St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-01-22
JUMPED The TRACK.
An Omaha Train Strikes a
Broken Rail Near
Hamilton.
The Passengers, With One EX-
ception, Escape With
81 light Injuries.
First Regiment officers Elect
1t. Col. Reeves to the
Coloneley.
Minnesota Institutions as
Compared With Those Of
Other States.

A railroad wreck, fortunately free
from loss of life or serious injury to pas
sengerS, occurred yesterday morning
near Hamilton, at point twenty miles
west of st. Paul on the Chicago, st.
Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha railway.
Omaha passenger train No. ., known as
the Kansas City train, coming to st.
Paul, struck broken rail at 7:20. The
tirSt-class coach and four sleeping cars
were derailed. Two of the sleepers
were thrown ON their sides and badly
damaged. The other two, together
with the first-clasS coach, will need eX
tensive repairing. The Kasota sleeper
Tracy ran over the ties about 260
feet and landed thirty-fve feet from the
right of way in hay field. but it kept
side up. The Sioux City sleeper was
thrown on its side with one end across
the track. The Omaha sleeper was also
on its side close to and parallel with the
main track. The Kansas City sleeper
was thrown partly on It's side. The
first-clasS coach was off the track but
not turned over. There were thirty
four passengers in the sleeperS and the
coach was reasonably we'll filled. The
passengers were remarkably quiet in
view of the great danger they
were passing through. and only
one. DR.. j. f. Blackwell,
required the services of a physician.
He had been sitting up on account Of
being i'll, and was thrown against the
side of berth. His hip was bruised,
though not very seriously, and he suf-
fered from the effects Of the shock. The
smoker. baggage and mail cars brought
f,,tf, o,,1 81.
o'clock, where DR.. Blackwell was at
tended at the Merchants hotel by Drs.
Murphy and HOyt, who soon placed him
out of danger. HIS wife and child had
accompanied him from Salt Lake City.
When the accident happened no cries
were heard, although there were sew
eral ladies in the wreck, and some of
them were pinned down for a time by
the debris. The porter of the ''Tracy''
sleeper freed himself from the mass of
bedding that had covered him, and,
crawling over the berths, he put out the
lights before they set fire to the car.
He received a slight cut across the
hand.
Gen. Supt. w. A. Scott, of the Omaha
line, gave the particulars of the acct
dent when called upon. He said: 'Our
reports show that the break was in
sixty pound section of steel rail, and
the fact that so few passengers sus-
tanned injuries is largely owing to the
fact that on the Hamilton bottoms the
level of the ground is about level with
the tracks. We feel very thankful that
so little injury was caused and espe-
cially that no lives were lost.'
E. W. Johnson, agent for the Mer-
chants Dispatch, who was on the train,
said that while the experience was
startling, it was surprising how soon the
efforts to get the Imprisoned travellers
out OF danger were effective. The dam
age to the cars is estimated at about
$4,000. A wrecking crew was put at
work promptly, and the track was
cleared in the afternoon. Several of the
passengers, namely: G.. F. Sylvester,
ID. p. Hillson and Ansel Hecht, of New
York, together with c. E. Willard and
II. s. Penfield, of Chicago, reached the
Ryan hotel before dinner, and were
able to attend to business in the after
noon.