St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-09-20
a Reading Passenger Train
Rolls Down an Embank-
ment Into the River.
Twenty Or Thirty Passengers
Either Killed Outright
or Drowned.
The Number of Seriously
Wounded May Reach
Fifty or Sixty.
Two Prominent Philadelphia
ans Are Found Among
the Dead.

the Dead.
READING, Pa, Sept. ia wreck oc-
Cured OH the Reading railway seven
teen miles above this place about Gas
tonight. If everything is borne out by
subsequent developments, it is the
worst wreck that has ever occurred in
this section in the history of the Read
ing road, The train which met with
the disaster left this city at 6:05
O'Clock, ten minutes late. 1t is
known as the Pottsville express, and was
running at the rate of at least thirty
eight to forty miles an hour. 1t had on
board possibly 125 to $50 passengers,
and it consisted of engine, mail, eX-
pre- nd three passenger cars. Above
Shoen aAerSNi lc. t lis county, about fif
teen miles above this city, there is
% C where the railroad is from eight
cell to twenty feet higher than
the Schuylkill river. Here, shortly
before 6 O'Clock, a freight train
ran into a coal train, throwing several
cars i'll the latter on the opposite track.
and before the train hands had time to
go back and warn any approaching train
of the danger, the Pottsville express
came around the curve and ran into the
wrecked coal cars Oh the track. The
engine went down the embankment,f fol-
lowed by the entire train with its human
freight. The scene was one of horror.
The cries of the imprisoned passengers
was heartrending. 1t was scene
never to be forgotten by those who par
ticipated and survived. Some of the
passengers managed to crawl out of
their prison and arouse the neighbor-
hood. Word was telegraphed to this
city and
Help Summoned,
but all information was refused at this
point by the railroad officials. Phys-
clans and surgeons and a force of 300
WOrkmen were taken to the spot by the
company. and with the aid of an elec-
trio light plant the work of clearing
away the wreck was at once proceeded
with. Work was slow and the dead and
dying were taken out with difficulty.
Up to 10 o'clock tonight seven dead and
some thirty wounded had been taken
out. Of the latter some were brought
to this city and others taken to the
Miners hospital at Ashland. The dead
so far recovered are still Oh the grouud.
The dead and wounded taken out up to
this time are as follows:
Killed.
WILLIAM D. SHOMO, Reading badly
mangled.
JOHN WHITE, engineer, Pottsville, Pa
frcm Do
HARRY LOGAN, conductor, Pottsville, Pa.
JOHN L. MILLER, Cressona Pa.
DAVID AUGSTADT, Mahoney City. died
after being taken from the wreck. He head
and body were crushed.
E. W. LOGAN, baggagemaster, Shenan-
doah.
The Injured Are:
Harrison Riland, Philadelphia, leg broken
and internally injured; Joseph Southwood
Centralia badly cut aud internally injured;
James F. Merkel, Bethlehem, badly cut about
head and internally injured; John Thornton,
Leesport, badly cut about head and body.
seriously injured; Joseph Noll, Shenandoah,
cut about head and left shoulder bro
ken; Frank B. Holl, manager cf Frank
Mayo's dramatic company, cut about head
and body and bruised about arms and legs;
John Carroll, St Clair internally injured
Joseph AsfieId. Mahoney City, bruised about
body and legs; William Glassmayer, Port
Clinton, badly cut about breast; Thomas
injured; Robert Colon Pottsville.
Internally injured Samuel Shellen-
berger, Hamburg; leggs injured; r.
W. Cithler, Girardville. foot and leg
smashed; John Coolick, Mount Carmel, in,
ternally and hand smashed; WV. Johnston,
shenandoah. head badly cut and leg broken;
George Sanders, Reading, badly hurt about
back and neck; Benjamin Franklin Beecher.
Shenandoah, left hip badly cut and
leg hurt; James Boinhart, Shenandoah,
left hip crushed and legs hurt; John
Hess, Mahaney City. legs badly hurt;
David G. Young, Mahanoy City, head badly
cut and legs sprained; Lyman Dick, Ham
burg, bath legs broken; DR.. b. F. Salade.
New Ringgold. right arm badly hurt; Jacob
Combs, Mahanoy City, badly hurt and leg
broken; William Summers, Ashland, hurt
The Wrecked Train
is still lying at the bottom of the liver
tonight. The exact number on the
passenger LISTS not known, and a re-
porter, who is still on the ground. tele-
phones that he believes that there are
still twenty-five or more bodies under
meath the wreck, or were carried
away by the current. The Asso-
ciated Press agent has just had
direct communication with his repre-
tative at the scene of the wreck and
says that conservative estimates
places the number of killed at forty to
fifty. 1t is almost impossible to esti-
mate the exact number and the full
horror of the situation will not be
known before morning. Mail Agent
Greenawald's body was taken out
followed by the horribly mangIed
bodies of two Mahanoy City fire
men on their way home from the
Chester convention. The Associated
Press representative has Just had an
interview with one of the passengers
who went down in the wreck and who
was but slightly injured. Sixteen of
the injured were brought on a special
train TO the Reading hospital at II
O'Clock. This gentleman SAYS that
when the passenger train left Reading
the cars were all we'll filled. Among
them were many ladies. He sat in the
front part Of the last car.
This rs His Story:
"The train was going at a lively rate
of speed. The passengers appeared a
happy crowd, many of them ladies,
chatting and laughing after a DAYS
pleasure at the Berks county fair. [
was viewing the country through which
we were passing when suddenly there
was a terrible crash. | was hurled
from my seat, while the cars
rolled down the twenty-foot en-
bankment, and ! was thrown from one
side of the car to the other like boy,
when, splash, one end went into the