Sturgis advertiser. (Sturgis, Dakota [S.D.]) 1887-1???, 1891-08-06
IA STUPID i Z JOEy + !. Z
THE PRIZE fDTOCY OF AN OHIO
EXCURSIONiST.

ne Pulls the lsraIsc Cord on nm Ex-
eursion Train, Eansiils il Lelay Whtcf I
was relieved bv Ii FrightFul Galamity-
story 0f tbs wreck.
The wreck at Middletown, Ohio, on
the. Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton
| Railroad, was one OF the worst that have
ever happened In that vicinity. The
| National ash Register Company Of nay-
ton had given its employees an excursion
to Woodsdale, In train OF sixteen
coaches. The day had passed merrlly,
and everybody was Laughing and chat
ting WREN tho train reached Middle
! town ut o'clock on Its way home.
some one had turned the air brakes on
| for a Joke, and the engine was putting
| and wheeling to pull the heavy load with
| the brakes on. Pretty soon draW-bar
broke, and the train was stopped on the
siding at MiddletoWn for repairs Will
| lam G. Douglass, one Of the foreman OF
| the National Cash Register Works, tells
| this story OF the wreck:
| The train of fifteen crowded cars
| started on its return trip from WO ods-
aaie about o'clock and about an hour
| late the accident occurred at Middle-
| town. A drawbar about the middle OF
| the excursion train broke and they
| stopped at MiddletoWn to patch 1t up for
| the run to Dayton Brakemen were
| Immediately sent out with red flags to-
| flag the approaching train, and nearly
| half an hour was consumed in repairing
the disabled car. Red lights were not
| promptly changed to the rear of this,
| car, though the train was pulling CUB
| when the accident occurred at nearly s.
/ o'cIocls. The $50 men, women, and
/ children were in the last three coaches
and all knew that freight train Mo.
/ Al was following and they APP
| preciated and talked of their
| danger. Some of them called Com
/ ductor Teter G. Clancy's attention to
/ their peril and he cautioned them that
| if they heard train A coming they
should jump from the car. Five minis
utes later the awful disaster was upon
them The excursion was slowly creep.
| ing off the side-track when an ominous
/ roaring was heard from the expected
train No. "A, not over @ quarter of a
mile away. Nearer and nearer came
the monster mogul with thirty-fye
loaded cars, and when in sight Of Mid
dIetown Station Engineer Sehwind saw
| the fiagman waving the danger signal,
| and he Immediately called for brakesy
| shut off steam and applied the sand.
He saw that a collision was inevitable.
Then he and his fireman jumped and an
instant later the crash came-a rear-end
collision of mighty force.
The excursion train was pulling out on
to the main track and all but the two
rear coaches had left the siding when
the mogul engine with the heavy train
behind it went blowing through. The
two rear cars and human freight were
hurled into the ditch and the next coach
was struck fairly i'm the end, and the
locomotive, pushing under, elevated il
10 an angle Of forty-fiye degrees, and
there it stood, filed with shrieking peo-
pc This car caught fire, but Engineer
Schwind and his fireman were able to
extinguish the blaze by use of hose from
the locomotive. Two cars lay crushed
in the ditch with a mass of MANNED and
mangled people moaning in agony,
pleading for help. Rescuers set to work
at once to extricate them. Legs, arms
and heads could be seen through broken
windows or pinned under the wreck.
Means of the helpless sufferers
and means of the dying, min
gled with the frantic cries OF
mothers seeking husbands and chil4
dren. Many had been cut by glass and
the timbers In the rush to escape, and
bloody faces and hands bore CHASTITY tes1
timony to the great number who were
injured. Physicians and citizens OF
Middletown were soon at the scene to
join in rescuing the unfortunates The
terror-stricken excursionists were made
comfortable in the houses, the dead PERI
sons were properly cared for, and the in1
jured received all necessary attention.
A tramp named James Wilson, of Coz
lumbus, Ohio, who, with his two little
. | hovc having vidn ON hn
freight train, says he is railroader by
occupation and was on the third car
from the front when approaching Mid
dletown; that he plainly saw the red
lights swinging, and that the engineer
tried to stop the train but could not, and
} the heavy cars crowded him into the ex.
cnrSinn train