The record-union., 1894-08-10
FRIGHTFUL Railway ACCIDENT.
A TRAIN PLUNGEs OVER A HIGH
TKESTLE.
Believed to be the Work Of Wreckers
All But One of the Crew and
Dozen Passengers Killed.
Special to the REcoRp-uN1ox.

Special to the REcoRD-UNIoN.
| LINCOLN (Nep.), Aug. 9.-Train No. s
on the Rock Island. consisting OF an en-
| gine, combination baggage and express
car and one coach, plunged over fifty
foot trestle over the tracks of the Union
Pacific and Burlington and Missouri
tracks, about five miles south of the city,
at 10 O'Clock this evening, and was
smashed to atoms. All of the members
of the crew were killed, and ten or twelve
passengers are supposed to be buried be-
meath the mass Of glowing Goals and red
hot iron, which is ali that is left of the
train and trestle. There is no possible
way at this hour of obtaining the names
of those in the ruins.
Th trainmen killed are: d. G. Stand
ard, conductor, st. Joseph; Ike Depew,
engineer, Council Bluffs; William Craig
fireman, Fairbury.
Colonel Bills of the Second Regiment
was one of the passengers, but he escaped
unhurt.
II. G. Foot of Council Bluffs, the brake
man, was the only one of the crew who
escaped. His story and that of the others
who survived indicate that the wreck was
due to the work of train-wreckers, and
| Walter Seidel, who lives near the cross
ing, and was the first one on the scene,
states that a fshplate and the bar with
which it had been wrenched loose were
found near the treStle after the wreck
occurred.
The train was due in Lincoln at 1910,
and was pounding along at lively gait
when the trestle was reached. There
were about fifteen in the chair car, all of
whom got out with more or less injury.
In the smoker there were ten or fifteen,
and it is not thought single one escaped.
When the engine struck the broken
rail it jumped the track, and bounding
along over the ties for a hundred feet,
rolled TO one side and plunged down on
the Union Pacific track below, followed
by the other three cars.
The brakeman tells this story: ''I
thought trouble was in the smoker, and
rushed forward to see what 1 could do,
when the crash came. 1t was a sickening
sight. Ihe car was ShapeleSs mass of
broken pieces and wreckage, and | could
see the crushed and mangled bodies in
side. By this time help had arrived and
we got out the baggage man and mail
men. The baggage man was squeezed
between broken timbers and begging for
some one to save him from the fiames
which were rapidly eating their way to-
wards him. ReScuers worked frantically
with saws and axes while the hot breath
of the approaching flames scorched their
hands ana faces. When released the
flames were within q foot of the mans
head. The engineer and fireman were
found crushed under the engine, which
was turned upside down.
In the hight of the excitement the
brakeman had presence of mind enough
to send men out to flag freight train
following on the Rock Island and one
approaching on the Burlington and Mis-
souri,. He also sent to the penitentiary
for assistance, and from there the fire de-
partment was notified. The chemical en-
gine was soon on the ground. but could
do but very little, as every stick of both
the train and bridge was soon reduced to
heap of smoking ruins.
The trestle where the wreck occurred is
about two miles south of the penitentiary,
and five miles from the city. 1t was
about 800 feet long and 60 feet high, and
carried the Rock Island track over both
the Burlington and Missouri and the
Union Pacific tracks. The Burlington
aud Missouri track is still open, but the
Rock Island and Union Pacific are block
AIDED with tangle of iron and broken
machinery. A Burlington and Missouri
freight which arrived soon after the wreck
carried the wounded to the city. The
news did not reach Lincoln until after IL
o'clock.
Among those who are said to have been
on the doomed smoker are five travelling
men. but it will be some time before list
of the dead can be secured, for all that
will bo left in the morning will be a heap
of rr1ius