Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1891-07-10
Fifteen Killed, Many Injured.

ton, eight miles north of Charleston,
on the Kanawha and Michigan Rail
road, last Saturday morning. Fifteen
persons were killed, several others
fatally injured, while probably fifty
others were more or less badly hurt.
Train No. 1, consisting of engine, bag
gage car and two passenger coaches
left Charleston at 1926 a. III.
There is trestl= at Farm Station
about thirty-five feet high. This tres
tie caught fire sometime during the
night from u cause at present not
known, but probably from cinder
from an engine passing about mid
night. While the bridge was not con
sulned, its foundations were so badly
damaged as to render it unsafe to
cross. No notification OF the fact was
given, however, and the train, the
first Of the day, attempted to cross IT
as usual. The engine, tender, and
baggage car passed over safely, but
the two coaches went through. En-
gineer Pat O'Connor seemed to realize
the situation and pulled open the
throttle in the hope of pulling all
over safely, but it was too late. Both
coaches were crowded and scarcely
The coaches were filled with passen-
gers, most of whom were laboring
people out for holiday in the coun-
try. The Order Of United American
Mechanics was Ell route to Poca to
spend the day, many of them accom-
panied bv their wives. Many OF the
passengers were employees of the rail
way company going to their homes
nj, tha limo n Snnn1 the holiday
The train was passing over treStle
when there came crash. Inc
coaches rocked and shook, women
screamed and stout men turned pale
with fear. A moment more and
fearful plunge was made. The for
ward passenger car rolled down the
approach to the trestle, turned COM
pletely and rested right side up ten
feet below the track. The other car
rolled over the edge, turned bottom
up and fell twenty feet below the
track. In the terrible fall many per-
sons were crushed and bruised, bat,
to add to the horror, the rear truck,
which remained on the track, fell over
on top of the car, crushing everything
under it and killing nearly every per-
son who was in that portion of the
was pulled out through the window,
most Of them horribly mangled.
Nearly all the dead were cut or
bruised about the head. Immediately
after the wreck relief trains were sent
out with physicians from st. Adams
and Charleston, who did all in their
power to relieve the sufferings of the
injured. A dozen corpses lying in a
nf than thp time NOT,
identified, was the first sight the relief
party saw. A few steps further half
dozen men We're met carrying another
body to add to the list across the
creek, where the wreck occurred.
The injured and the dying lay in
groups in the open field. The means
of the wounded, mingled with the
cries of those who had lost friends,
caused stoutest hearts to quail.
The four uninjured Engineer
O'Connor, Fireman Wyatt, Fireman
Armitage and Passenger Norvell-
together with such of the wounded
as were able, worked uobly to aid
their unfortunate companions, and
with the aid of the country people,
who flocked to their assistance, all
were soon extricated from the car. 1t
was necessary to cut the car away to
| get at them.
One of the most pathetic incidents
of the accident was that OF the ami
hilation of the Welcher family. Mr..
Welcher, his wife and little child were
on their way to Point Pleasant to
visit friends, being their first trip out
side of the city for years. Mr.. Wei
cher and his wife were both killed,
and the babe of two years old was
bruised and its little fingers cut off.
1t never whimpered, and its great
blue eyes never shed u tear as the sur
geons dressed its wounds. 1t was
placed close to its dead mother and
pressed its little hand close to her
cold blood-stained cheek. Those who
stood by could not repress the tears,
and the little one knew not how to
shed them.
John Norwell, the only passenger
who escaped unhurt, had gone into
the mail car to speak with the mail
agent when the shock came. First,
he says, there was a jar and Jolting
and he knew they had jumped the
track. He instantly seized one of the
rods and hung on for life. In an in
slant the mail car was jerked back on
the track, and then with crash the
coaches broke loose and swung off
over the edge of the trestle. The jar
burst all the windows and doors of
the mail car, but its occupants were
unhurt. Immediately be and the
trainmen who were unhurt rushed
below to the wrecked cars. There
were so many in the train and so few
to help them that it seemed almost
impossible to do anything, nor was
there anything to bind the wounds.
He went to the county poorhouse
near by and got bandages and then
commenced to use them. John Is.
White, who was among the hardest
workers among the wounded, says 1t
was the most horrible work he ever
did. He held one woman, an ac-
quaintance, for some ten minutes
while the physician forced her mouth
open to pour stimulants down, before
he recognized her. One physician is
reported as saying he preferred any
battlefield he ever saw to this, as far
as the horror of it was concerned.
The following is list of the killed:
Colonel w. E. Fife, of Buffalo, w. Va;
n n. Wilson, Gallipolis, Ohio; Charles
Hoffman, Blue Creek, w. Va. Jasper
Deugherty, New Martinsville, w. Va;
Walter Welcher, Elk City, w. Va;
Mrs. Walter Welcher, Elk City, w.
Va; Miss Ella O'Leary, Middleport,
Ohio; Amos Coulter, Elk City, w.
Va; Orville Robinson, Midway, w.
Va. Thomas Thornton, Conductor of
X. & NJ. Railroad, Middleport, Ohio;
Polly Sullivan, Hampton, W. Va; l..
C. Rose, Blue Creek, w. Va; Mrs:
Mary Wall, Elk City, w. Va; Jud
White, Middleport, Ohio.
Those fatally injured were: Will
Ford, Elk City; james Blackwood,
Athens, Ohio; Mrs. r. S. Truslow,
Charleston.
On Tuesday ex-Gov Wilson entered
suits against the company in the cir
cult court aggregating $50 600 for the
executor of Walter Welcher and wife,
who were killed in the wreck; also
for j. L. Stone and Maria l.. Henson,
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