Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-05-17
BOILER EXPLOSION.
Three Men Killed Outright and
One Engine Demolished.
One Of the Most Terrible Accidents That
Has Been Recorded on this Line
for Many Years.


on the Memphis line last evening be-
tween DanvilIe and McKennon,
some forty miles below here. The
through freight, coming north, was
running about thirty-five miles per
hour, coming down grade, when
the boiler Of the engine exploded
with terrific force, sending the en-
gineer and fireman through the air
like rockets and landing them an al
most Incredible distance from the
track, crushed and lifeless.
Matt Connor, of Erin, was driving
the engine, and is said to have been
one of the best freight engineers on
the road.
"A brakeman standing on one OF
the front cars when the explosion
came, said that he noticed Conner,
sitting bolt upright on his seat few
seconds before the accident happened,
and that all at once a terrible shock
came. He saw the engine torn to
pieces and the engineer and fireman
sent through the air. Then, in less
time than il takes to tell it, cars
were piled On top of each other and
all was over.
AS soon as an examination could
be made, it was found that three
men were killed. The engineer was
found about 100 yards from the track
with his skull laid open. Jack
Weakley, a brakeman, was found
under the debris and died fifteen
minutes after the accident. The man
who was standing on the front car
was terribly shocked, but almost mi
raculously escaped.
News of the accident was sent to
Erin, and soon a crowd of people
from that place visited the scene OF
the disaster and carried The killed
back to Erin and prepared them for
the coffin.
The fireman, Suits, lived near
Nashville and will be sent there for
burial. The engineer, Matt Conner,
will be buried at Erin. He leaves a
wife and two children.
Jack Weakley was at one time
employed in the railroad yards here
as Waterman. He lost an eye
in a wreck some two years ago,
and it was shortly after this ac-
cident that he was given employ
ment here. He has people living
near Bowling Green, where his re-
mains will be sent for interment.
The cause OF the explosion will
likely never be known, as there are
none left to tell the tale. 1t was as
serted, however, by some railroad
man at the wreck, last night, that
the boiler had been condemned slv-
eral days ago, but that the engineer,
Common, did not think there was
danger in it and insisted on keeping
the engine on the road. This re-
port, however, is not thought to be
authentic, as the Louisville q Nash
vile Railroad Co., would hardly
keep an engine on the track when
the boiler had been condemned by
an inspector.
The engineer was undoubtedly
killed by conclusion. Notwithstand-
ing the fact that he was picked up
over one hundred yards from the
track, he was not mangled. The
skin was only broken in one or two
places, these being on his head. The
other men were mangled beyond
recognition.
The boiler was blown clear from
the engine and changed its position
end for end. The track was torn up
and trains were delayed for several
hours. A force was put to work as
soon as possible cleaning away the
debris and this morning the passen-
ger train was allowed to pass. The
exact loss cannot be stated at pres
ent. The engine is total wreck, as
are also six cars.
---