The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1893-05-11

LAFAYETTE, Ind, May. SAN awful
railroad accident, attended by appalling
loss of life and destruction of property,
occurred in this city a7few minutes af-
ter o'clock Sunday morning.
The fated train was the Big Four
lightning express, bound from Chicago
to Cincinnati, due at the latter place
about Z o'clock in the morning. The
exact cause of the accident will never
be known, as the only two men who
could shed any light on that subject,
the fireman and engineer, are both
dead.
The conditions of curve and grade
were such as to contribute to the dimen-
sions of the disaster. For distance of
two and a half or three miles west of
the city heavy grade of fifty feet to
the mile leads to the bridge that spans
the Wabash river. Leading up to the
bridge on the west there is curve. and
once across the bridge there is another,
the latter exceedingly abrupt. Travel
ers east-bound and others whose duties
took them to the station, were made
aware before the crash came that some
thing was wrong,
Two miles up the hill the engineer
whistled for the brakes. A few seconds
later the call was repeated. The train
appeared, approaching at lightning
speed and as the roar rapidly increased,
and the call for brakes was repeated
again and again, the people at the sta
ton glanced at one another nervously,
nd some edged away. In an incon-
ceivably short time. it appeared, from
the first note of the whistle on the hill
to the last despairing whistle for
brakes. the monster engine and nine
cars had rounded the first curve, and
were on the bridge. coming at rate Of
speed variously estimated at from fifty
to seventy miles an hour.
The train once in sight, those about
the station were made aware of the
awful peril in which they stood, and
most of them escaped Another instant
the headlight had flashed past like a
cannon-ball of fire. There was crash
that awoke thousands of the residents
of Lafayette from their sleep, and
then arose the sound of escaping
steam, the walls of the MANNED
and the shrieks of the dying. The
scenes of wreck and confusion imme-
diately ensuing battle description. The
engine, refusing to take the abrupt
curve just east of the bridge, jumped
the track. 1t caught the corner of the
station, brick structure, tearing
down big section. Being thus veered
from it's course, it was turned half way
round and rolled over and over, finally
crashing into some Lake Erie and
Western freight cars that stood on a
siding. The three baggage mail and ex-
press cars Immediately following were
shattered into fragments. How any of
the occupants of the cars escaped with
their lives is past understanding. The
engine as it left the rails also struck a
long line of shed, which was knocked
down and went to contribute to the
accumulation of debris.
Dead-Theodore j. Mcmahon, Cincin-
natl, messenger of the American Ex-
press Co.; Charles H. Myers, Cincin-
natl, postal clerk; Charles Long, Leba-
non, Ind, postal clerk; A. R. Chadwick,
Shelbyville, Ind, postal clerk; Michael
Welch, indianapolis, engineer; Sterling
McInnes, Urbana, ILL.,, fireman.; Otto
Jesselson, residence unknown; Charles
Scahill, Indianapolis, molder; Charles
Meyers, Lafayette, bus driver; John
Lehnen, Lafayette, driver mail wagon.
Injured-Charles Rouse, Lafayette,
leg broken; VIM. Craze, Frankfort, head
cut and badly bruised; s. Bergenhouse,
Milwaukee, head and arm cut and
finger broken; = Henerson, two fingers
cut off; jefferson Reese, Kemper. badly
bruised; Richard Jones, Pontiac,
bruised; Lewis, Leffier, Fowler, Ind;
j. N. Vickery postal clerk, Cincinnati,
spine injured and badly bruised; c. w.
Carnahan, postal clerk, State avenue,
Cincinnati, cut and bruised; Harry
Elder, postal clerk, Cincinnati, cut and
bruised: G. A. Wisscl, postal clerk,
Shelbyville, cut about the head and
bruised; L. A. Wetzler, postal clerk,