Telegram-herald., 1891-10-22
INTO An OPEN SWITCH
A @. b. Z Q. Train pashes Into
One az Fun speed
GiLLlsG FOUR lyD HURTING YAyY
oz the Helpless PA.sssgers-Stsry az shs
Disaster as rsid by . tFassii.s Ma
-fsefdesis oafh~red Srsa the
Wrsek-Ihs Victlms

accident occurred on the Chicago. bur
lsng,on a Quincy main line miles
from this town at II O'Clock Tuesday
night when the 0maha ano Denver fast
express crashed into an open switch.
issssatly killing four persons and seri-
ously inlaring q score or more of
others The following are the killed:
Gesrse Courtney. foreman OF eRsiaeers. A.
A Emery. eagnver, Mrs Goorss Allen ot
Lamoai. Ia. e A. Johnson. Of Avon. III
The following persons were seriously
injured:
barg. Ia. scAidsa ane bruised; Jeha Durnes
Forres,on. M. married lost left arm; r. J.
Kirby. unmarried stock dealer. Of Lenox. u t.
leis arm OF, q w. Cooper. Corning. Ia. scslp
wound au3 hand injured; Lewis wigerS Of
Oakland. Sch.. bruised On left sias: Agnss
Miller. Brockssts. O.. Get over Jeff eye.
Eighteen others were slightly in
jurcd. No. 5. the iil-fated train, was
Made up Of two slevpcrs. three chair
cars, one smoker, one baggage car. ono
express and two mail cars. Al
6:Io Tuesday night she pulled
out of Chicago. The train had
been running at . high rate Of
speed when without q moments warn
ing. it was hurled of the rails and into
the empty freight cars standing on the
side track. All the cars except two
sleepers were overturned and COM
pletely rain cd. Those passengers who
were not injured were scared out Of
their scnxes. Women screamed and
tainted, and tho cries from among the
debris wcrc frightsul.
When the train left the main track
aud started on the siding Engineer
Emery revs rsed his engine and stuck
to his post but the engine left the
track after running few feet on the
siding. and aY of the seven cars. with
the exception of the rear one. . Pull.
man slsePer, went into the
ditch. e Engineer Emery, Travel.
ing Engineer Courtney and
Fircman Peter Anderson went
down with tho engine Tho two en-
ginecrs were killed instantly and the
fireman is probably fatally injured.
Those in the smoking car escaped with
their lives. Standing on the steps OF
the next car wese two students of He'd
ding college, Frank l.. johnson, Of
Avon, and ". r. Harding, of Abins-
don. They jumped and johnson was
killed by blow on the head from q
flying tim Der.
Ono of the saddest casualties oc-
Cured in the first chair car. George
Allen, his wife and baby were sitting
in the front OF the car when the wreck
occurred. MIRA Allen was thrown
against the window and killed. The
child was hurled across the car. but es-
caped injury. 1r. Allen was also un-
hurt, but heartbroken by the death Of
his wife.
George Courtney, the travelling en-.
gineer, was one of the oldest employees
of the road. TUESDAY night he boarded
the engine and took a seat by
the engineer to De how the loco
motive, which was a brand new one,
was working. His first work for
the road was done long before the
war, and probably no man on the di-
vision was more popular among the
men or honored with more con-
fidence by the company. Thera
were some remarkable escapes. Oscar
Zimmerman was pitched through the
window Of the smoking car aud was
unhurt A terrible scene and loss Of
life was prevented by the prompt &C.
ton of Baggageman John Dore, OF
Chicago. who cxtinguished the flames
that caught in tho car Immediately
after the crash.
The officials of the road claim that
the accident was caused by the mali
cious displacement of the switch
at the pottery works. They
say that some niscreant drew q
pin from the switch at this point.
After the accident the switch was
found partially thrown, with the pin
out Seven trains, however. had passed
over it ahead of No. 8 since the switch
was last used.