The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1892-02-11

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fhrss Saline 0ssttsnen were


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Sunday morning the "Kansas City
Hummer" - the fast express on the
Alton 10 termed. left CentIalia, No.,
about one hour late. The engineer
Chris. Adeim.n opened the throttle,
and - the sleeping car porter put 1t,
I'VE run JUS - fast Is steam and
the Lord would let u.s." In order to
make up lost time, - the track was
straight, and no stops ahead. Five
miles west of Centralia, Is the Lar
rabee siding, on which . freight
train hid pulled to let the Express
pass. The superstition Is that the
brakeman did not elose the switch
after the freight had backed on the
siding, and the Express dashed In on
the siding ut the rate Of 81 miles an
hour, and the two engines met. The
Express backed the freight far
enough to let the entire train en- to
the siding, after which IL Is suppos-
ed the guilty brakeman, realizing
his mistake quickly shut the switch,
- it was closed when inspected soon
after the accident. Three men were
killed, and two very badly injured,
besides giving the passengers
severe shock.
On board the train In one Of the
sleepers, were F. NJ. Hamilton, &. c.
Culp and E. Z. whittemore, Of Sa-
lima, and they all say that IL hardly
seems possible that the loss OF life |
was 80 small, as 1t WAS one Of the |
most frightful wrecks ever wit
messed.
The engineer Of the Express Chris.
Adelman has been on the Alton for
% years, and came out Of this wreck
with broken bones, but he will live.
The following account OF q former
accident that he averted is told rs
follows In his own words:
81 was coming west from Rood
house one dark night early In the
S0s, }" said Adelman, "when I had an
experience that almost turned my
hair gray. The sky was covered with
clouds 50 that l could not see my
hand before me in the cab unless the
furnace door was open. Everything
ran smoothly until we neared the
VI Mississippi river at Louisiana Then
! strange fear came over me. You've
heard OF these strange fears, haven't
you? Well, they're not always
lotion. As we raced down the
trade toward the river | felt that
was going to happen aud
10 my lookout was more careful than
usual. But the night was so dark
hat the headlight only aggravated
ny eyes. We came To the bridge
approach In q quarter of an hour.
At Pearl they told us that all was
lear ahead, but for a reason that /
an never explain I did not believe
hat IL was SO. We whistled for the
ridge aud then / slowed her down
o creep for the crossing. We al
Ways went very slow over that
ridge, but this night I went easier
han ever. 1 kept q sharp lookout
head. knew that the river was
Ugh, but the bridge was q good one.
lain had been threatening and for I
en- minutes there had been rum
lings OF thunder aud small flashes OF
Ightning. The thunder increased | 1
nd as we crept along the lightning ,
ashed more. There was q heavy
cal close Oh vivid flare which al
lost blinded me. But i'm the flash {
bought that / saw something wrong I
d the shadows ahead. The engine r
rept ahead q few feet further and :
hen stopped her and got down on
he step. | was trembling like a
,af. The fireman came after me
nd we waited for another lightning
ash. When It came my fireman
elled:
"'Great God, Chris! The bridge !
gone
I'VE walked five yards ahead on 9
ne plank In the center Of the track.
hat was as far ~ We could go. The
enter span Of the bridge was not \
lerel can't tell you how I back v
off on to ground again. I don't i
anything. IL I live to be
, old as the oldest OF the Bibles q
atriarchs shall always shudier h
hen let my mind go back to the
loment I realized that that span =.
as gone, while five cars of innocent
eepers stood on the remaining !.
pans for me to put back on TO land I"
gain. thought the whole thing
ould go before we could make it." q