The Indianapolis journal., 1890-02-26
Remarkable and Fatal Accident on the
E.&T. III. Railroad Near Vincennes.
An Engine Plunges Into Swollen Greek While
Running Forty Niles an Hour. but the Cars
Leap the Fifty-Foo: Chasm in Safety.
Engineer Fireman Pini0ned Beneath
the Wreck, and Several Persons Hurt.
Body of One Victim Recovered-The Accident
Due to the Carrying Away of Trestle-
Damage by Floods in Southern Indiana.
PLUNGED INTO AN ABYSS.

PLUNGED INTO AN ABYSS.
Engineer and Fireraan Killed and Several
Passengers Hurt On the e. &T. H. Road.
Special TO the Indianapolis Journal.
VINCENNEs, Feb. 25.-An Evansville g.
Terre Haute railroad passenger train met
q bad accident near here this morning. The
Chicago and Nashville express. north
bound, No. 6. due here at 3:25, left the union
station about three-quarters of an hour
late. and when it had reached speed of
fully forty miles an hour the engine went
into an abyss at Snaps creek. about
mile and half north of the city. Snaps
creek at this point is about fifty feet wide
and spanned by trestle. This trestle was
washed away between midnight and
o'clock. leaving frightful chasm for the
train to plunge into. A wagon bridge just
above had washed away and carried the
railroad trestle with it.
The night was dark and the rain fell in
torrents. The engine disappeared in the
water and engineer Lyons and fireman
Louis Bowden with 1T. They were pin
ioned underneath the wreck at the bottom
of the swollen creek, and were hurried into
eternity almost before they had time to
realize the awful calamity that was upon
them. The baggage car, smoking car and
passenger car followed with the velocity of
the wind. Two of them jumped clear of
the fifty foot chasm and landed at the side
of the track beyond. right side up and
against q barbed-wire fence. The ladies'
coach was not SO fortunate, as the front
end went down, struck the stone abutment
and stopped. The sleeper remained On the
south side of the creek and was not dam
aged, and the eight or ten passengers with
and bad fright.
There were about thirty people on board,
as near as conductor Cooley could tell, but
all escaped with small injuries. A. T.
Pedigo, of Glasgow, KY, en- route to Max
ton, Ind, was internally injured and
bruised about the legs and breast. Mr.. j.
Wiseman, of Danville, Ill, was injured
about the arm and wrist from broken
glass. A lady, whose name is unknown,
was cut in the head. Baggage-master w.
r. Cole was injured about the legs and
face and bruised H. H. Putnam, of Min
neapolis, Mimi. was cut in one eye and in
the face. T. j. Lavelle. of Washington.
Ind, had his back sprained, and Peter
CLARK, of Washington. Ind, was badly cut
and skinned. The dead are:
ENGINEER AL LYONS, Evansville. killed in
FTRkMANLoUIsB BowDEN, Evansville. killed
instantly.
If such thing as miracle is possible,
this should 90 down in railroad history as
sc ol 1,xk1
stream. The terrific storms of last night
had flooded the country in that region and
filled the creek until it overfowed the rail-
road, washing away both road bridges and
the railroad trestle-work. This washout
must have occurred after 12 o'clock. as
train No. 5, due here at 1885, passed south
in safety. When the crash came it was as
if the earth had opened to swallow them
up. The locomotive went Kissing from the
cars, swapping asunder with loud report,
and the coaches were thrown with a mighty
power over and beyond the dangerous pit.
Thousands of spectators rushed to the
scene. and the marvel among them all was
how the people escaped. The weight of the
engine carried it down, and the unlucky en-
gineer and fireman had no chance to save
themselves.
The body of the fireman was not found
till Q O'clock this afternoon, beneath the
water. He was a young man who was to
have been married in q few days.
A. I. Pedigo. of Glasgow. KY, perhaps
had the most thrilling experience. He was
in the ladies' coach when the disaster Oo-
CURED. and rushed to the end of tho coach
to get out. The door refused to open, and
he dashed out a window glass and jumped
through into the creek below, which was
fifteen feet Deep He kept his presence of
mind and swan for his ife and catching
hold of an object in the dark, swung him.
self upon tho embankment, wet through.
He sfterward made his way to the sleeper,
which was unharmed, and was cared for.
No trains have been run On this line all
day. Engineer Lyons's body cannot be
found in spite of efforts made to-day in that
direction. Fireman Bowden's body was
found at 8 O'clock this afternoon.
A similar disaster was this morning
averted on the Indianapolis e. Vincennes
railroad by q small boy, who tagged o
north bound passenger train at O'clock at
q bad washout, two miles north of this city.
Engineer Lyons had been on the road for
twenty-eight years, and was about fifty
eight years old. Louis Bowden was a son
of the late superintendent. NJ. Bowden,
who died two years ago.