The Lamar register., 1890-10-25
COLLISION IN A TUNNEL.
Six Victim. of . Railroad sm..h-up.

Six Victims of a Railroad Smash-up.
CINCINNATI. o., Oct, pa disas-
trous collision occurred at 40 o'clock this
morning on the Cincinnati Southern rail-
way in a tunnel quarter OF mile north
Of Sloan's Valley station. between freight
In the mos, hopeless. place hat train
men ever meet death, the enfneA of thS
two trains dashed into eacT orhcx carr
following To add to the horror 4onitaS
grafton broke out .i'il Il q
Firemen Gould and Welsh, Brakeman
John E. Montgomery, Express Messenger
Edward Ruffner and the mail neestSSAre
killed. Engineer Taylor. of ths passenger
train, and NJ. d. Pimlott, of the freight,
were badly burned. and Baggasemzs-er
Long was severely injured.
No passengers were killed.
Engineer John PimIott died this after
noon, making SIX victims OF the tunnel
collision.
The best story of the accident and the at
tendent scenes is told by J. ID. Brennan,
the messenger OF the United States Ex-
press company, who came in on the train
which arrived after 10 O'Clock tonight
/ Mr.. Brennan's story is that a freight
wreck last night ut Elihu, two miles south
of Somerset, Ky, kept back south bound
passenger trains Nos. 9 and for over two
hours at Somerset and caused the north
bound freight train No % to make a loug
wait at Sloan's Valley, a station few
hundred yards south of the fatal tunnel,
which is known as tunnel No. 5, The in
structions to train No. - were to wait at
Sloan's valley till passenger trains Nos. Q
and passed.
The crew of No. - all went TO sleep.
John Pimlott, the engineer walked in time
to see that passenger train No. . had lust
gone by. He assumed that it was No. ),
and deeming the road clear, went on.
Tunnel No. is lined with wood and is
about 900 feet long. It's mouth entrance
is curved and the north approach to it is
one of the steepest grades on the road and
it is also curved Down this steep grade
thuudered the fated passenger train No. 5,
with its ,raiu of five cars and ffty passen-
gers First after the locomotive was the
mail car, next the combined express and
baggage car, then in succession the
smoker, the ladies' car aud the Pullman
sleeper. Within hundred feet of the
tunnel the crash came. The Pullman car
OF the passenger train was outside the
tunnel. Only the Pullman and the ladies
car were saved, passengers and train men
pushing them back up the track. A few
of the freight cars We're detached and
rolled out down the grade 10 the south
end of the tunnel. All the others were
destroyed and several bodies were burned
10 ashes in the furnace.
Here is story of heroism that has not
been told. The hero,s name Express Mes
senger Brennan had forgotten, but he
was station agent at Somerset.
"Well, this brave man heard the cries OF
George Long in the baggage car. Seizing
an ak he cut u hole in the side Of the car
and drew him out from under pile of
trunks and boxes. In the express com
partment of the same car the voice Of +.
p. Rufiner, the express messenger OF the
United States Express Company, was
heard. He was scorched by the approach
ing flames. Runner was walking around
there unscathed, but il 4 death prison.
The brave rescuer, ready to sacrifice his
own life in the effort to save another. kept
on cutting away with his axe, his own
clothing singed by the fire, the ho; air
consuming his strength and his blows get
ting feebler at every. stroke. Runner,
doomed in his prison, shouted to him to go
away.
Save yourself if YOU can. ! an Ed
Ruffner of Cincinnati. My home is 40
West Fourth street. Go and tell my fam-
lily goodbye Tell them that you did all
man could do to save my life. Now
don't stay here a second longer. Go, or
you will burn up with the rest of US.
The unnamed hero staggered out, and,
reaching the open air, fell down exhausted