Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1894-06-07
Switch Was r.mpered with.


The st. Paul limited southbound
train on the Wisconsin Central Rail-
road, which passed Marshfeld at 1:03
o. m. met with horrible accident
which has nsver tesn equaled in
Northern Wisconsin, and adds another
long list Of victims through disasters
of this kind. Six persons are dead, and
from fifteen to twenty are injured,
some of them fatally. Following is q
list of those killed outright.
BIGELow. JUDsoN. brakeman. Stevens,
Point Wis
BosLEE OLIVER. newsboy, Stevens Point.
VII.
GEBHAnDT, GEORGE. fireman. Stevens
Point. Wis
HUBBARD. JAMES. engineer. Stevens
Point Wis.
RUSSELL WILLIAM b. railroad surveyor,
Milwaukee.
WAGNER MRS JOHN Butte. Mont
The train, which was in charge OF
Conductor Gavin and was made up Of
seven coaches and sleepers, left Abb
bott's Ford behind time, and while
running at fifty miles an hour struck a
defective split switch at Mannville, q
deserted station, derailing the entire
train and piling engine and cars in q
heap of broken timbers. To add to
the horror, the entire mass was soon
In q sheet of flames, which, mingled
with the groans and cries OF the in
jured, made q scene that terrified the
hearts Of the bravest.
Number of Killed Not Known.
According to the dispatches about
fifty passenge were On IL 9 train. I'm
Il Il ~ fusc "a
dent Horn, who happened to be on the
north-bound passenger, a special train
was fitted up and left fo' Stevens Point
at 7 o'clock bearing the remains Of
Engineer Hubbal d. Fireman Gebhardt
and Russell and a passenger. When
the body of Bigelow, the head brake
man, was recovered it had a watch in
one hand and a lantern on an arm.
Mannville, tne scene of the accident,
was once lively sawmill town, but of
late years has gradually sunk to Meth
ing, until w all that remains is q few
scattered buildings. During the forest
fires last fall the depot burned, and
about all that is left t. mark the place
is heap I bun ned ruins and a number
of side tracks. The accident occurred
at the first switch, where supposed
broken bar caused switch to open
sufficiently to derail the train.
After leaving the track the train
plowed along over the ties for dis
tance of ten rods and then toppled and
rolled over, the engine and tender GO
ing into the ditch and the cars piling
on top of each other. All were soon
set on fire from the stoves. From out
of this tangled mass men and women
who were lucky not to be pinned down
crawled, many making wonderful es-
capes.
Receiver Howard Morris and Sidney
Hirsch, a business man from Ironwood,
occupied the company's business car,
which did not get into the heap and
escaped destruction by burning. The
rear sleeper and the business car alone
came out practically unharmed.
Cause of the Terrible Disaster.
General Manager Whitcomb said of
the accident and the possible cause @:
"The split switch of the passenger
track has evidently been tampered
with, allowing the wheels of the loco
motive to catch the point. De-
scribing the catastrophe Mr.. Hirsch
said: sour train was running at
the rate of about fifty or sixty
miles an hour when the crash came,
and the train seemed to go into
heap within few seconds. was
asleep in the next to the rear sleeper
at the time and was thrown from my
berth, as we're ali the other pas
sengers. AS soon as We could scramble
out we found terrible state Of affairs.
The baggage, express, smoker, day
coach, business car and sleeper
were piled on top of each other, and
within very few minutes the pile was
on fire."