The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1891-04-23
MANGLED MORTALS.

MANoLED MoRTALs.
Two Lake Shore Trains Collide Near
Norwalk, o., and Nine Lives Arc Lost
Several Persons Badly Hurt.
CLEVELAND, O., April 20.-A fright
full wreck occurred on the Lake Shore
railroad at Kipton station, 40 miles
west OF Cleveland, early Saturday
evening, in which six postal clerks,
two engineers and fireman were
killed. The fast mail, No. IA,
bound east, collided with No. 81, the
Toledo express, just as the latter train
was about to pull on the siding to let
the fast mail pass. The fast mail was
running at full speed, and the force of
the collision was so great that both
engines, three mail cars and one bag
gage car were completely wrecked.
Following is the list of the dead:
Edward Brown, engineer Of No. 81, of Toledo,
O.; Charles Toplin, engineer of No. H. Of To-
ledo, O.; F. J. Nugent, postal clerk, of Toledo.
O.; Charles Hammill, postal clerk, Of Elyria,
O.; F. e. Clemens, postal clerk of Cleveland,
O.; John ]. Bowerfine, postal clerk, of Elyria,
O.; James Mckinley, postal clerk, of Conneaut,
o.; c. II. Mcdowell, postal clerk, of Elyria, O.
Staley, fireman No. IA.
The injured are: Abram Dereamer,
passenger; Charles Darcy, railroad
employee; Klinefelder, express mes
senger.
Abram Dereamer, farmer living
near Kipton, was the only passenger
hurt. He was standing on the plat
form when the collision occurred, and
his skull was fractured. He may recover
Charles Darcy, son of the section
bass, was standing on the depot plat
form and was badly hurt about
the head. His skull is supposed to be
fractured. Express Messenger Kline
fielder, of Cleveland, O., was badly hurt
about the legs and may die. The loss
to the railroad company will not fall
short of 100000. None of the passen-
ger cars left the track and but one pas
senger received serious injuries.
1t was the custom for these two trains
to pass at Kipton, the Toledo express
taking the side track for the fast mail,
which usually went through Kipton
without slackening it's speed. The
Toledo express was a few min
utes late and had just come to
stop at the switch when the fast mail
came in sight. There is scarcely any
curve at the station, but on one side of
the track was a line of freight cars and
on the other the station. These might
have INSTRUCTED the vision of the
engineer of the fast mail. He ap-
piled the air brakes when he saw that
collision was inevitable, but the
speed of the train was not checked ma
terially.
The engine of the Toledo express was
knocked squarely across the track, and
that of the fast mail reared in the air,
resting on top of the other The fast
mail consisted of three mail cars
and two parlor cars, and the Toledo
express of five coaches and two
baggage cars. The first and second
mail cars were telescoped and smashed
to kindling wood, and the third crashed
into the first two and rolled over on
the station platform. breaking the win
dows of the building. The two bag
gage cars on the Toledo express
were knocked from the track,
but did not turn over. The force
of the collision was so great that
of the sixty-four revolving chairs in the
two parlor cars only four remained at
tached to the floors, all the others be-
ing broken and hurled about in confu-
sion. The passengers were thrown to
the floor and badly shaken, but none
were seriously injured.
The passengers of the two trains at
once began the work of rescue, and,
"ith a corps of physicians from the
town, ministered to the few who were
injured. The bodies of the dead were
all horribly crushed and mutilated,
arms and legs being torn off, and the
corpses were almost beyond recogni-
ton.
Charles Topiff, the engineer of the
fast mail, remained bravely at his post
and was found with his hand on the
throttle, dead. His hands and face
were so badly scalded that the black
ened flesh dropped from the bones
when his body was taken out. Fireman
Stanley, OF the fast mail, jumped from
the train and escaped with a broken
leg and dislocated shoulder The doc
tors say he will recover
The poor postal clerks had not a
chance to escape. They were Gagged
like rats and the telescoping of the cars
crushed the life out of them without a
moments notice.
1t is difficult to locate the blame for
the accident as both the engineers are
dead. 1t is said however, that No. 81
was ordered to stop at Oberlin but
Went on to Kipton, which is 6 miles
further west, and had not sufficient
time to make the side track