St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-10-23
A Series of Three Terribly
Fatal Collisions on as
Many Railroads.
Two Trains on the Cincinnati
Southern Crash Together
in a Tunnel.
CareleSsneSS Results in Rear.
End Collisions in Missouri
and Alabama.
Nine Persons Lose Their Lives
--Thirty-Six Others Be-
ing Injured.

CINCINNATI. Oct. GA disastrous
collision occurred at 4: 40 o'clock on the
Cincinnati Southern railway, III tun-
mel quarter of mile north of Sloan's
Valley station. The trains involved
were Freight No. %. north-bound, and
Passenger No. 5, south-bound. In the
most hopeless place that trainmen ever
met death the engines of the two trains
dashed into eadh other and the cars fol-
lowing jammed into each other in a
mass. Then came the added horror of
conflagration. Six persons lost their
lives and as many more were injured.
Following is the list of dead and
wounded:
Dead: John PimIott engineer, Detroit.
man Gould. Ludlow. KY. Brakeman John E.
Montgomery, Albany. n. Y; Postal Clerk G.
L. Doegen, Cincinnati: Express Messenger
Ed p. Ruffner, Cincinnati.
Injured: Engineer Pat Taylor, Somerset,
KY. severe; Postal Clerk j. G. Gayle. Cincin-
natl. severe; Baggagemaster John r. Long.
Newport, KY. severe; passengers w. U.
Wheeler. New Orleans. in charge of muse
slightly injured: Miss Ollie Getty. Dayton,
Tenn. slight: Arch Murphy, Madison county.
1nniana, slight.
the passengers all were able to walk
over the hill to the train and to resume
their journey.
Trainmen Were Asleep.
The first train on the Cincinnati, New
Orleans & Texas Pacific railway that
brought eve witnesses of the scene of
the train collision of this morning in a
tunnel. arrived here after 10 O'Clock to-
night. 1t brought two of the victims
home mangled, bat still alive. They
we're j. p. Gayle, the postal clerk and
s Ssth of LONG the 'ng passsagaT sran
Gayle's injuries are to his legs.
and they are not very serious.
Longs injuries are cuts. bruises and
burns about the head. arms and legs,
and there are fears of internal injury in
his case. Gayle was taken to his home
in Walnut Hills. and Long was re-
moved to the hospital. The best story
Of the accidemtand the attendant scenes
IS told by j. d. Brenner. the messenger
0fthe United States Express company.
who came in on the train which ar
riveda after 10o'eieck Tonight Mr. Bren-
hers story is that freight wreck last
night at Elihu, two miles south of Som
erset. Ky., kept back south-bound Pas
Senger Trains Nos. 8 and ) for over two
hours at Somerset, and caused north
bound Freight Train No. % to make
long wait at Sioan'S Valley, station
few hundred pards south of the fatal
tunnel, which is known as Tunnel No.
5. The instructions to Train No.
22 was to wait at SlOan'S Val
ley till Passenger Trains Nos. 9 and
No. 5 passed. Their wait was long
one. The crew of No. % all went to
sleep. John Pimlott, the engineer,
walked in time to see that Passenger
Train n. had just gone by. He as
sumed 1t was No. 5, and deeming the
road clear, went on. Tunnel No. is
lined with wood and is about 800 feet
long. Its north entrance is curved. and
the north approach to it is one of the
steepest grades OH the road and it is
/ also curved.
Down This Steep Grade
thundered the fated Passenger Train
No. 8, with its train of five cars and
fifty passengers. First after the loco
motive was the mail car, next the COM
bined express and baggage car, then in
succession the smoker. the ladies' car
and the Pullman sleeper. Within a
hundred feet of the mouth of the tun-
nel, the crash came. The Pullman car
Of the passenger train was out
man and the ladies' car were
saved, passengers and trainmen
pushing them up the track. A few of
the freight cars We're detached and
rolled out down the grade through the
south end of the tunnel. All the others
were destroyed, and several bodies
we're burned to ashes in the fiery fur
mace. The flames sterted in few min
utes after the collision. and the wood
work of the tunnel caught fire and is
making the night lurid at this writing.
Every Inch a Hero.
Here is a story of heroism that has not
been told. The herO's name, Express
Messenger Brenner had forgotten, but
he was until recently station agent OF
the railroad at Somerset, Ky. Well, this
brave man heard the cries of George
Long in the baggage car. Seizing
an axe, he cut hole in the
side of the car and drew him
out from under pile of trunks and
boxes. In the express compartment of
the same car the voice Of E. p. RufTner,
the messenger of the United States Ex-
press company, was heard. Our hero,
scorched with the approaching flames.
cut hole in the side of the
car. Ruffner was walking about
uDscathed, but in death rap.
The brave rescuer, ready to sacrifice his
own life In the effort to save another,
kept on cutting away with his AK, his
own clothing singed by the fire, the hot
air consuming his strength. and his
blows growing feebler at every stroke.
Ruffner, doomed in his prison,
shouted to him, s'go away:
save yourself while you can:
am Ed p. Ruffner, of Cincinnati. NV
home is 410 West Fourth street. Go
and tell my family goodbye. Tell them
you did all man could TO save my life
Now don't stay here second longer.
Go or you will burn up with the rest of
u.s. The unnamed here staggered out
and dreaching the open air, fell exhausted.
The escape of Postal Clerk j. q. Gayle
was wonderful. He says: Il had walked
Doegan up at Burnside and it seemed
to me that the crash came Immediately
afterward. 1t was on the front end of
the car. never heard
A Word or a Moan
from Doegan. When found myself on
the platform, next to what | suppose
was the TENDER. l worked myself down
under the car and craWled in the other
direction, and kept on, now to the right.
eow to the left, now up and down,
It'll saw light, and then i
struggled for dear life, and
came to where assistance was
rendered me. My escape is a mystery
to myself" Rescuers went into the
tunDel and got Brakemen j. E. Mont
gomery and brought him to safe place.
laid him against the side of the tunnel
While they went back and got Engineer
Pat. Taylor. They carried TayIor
clear out of the tunnel and then
went hack for Mnptpou,orxr b,,f Tho