The Ohio Falls express., 1891-07-11
A FATAL BLUNDER.
It Causes a Horrible Railway Dis
aster in Ohio.
A Fast Freight Crashes Into Pas.
senger Train at Ravenna-Tw TwentY
Lives Lost-Many Persons Hurt.

! SONS were hInCQ thu AudIAy VI OhCAA
bodies burned to crisp, while between
thirty and forty others were badly in
| iured The list of dead, SO far as
known, is:
Thomas Venhill Corning, N. Y; David Reli
tan, Corning N. Y; William Kane, Brooklyn
| N. Y; Albert Gantrap. Corning n X; Henry
Gilday. Corning, N. Y; John Grif1n, Bostopi
Thomas Colville; nurse girl; #. HUFF, r. Burns
J. Demeen J. Coyle, A. Hardin, Lewis Kim
ball, w. Newcomb. ID. Ryan, D. Cassidy, P.
Nolan.
All but three of these were burned to
a crisp. The residences of the killed,
where not gi ven, are Corning. N. Y.
The fast express mo. 81 on the New
York, Lake Erie s. Western railroad,
bound for New York, while standing
at the depot waiting for orders was
| crashed into from the rear by freight
train. A day coach on the rear of the
train was completely telesccped and
/ two sleepers forward took fire
and were burned up. Many of the vic
Tins were so badly burned that they
are almost unrecognizab The freight
train that telescoped the express is the
dressed meat express from Chicago and
/
when it struck the passenger train.
The accident was due to carelessness in
/ leaving switch open.
The scene that followed the crash
/ was terrible in the extreme. The en-
| gine plowed its way, pushed on by the
| weight and momentum of the heavy
cars behind it, through the coach
es as if they were made of thin
/ boards Above the horrible grind
/ ing and crunching could be
heard the agonized shrieks of
| few seconds before were asleep.
| When the collision occurred those in
the rear cars were either instantly
killed, wounded or pinned down by
| portions of the demolished cars. Then
! the flames broke out and spread
with frightful rapidity. If the
accident had been awful before
| it was now an unequa1ed hor-
ror. The flames rushed through the
| debris and the shrieks of the manned
or pinioned could be plainly heard on
the night air. In the forward cars the
wounded and unharmed passengers
wreck They at once did all they could
to stay the flames and rescue the i'm
periled. But before this was done twenty
people were sacrificed, that many bod
les being taken out afterward. Most
of these mangled corpses were black
ened and burned in a manner sickening
| to look upon, some of them being roast
ed into unrecognizable masses. By
daylight twenty bodies had been car
ried out. How many more met death
is not known.
The express train was fOrty-six min
utes late and the engineer was trying
to remedy the fault in the engine when
the fasS freight was sighted in the
rear. A brakeman was sent
back, but the heavy freight
train of twenty-four cars could
not be stopped on the down
grade in time and it crashed into
the rear of the passenger train. The
rear coach contained forty-six passen-
gers, all glassworlxers, recently en-
ployed at the Richardson glass works
in Findlay, who were on their way to
their homes in New York state.
According to the story of one of the
railroad men, the express was very late
and was running on orders When the
stop was made at Ravenna the engineer
and fireman went to work to repair the
engine, and the train was detained sew
eral minutes A fagman was sent
back, but went only IL few feet-at
most two car lengths. Suddenly
around the curve-west of the city
came train No 50, composed of Swifts
meat cars. The train was running %
miles an hour and coming down heavy
grade. The engineer supposed he had
clear track, and it being
through train he was not expected
to stop at Ravenna He called for
brakes and reversed his engine, but all
to no purpose. On came the freight train
with but slightly decreased speed and
no word of warning could be given the
people in the doomed train The
engineer and fireman jumped, alighting
safely. moment more and the heavy
freight crashed into the passenger train.
The noise was heard for miles. For
moment after there was the silence
of death and then commenced the
most frightful cries ever heard.
The means Of the dying, the piteoua
cries for help from the imprisoned
and helpless passengers, and the mutt
lated and bloody remains of the dead,
seen through the fragments of the de-
bris, formed scene of horror no pen
can picture. The freight engine had
gone clear through a day coach in the
rear, through the sleeper and buried it
self in the second sleeper, the third car
of the train.
There was nothing left of the train
but a mass of debris, while the sides of
the third car stood about the monster
engine as if to hold it prisoner. This
scene lasted but moment when
tongues of fame sprang up here and
there and soon the wreck was wrapped
IN FIRE.