The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-09-27

"
n. H, head cut and bruised.
Fireman Walker, scalded and bruised.
Albert Moulton, London, Eng, leg
broken.
The Work of Relief.
1t is estimated that fully thirty per-
were killed. The crew of the freight
train was the first to offer assistance of
any kind to the imprisoned passengers.
Fire started from the engines, but the
freight crew soon extinguished it.
Issuing from the debris came groans
and means of agony. The freight crew
and the passengers from the rear sleep
ers worked heroica1ly to extricate the
victims who were pinioned under the
wreckage. The bodies as fast as they
were removed We're taken to the sta
ton, a distance of seventy-five rods,
where they were laid out in a row, pre-
senting a weird sight. The injured were
removed to the interior OF the depot
where the hastily summoned physicians
from about the near country worked
faithfully to relieve the pain and suffer-
ing of the victims. A display of true
heroism was shown on the part of Con-
ductor Coultas of the passenger train,
who was pinned under the wreckage.
When relief arrived he told his would-be
rescuers to let him alone, he was all
right. but to help get out the others. He
lived a short time after having been re-
moved. Such men are a credit to our
country.
Hero and Heroine.
A telegram received here early this
morning called for four or five physicians
to go TO the scene OF the wreck. DR..
C. w. Sparhawk of West Roxbury,
Mass, was the hero and Miss Fairbanks
the heroine of the hour. The latter is a
trained nurse and her knowledge of sur
gerry came into good play. She followed
the doctor in his directions and rendered
indispensable assistance to their travelling
companions.
A troupe known as DR.. Barbados mu-
steal boys, who were TO have given an
exhibition this evening in the Epworth
rooms, just outside the fair gates, were
aboard the train. The manager, ]. B.
Wookey, was badly injured. One of the
boys, aged twelve years, was killed and
two others received serious injuries.
They were in the fated smoker which
was torn into kindling wood. Mayor z.
Warden and wife of waltham, Mass,
were aboard the train, but were not in
jured.
Marvellous Escape.
A young married couple tell Of their
most startling escape. They were in the
first day coach and Immediately after
feeling the crash they slid on to the
floor, which was the only thing which
saved their lives as the telescoped end
of the forward car was pushed back,
taking the top Of the seat which they
had occupied. If they had remained in
their seats their heads would have been
torn from their bodies.
William Seidel of San Francisco was
one Of the only two who escaped from
the fated smoker without receiving seri-
Gus injuries. He does not know how it
happened, but he was awakened from a
sound slumber by violently striking the
ground. Upon opening his eyes he found
himself lying upon the bank by the side
of the track, fully seventy-five feet from
where the car he had shortly before oc-
cupied. lay torn in atoms. He received
slight scratches and cuts.
The passengers who were uninjured
were conveyed to the farm houses round
about where they were fed and given
all the comfort which hospitable homes
could offer. Both engines are total
wrecks. The one attached to the freight
was backed up into a freight car, COM
pletely demolishing it. The boiler of the
freight engine telescoped that of the pas
senger engine. A pair Of wheels from
the passenger engine were thrown a dis
lance of fully seventy rods into a field.
A relief train arrived from Chicago about
II O'Clock and conveyed the injured and
uninjured passengers into that city.
Who Is to Blame:
Who is to blame for this most horrible
butchery cannot as yet be determined.
The accident occurred just at daylight.
The first section OF the train carried sig
nails and why they were not seen by
the freight crew has not as yet been
made known. The brakeman who opened
the switch cannot be wholly blamed as
he was acting under orders, but he can
be censured for not closing the switch
as he must have been aware of the ap-
proach Of the passenger train in time to
avert the accident.
At the MOrEue.
When the undertakers arrived the
bodies were removed to Masonic hall
in the village. This was the morgue,
and here friends and bereaved ones
wept over bodies which had been cruel
" mangled. Here lay, side by side, the
engineer and conductor of the Inflated
train. Strong men wept as they looked
upon the long line OF bodies outside
the building. An immense crowd surged
back and forth, the silence being broken
only by the muffied sobs and the cries
of those whose souls had been tortured
by the dread visitation Of death. At
the depot far different scenes were en-
acted. The wounded, those not able to
help themselves, were being tenderly
cared for Bedclothing had been brought
from houses near at hand, and one end
OF the platform was soon covered with
beds. Dispatches to Chicago brought a
relief train, and shortly before noon the
uninjured and those able to be removed
were taken into the city, where better
attention was given them.
Arrival of the Special.
For several hours before the arrival