Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-02-22
MIRACULOUS ESCAPE
FROM AR4IIROAD HORROR on THE PITTSBURG
DIVISION OF THE B. & 0.
The 6iO ?. m. Express Comes to Grief on a Iresas,
Saturday Nighi-lhe Engineer Fatally
Hurt and The Engine Mashed.

The 6:1O D. m. train on the Pittsburg
division of the b. & o., which is SEIZED
Uled to leave this city at that hour, but
which was forty minutes late, Saturday
evening, met with an accident on the big
treStle at Whitehall, twelve miles out Of
PittSburg, which came perilOusly near
costing scores Of lives. AS it was, En-
gineer Mahan was fatally hurt, Fireman
Charles Lindsey badly crippled, and the
engine went over the trestle, being
mashed and twisted past any future
usefulness. Only the breaking Of a
coupling prevented the rest Of the train,
well filled with passengers, from fol-
lowing.
The train consisted Of engine 40, two
day coaches, a chair car and mail and
baggage car. When the grade Just this
side OF Whitehall Was struck the speed
was about thirty-tiye miles an hour. AT
the foot Of the grade is a sharp curve,
aud Just beyond it a 3OO-foOt trestle,
carrying the track over a ravine forty
feet deep. Just as the train rounded
the curve, the engine struck big stone
which had rolled down the hillside onto
the track. The engine at once reared
up, breaking the coupling 10 the ten
der. and left the track, while the tender
I'm turn broke loose from the baggage
car, the whole outfit tearing on 70 the
treStle.
When the engine reached the trestle
proper 10 seemed TO stop suddenly, ana
plunged down the embankment. The
train grinding out flashes Of fire from
the rails, swept by it safely, being
stopped by the air-brakeS at the other
end Of the treStle.
As the engine toppled over Engineer
Mahan was thrown out. He was SOUND
some forty feet away from the engine
in the deep ravine. He was unconscious
when found. Part OF his clothing and
one OF his overshoes were found some
fifty feet away from him. The engine
was crushed into mass OF warped aud
shattered iron.
When the engine stopped before its
plunge into the ravine ii threw Fire
man Lindsey high into the air through
the cab roof. lie alighted on the EN-
bankment. His shoulder was dlslo-
Gated and he was otherwise injured.
He was taken to his home in Glenwood.
The engineer was taken TO the Hom9-
pathic Hospital in PittSburg. Both are
single. The tender left the track when
the train stopped on the trestle, aud
plunged into the chasm below, without
taking any Of the cars with 1t, making
3 second miraculous escape.
The passengers were Mortified. They
knew something had happened, and for
a time all were unable to move. They
finally attempted 10 leave the train, but
were stopped by the train men, who
Notwithstanding their fright were able
10 control the panic-stricken ones.
After the first fright passed OIL the pas
sengers left the train and busted them
selves In arranging for the safety OF all.
Fires were built in the rear and In front
of the Inflated train to prevent other
trains from approaching. Another en-
CINE was sent 70 the scene and the train
was brought to PittSburg.
The groans of Mahan when he was
tenderly carried into the parlor car, Il
bleeding, unconscious mass OF flesh,
were sufficient 20 Sicken the lady occu-
pants, who waited in suspense for the
renewal OF the journey. DR.. Schultz,
Of Whitehall, was summoned by man
who made his way over the hills by the
light of a torch. He said II was mirac-
ulous that the man ever lived moment
after his tremendous plunge down the
mountain side. He gave IL as his
opinion that Mahau had cut a short
time to live. He has since died.
The accident is announced by rail-
road men and travellers to be one OF the
most marvellous ever known to them.