The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-12-18
MANGLED ON THE RAILS.
JAMES ALExANDER'S HORRIBLE
DEATH ON THE CENTRAL.
His Heel Catches in a Switch and He

His Heel Catches in a Switch and He
is Borne Down TO Death While
Struggling to Extricate Himself.
Alexaoder's Leg Crushed to a Pulp
and Wedged Between the Two Rails.
The Man Lives Twenty Minutes In
Terrible Agony.
Jonas Alexander, a colored switchman of
the Central railroad, was run over and
killed by engine No. 152 yesterday morning
at 10 o'clock, between the Vale Royal mills
and Hsrtshorn & Huger's guano factory, a
mile west of the city.
Alexander met most horrible death. He
had changed a switch for the engine and
took step backward to leave the track.
after waving Engineer John Waldron
ahead. As the switchman made the back
ward step his right heel caught between the
main rail and the fend rail and held him
fast. He tried to extricate himself but the
more he tried the tighter became the hold
on his foot.
Engineer Waldron put on the air brakes
at once and did everything possible to stop
his engine, but without avail
STRUGGLE AGAINST DEATH.
The scene was terrible one to Engineer
w dlOt duQ Tue rest OF tine crew.
Alexander, struggling to release himself
from the death embrace OF the rails, cried
out in agony to the engineer TO stop the
locomotive and save him, but although
Waldron strained every nerve TO accomplish
1t the distance was too short to more than
check the speed Of the engine. 1t was NOV
ing at the rate of about two miles an hour
when it struck Alexander.
The pilot of the engine bit Alexander
first and he fell full length along the rail
The front wheel was the only one which
passed over the unfortunate switchman. 1t
struck his foot first and ran the full length
Of the leg, crushing and weighing it between
the main and fend rails and coming off
across the stomach, tearing out the in
| testines.
FLESH ON THE RAILS AND WHEELS.
The engine was backed OFF Alexander as
quickly as possible, and sickening sight
met the eyes of the engineer and fireman as
they jumped of to assist the injured
switchmAn. Almost every particle Of
flesh was torn from Alexanders
leg and the bones were splintered into small
fragments. His shoe was cut from his foot,
half of which was gone. Bloody flesh was
clinging to the wheel Of the locomotive and
scattered along the rails and crossties.
Alexander was still alive, but it was found
impossible to remove him from the rails on
account Of the manner in which his leg had
been damned between them. Crowbars had
to be brought into use and the fend rail re-
moved before the unfortunate man could be
moved.
TWENTY MINUTES OF AGONY.
He lived Tor twenty minutes after the
accident suffering the most horrible tort
ures while the rail was being pried away
from his shattered leg.
Coroner Dixon was not notified of the ac-
cident until after l O'Clock, which shows
considerable neglect on the part Of some
body connected with the railroad. He
went out to the scene, and after examining
the body and the track where Alexander;s
foot was caught. postponed the inquest
until this morning. The body was removed
to the dead switchman's home, at No. 40
Pine street. Alexander was about 20 years
old and had only been employed on the
railroad for a short while.