Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-06-07
AN AWFUL DISASTER.

the "reck ana some az the S1ct1mf
CremAted.
MILWAUKEE, May 31.-A Marshfield
(Wis.) dispatch says: A railway acct
dent resulting in the loss of eight lives
and the injury of from fourteen to
twenty persons, more or less seriously,
occurred here at 3:15 q. m. Train No,
4, on the Wisconsin Central railway
ran through an open switch and was
completely wrecked. The cars after
ward took fire and were consumed.
Four persons were taken from the
wreck dead and four others are miss
ing-supposed to have been caught in
the mass of broken timbers and con-
sumed.
Except the four or five passengers
and three or four trainmen who are
missing and believed to have been
burned to death in the wrecked coaches,
the following is as complete list OF
the dead and wounded as can be OBJ
tanned at 1 o'clock:
James Hubbard, engineer, of Stevens
Point
George Gerhardt, fireman, of Stevens
Point.
Judson Bigelow, brakeman, OF Stew
ems Point.
A Mr.. Russell, civil engineer in the
employ of the company.
Aged man and woman, names I'M
known; burned in the ruins. 1t is said
they were not on the train at ST. Paul.
INJURED.
Henry Chester, Marshfield, Wis. !;
legs and spine badly injured.
o. w. Bozely. news agent, Stevens
Point, Wis; injured internally.
Arthur Turnice, Chicago; head cut
and otherwise injured; will recover.
John Bigelow, head brakeman, Ste
vens' Point, Wis.
DIR. Weitzel, Glidden, Wis; hurt in
ternally.
Fannie Burtle, Springdale, ILL.,; hand
badly cut.
William Ryan, Sturgeon Bay, Wis. i;
ribs broken and head cut.
E. A. Twitchell, attorney at law,
Minneapolis; head cut.
The report that one of the Tweedy
brothers, of this city, was among the
killed was mistake.
Receiver Howard Morris was in the
rear sleeper, and telegraphed the first
facts to General Manager Whitcomb.
The wrecking of the passenger train
was quickly followed by fire among the
debris, and nearly all those who per-
ished were burned to death. The pas
sengers who were injured were in the
smoking car and the day coach. None
OF the sleeping car passengers were
hurt. The train was the express from
Minneapolis to Chicago. 1t consisted
of baggage car, mail car, smoker, two
day coaches and three sleepers. The
train was fairly well filled with
passengers and, according to the
statements of survivors, was going
at the rate of fifty miles an hour when
the disaster overlook it. The cause of
the wreck is supposed to have been an
open switch, and there are strong sus-
picions of the switch having been fixed
by robbers or by other persons having
an equally murderous motive. An ex-
animation of the switch showed that
nut had been removed. allowing it to
become loose and fly open as soon as
the Inflated train struck it.
All the cars excepting one sleeper,
left the rails and We're a total wreck.
The baggage and express cars, smoker,
day coaches and one sleeper were
caught by the flames and reduced to
ashes almost, as there was nothing at
hand to eXtinguish the fire.
Since Meanwhile was wiped but last
winter by fire the town has not been
rebuilt, and the only building left
was the railroad depot, which
was locked and deserted at the time Of
the calamity. The injured and the
of the dead were taken to
as soon as help arrived and
the suffering passengers given all the
care possible by physicians and nurses.
The train began to twist in heap
IA few seconds, all the passengers
being thrown from their berths, and
those who were not asleep and were
not pinned down to be cremated
quickly crawled to place of safety.
The wrecked cars were piled on top
Of each other, presenting a horrible
spectacle: but the horror of the scene
suddenly when the flames
we're seen to rise from the wreck and
The cries of the imprisoned victims
struck the ears of tn ose who will live
to remember the horror of their Deco
ration day ride to Chicago.
The uninjured passengers lost no
time, after extricating themselves from
their perilous position, in rushing to
rescue those who had been injured and
we're imprisoned in the wreckage.
Nearly score of passengers were
saved from horrible fate in that way.
The doomed train rushed over the ties
for distance of ten nrods before the
engine and tender toppled into a ditch,
and the cars following piled on top.
The bodies of Bigelow and Rus
sell were burned to blackened trunks,
and were not recovered from the
ma IS of debris for six hours
after the disaster. Both men were
caught in the timbers and slowly
roasted to death, it being impossible
for the passengers to do anything for
them or for any of the other victims;
It is believed all the injured will re-
cover excepting perhaps Henry Ches-
ter, of this city.
There were about fifty passengers on
the train, but had the wreck occurred
q short distance south of this city the
sleeper would have been at
tached to the train and the list of dead
and injured would no doubt have been
much larger.
The passengers and express messen-
ger were given local trains here and
the wrecked train abandoned. The
business car was occupied by Receiver