The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-08-20
4 FEARFUL TRAIN WRECK
FIFTEEN PEOPLE KILLRD AND %
INJURED NEAR BOSTON.

The Accident Attributed to Spread
ing Rails-One Car Falls on the En-
gine and is Enveloped in Steam
The Graphic Story of a Survivor of
the Crash.
BOSTON, Aug. 19.-One of the most dis
astrous railroad accidents that ever oc-
CURED in the vicinity of Boston, and one
that rivals the famous Wallaston disaster
of Oct. 5, 1878. occurred shortly after
o'clock this afternoon on the same road,
the Old Colony, and very near the same
place. In the Wallaston disaster fifteen
we're killed and nearly $50 injured. To-day
fifteen persons were killed instantly,
twenty-three were seriously injured, three
fatally and several more sustained slight
injuries.
The train wrecked was the Woods Hill
express which left W Which left Woods Hill
at 1880 o'clock this morning, and was due
at Boston at 10 o'cl ok this afternoon. 1t
consisted of locomotive No. 122, manned by
Engineer Babcock and Fireman John Ryan,
a baggage car, smoker, Pullman car and
four ordinary coaches heavily loaded.
THE ACCIDENT.
The train had passed Quincy at 1851
O'Clock, running about ten miles an hour,
and just beyond Presidents bridge, about
one-eighth of mile toward Boston, the
engine left the track from a cause unde-
termIned, aud plunged into an embankment
twelve feet high and was buried upon one
side. The tender. baggage car, smoker and
Pullman passed by the engine and we're
stretched along for some distance.
The foremost passenger coach left
the rails, and its foremost truck
swerved to the left and plunged diagonally
through the car floor. The car then fell
upon its left side upon the engine. The
lower forward portion was torn to splinters,
and OF the passengers in the car many were
thrown into the rear corner, from which
eleven dead bodies were taken out.
CAUGHT BY THE STEAM
Escaping steam and smoke from the
engine instantly filled the car, 80 that those
within could see nothing either within or
without. The forward cars was forced over
upon the outward bound track, completely
blocking traffic, and up to 1885 o'clock p m.
no train ha passed the wreck in either
direction.
THE ILL-FATED CAR
Only three persons on the train ahead Of
car No. 2S6 were injured. These were the
fireman, who was instantly killed and
buried under the engine; the engineer, who
jumped and was slightly hurt, and the
Pullman conductor, who had the side of his
face cut and his right ear nearly cut of.
The three rear passenger coaches did not
leave the track and the occupants received
no worse injury than a shaking up. Car No.
236 was the principal scene OF death and
agony, and the experiences Of its occupants
were probably never exceeded in horror
and suffering in any railroad wreck of re-
cent years.
THE DEAD.
The following were dead when taken
from the wreck:
Mrs. ORICUTT ALLEN of Philadelphia.
Mrs. MARY e. FENNELLY of Louisville,
KY
JOHN RYAN Of South Boston, fireman of
the train.
Four women, two men and two children
one boy of IA. unidentified.
This is total Of twelve.
Mrs. A. @. WELLS of Hartford, Conn.
daughter Of II. L. Welch of Waterville.
Conn, died this afternoon.
CRITICALLY INJURED.
The following are critically injured:
Mrs. OSCAR FENNELLY of Louisville,
KY, wife Of the cashier of the Citizens
National Bank of Louisville, scalded over
her whole body; and her daughters Alice
and Catherine.
G. NJ CoPPs of Cleveland, O., scalded
over his whole body, and not expected to
live till morning.
e. C. BAILY of Dorchester, formerly
proprietor of the Boston Herald, scalded on
the face and hands.
REV. T. M. DIMMICK of Los Angeles,
Cal, face arm and hip scalded. His wife
had her face and hands scalded and suffered
a compound fracture Of both bones of the
left leg.
Mrs. GEO. P. WEIGH of Cleveland, O.,
scalded on the head, arms and neck. Her
condition is critical.
Mrs. MARY p. Snow Of Chnrlestown, face
and hands badly scalded and internal in
juries received.
Mrs A. r. ABBOTT of Louisville, face
and hand soalded and q compound fracture
of the left thigh.
STORY OF A SURVIVOR.
w. A. FenneIl, house builder of Boston.
was passenger on the fourth car. 1t was
in this car, he says, that most Of the casual
ties occurred. The train was running through
Quincy at the rate of thirty miles an hour.
When Dear Presidents bridge there was
rumbling sound, followed by an
awful crash. The three forward cars
lurched and left the track. The fourth
kept the rails and swept right along upon
the broken locomotive, " ~hich lay in its
way, forcing itself right on top of it. The
shock was terrible, and it seemed as If the
car drove up twenty feet into tue air.
When the car descended on the engine 1t
swirled over, the occupants being thrown
about.
INA CLOUD OF STEAM.
Steam came into the car in dense clouds
from the locomotive beneath, scalding and
almost suffocating the people penned inside
In the descent of the car hole was torn in
its bottom, through which many of the
forty or fifty people were taken out. Mr..
Fennell thinks that six or seven persons
were killed and twenty-five slightly in
jured. He thinks the accident was caused
by spreading Of the rails.
Fireman James Ryan of South Boston is
under the engine, while Engineer Babcock
was thrown upon an embankment and but