Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1893-05-11
AWFUL ACCIDENT.
Railway Calamity at
Lafayette, Id
AIR BRAKES FAIL TO WORK.
An Engine and Cars Fly the Track and
Dash Into the Depot Filled
With Waiting Passen-
gers.

gers.
LAFAYETTE, Ind, May S.-One of the
most horrible wrecks in the history of
railroading occurred on the Big -Four
road in this city yesterday morning Is
| q result of which ten men are now
dead and many more injured. The
train was the eastbound passenger
leaving Chicago at 9 p. m. The acci-
dent was caused by the failure of the
air brakes to work. The engineer un-
doubtedly discovered this before reach
ing the cut beyond the Wabash river.
as vigorous whistling of the engine for
brakes could be heard when the train
was still a mile west of the city. The
engineers desperate efforts to stop the
train was shown by the large amount
of sand thrown by him on the bridge
through which the train came Just be-
fore the fatal crash.
The engine dashed out of the bridge
over the Wabash river at a speed of not
less than sixty miles an hour, crashing
into the depot building and CARRYING
off portion of the depot and train
sheds several hundred feet The en-
CINE when it left the track, followed by
the baggage car, two postal cars and
| express car, was piled in one promiscu-
! Gus mass, a total and complete wreck.
burylng a score or more of victims in
the awful pile The trucks OF the first
day coach We're dragged out and the
SIDE OF the car knocked into fragments,
but no passengers in this car We're in
Jured- The chair car and two Pullman
sIeepers remained on the track. The
wreck was a most complete one, the
engine and cars being torn to pieces
and piled up together with their con-
tents To add to the CONSERVATION
nre broke out from the stove in the
baggage car, but the city fire depart
ment speedily extinguished the flames
A large crowd of citizens gathered
very quickly at the scene of the dis
aSter and assisted in rescuing the vic
TINS, and large force of local physi-
clans gave the necessary attention to
the wounded. Several victims of the
wreck were persons standing in the
depot waiting for the train. among
them hackman, a mail cart driver and
some passengers. The dead are:
Michael WEIGH, engineer, Indianapo-
lis.
Fireman McInnis, Indianapolis
Ed Myers, LOgansport, mail clerk.
NJ T. Mahon, Cincinnati, express mes
senger.
A. R. Chadwick, Cincinnati. mail
clerk.
Charles Meyers, Lafayette, hackman.
John Lennon, Lafayette, mail cart
driver
Jesse Long. Lebanon, Ind mail clerk
Charles Schap:n, passenger, Just
bought 2 ticket to indianapolis.
Otto GesselSon, Alhambra hotel Chi
cago. passenger going to the train.
All were frightfully crushed and
mangled, limbs being severed in several
instances, and heads and bodies terri
bly, disfgured. The injured are as fol-
lows:
jefferson VI. Reese, Kempton, bruised
about head.
Richard Jones' Pontiac, Ill, cut about
head
Louis Leffler, Fowler, cut by glass
from breaking windows
Sophia Bergenhalee. Milwaukee. cut
about head and hand. badly bruised
William Place, living near Frankfort.
Ind, bruised and cut.
Charles Roush, Lafayette leg broken
in two places.
William BecateI, Lebanon. Ind, pas
senger in waiting, arm and hand
lacerated.
c. A. Wissen, A. ". L. Carnahan, L.
Wetzler and j. n. VicI1ery, mail clerks,
all from Cincinnati. were more or less
injured, but not seriously.
The damage to property destroyed
will be fully 0,000. while the subse-
quent losses, which viii grow out of
the disaster, will make the total a very
large sum.
The accident, as has been stated. was
caused by the failure of air brakes to
work properly. High bluffs rise on the
west bank of the Wabash just opposite
the city and there is long and steep
grade at thatpoint. The Inflated train
must have been a mile up the grade
from the river when the engineer made
the discovery that there was some
thing wrong with the air, for he began
to shrilly whistle for hand brakes.
The speed had by that time in
creased SO terrifcally, however, that
control of the train was beyond hui
man agency With almost lightning
like speed the engine dashed around
the curves and across the long bridge.
although the man at the throttle had
reversed the machinery and immense
streams of fire were being dashed off
the driving-wheels running in the Cd
posite direction to that OF the swiftly
flying cars that followed. just after
leaving the east end of the long bridge
over the Wabash the tracks describe a
semi-circle. at the midway point of
which the Union station is located.
When the engine struck the SHARP
curve it left the track, followed by the
cars in an awful swirl, and they piled
upon each other 100 feet away, after
crashing through the train sheds. and
bringing down towns of structural iro,,
to add to the terrors of the situation.
The bystanders went to work at once
and the police and fire departments
quickly responded, the latter rendering
valuab bic service in quickly checking the
angry flames which threatened the lives
of scores of others in addition to those
killed outright who were imprisoned
in the mountain of debris. Superin-
tendent Bender arrived at an early
hour. and under the direction of trained
wreckers the tracks were soon cleared
and ready for the resumption of traffic.