The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-08-05
A TALE OF HORROR.
THE COLLISION BETWEEN THE
FRENCH EXCURSION TRAINS.

Fully 200 Persons Killed or Injured
Many Slowly Roasted to Death and
Others Misunderstanding Scenes.
PARIS July 26.-A terrible railway
accident occurred today near the vii
liage Of Saint Mande, in the department
OF the Seine. Two excursion trains
col:ided, owing to some error on the
part of the driver of one OF the trains.
Both were loaded with people for holi-
day. The collision was followed by
scene of frightful confusion. Three
carriages were utterly wrecked, and
many persons were crushed and injur-
ed ia the ruins. About fifty were res
cued, more or less hurt. Owing to the
greatness Of the canfusion, the extent
OF the calamity is not yet known. Later
adviceS show that of the sixty injured
in the collision, forty are dead, includ-
ing two children mangled beyond rec
ognitton. Most OF the bodies recover
ed are without legs, through the seats
being jammed together and cutting off
their limbs. Twenty thousand people
assem- bled at the scene, including many
relatives of the injured and dead.
The scenes were most heartrending as
the victims were eXtTicated. The driver
and fireman Of the second train were
burned alive The station master, on
whose oversight the blameis now placed,
has, 1t is reported, gone mad and disap-
peared.
PARIS, July "a dispatch just re-
ceiyed from the scene Of last nights
fearful collision between excursion
trains near Sainte A1ande represents
the accident as having been of a more
distressing character than at first ap-
peared. After the fearful crash the
train caught fire, and those unfortun-
ates who were hopelessly Wedged in the
debris Were slowly roasted. Many of
the poor creatures were so placed that
for many agoniZing moments they were
forced to look upon death remorseleSS-
ly burning its way to them. All that
humanity could do to eXtricate them
from a situation not to oe described by
language was done, but in most in
stances to no avail. The awe-stricken
multitude were forced to stand help
lesSly by and listen to the awful din
made by the cracking flames, the fall
ing iron work of the burning cars, and
the shrieks. means and prayers of the
doomed. Occasionally a voice would
raise itself above the tumult, supplicat-
ing the merciful to kill the unhappy
speaker and put him out of pain. In a
number Of instances men and women
We're seen laughing. gibbering, and
flingiug their arms wildly about. Fea'
had dethroned their reasons.
The engine Of the rear train tele-
scoped the last three cars of the train
ahead, and almost instantly the reser-
yoir in which the gas was stored ex-
ploded with terrific force. The wreck
age then caught fire. 4 half hour
elapsed after the outbreak of the flames
before the last 1aint cry Of agony was
stilled in death. Fully two hundred
persons are known to have been killed
or injured.
1t now appears that in addition to the
other horrors of the collision, the death
by drowning of many OF the imprisoned
passengers is to be added, Forty min.
utes elapsed before the p0npiers were
able to obtain water. When, however,
they did SO, they poured torrents upon
the wreck, and seemed to be utterly un-
aware that they were drowning half of
the people whom they were trying to
rescue
An awful spectacle is presented at
the town hall of Sainte Mande, where
the charred and terribly disfgured
bodies of the dead lie in rows upon the
floor and upon tables. In some cases
the remains are but little more than a
heap of cindefs.
PARIS, July 2S.-The Marquis and
Marchioness of Montferrat were among
the victims of the Sainte Mande disas-
ter. An artillery lieutenant climbed
upon the burning railway carriage to
rescue a young woman. Both the lieu
tenant and the young woman fell into
the burning mass and were consumed
PARIS, July 27.-An official state
ment of the dead and wounded in the
railway accident at Sainte Mande, Sun
day, places the number of dead at -or-
ty-three and of Injured l04.