hale
Hospitals; Halstin of Nova Scotia, bruised;
DR.. Morrissette, from st. Henedine,
bruised; Alfred Dobson of Campbellton,
\. b., legs broken; Thomas Pelletier,
scalp wound; DR.. Tanuauay, from Ger
vais, bruised in face and on legs; Abel
Migneault of Sandy Bay, ribs broken
and other internal injuries; dying; Arese-
neault of Lewis, badly bruised; the Rev.
NJ. Gerneau, cure of Beaumont, slight
ly bruised; o. Brochu and NJ. Plante,
slightly bruised; priest of the
Redemptory Order, badly cut
about the head; Alfred Arson, leg
fractured in several places; Mrs. Caron,
OF st. Claire, scalp wound; George Walk
er, conductor of the train, bruised face;
Ferdinand Marceau, of Lewis, scalp
wound and broken fingers; NJ. Lavoie,
baggageman, dislocated shoulder; Eu-
gene Robetaille, OF Lorette, hands
mashed and fractured leg.
The cars which went over the bridge
turned completely over on top OF each
other and were smashed TO splinters,
having fallen a distance Of thirty-fye
feet.
Crowds OF people gathered round the
scene, and at once set TO work to clear
up the wreck The piteous lamcnta-
tions of the wounded and dying and
their feeble attempts to extricate them
selves from among the debris were af
fecting in the extreme. Those of the
passengers who had mraculously es-
capped gallantly set TO work TO aid their
suffering fellow travellers A special
train from Quebec with n staff T doctors
soon arrived, and as one by one the in
jured and mangled were brought from
the wreck they were attended TO and
their wounds dressed.
The accident happened on the loop
line running in from ST. Charles juno
tion to Lewis, distance OF eighteen
miles. At Horlakc junction connection
is made with the Quebec Central, and
from there TO Lewis, distance OF six
miles, there is a heavy down grade COM
ing west, as the track comes down from
the heights to nearly the rivers
level. Passing through the village
of st. Joseph the roadbed is high
above the street on solid earth ON
bankment, and across the river is an iron
bridge about twenty-five feet long and
thirty feet above the street. The en-
bankment continues beyond the bridge
some distance, and along here the track
makes a number of short curves with
heavy down grades. At "A short distance
above Lewis the road strikes the bank of
the ST. Lawrence and then runs along
on cribwork at considerable elevation
above the river until Lewis Station is
reached. The real cause of the acct
dent has not been definitely ascertained,
but it is generally thought that it was
caused by the breaking of an axle on
the baggage-car and an endeavor To
make up lost time.
The train was made up of baggage
and mail car, one second class, one first
class ear, and one sleeper. Fortunately
the curve on which they were running
threw the cars away from each other,
and though the heavy sleeper was car
ried half the length Of the first-class car
il ran along side of it instead of crush
ing through it, as IL would have done in
a straight line. The sleeper was not so
badly smashed as the other cars
The engine, still drawing the baggage
and mail cars, passed over the bridge,
the timbers of which were badly broken
upb by the two cars derailel by the plunge
of those in the rear. After passing the
bridge the mail car went down the en-
banliment, having apparently turned
completely over in its descent The en-
CINE and derailed baggage-car continued
on. passing over a second road bridge
safely, and were brought TO a standstill
a few hundred yards further on.