Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1894-08-24
PLUNGE TO ETERNITY
ROCK ISLAND TRAIN CRASHES
THROUGH A TREsTLE.
e,.ms. Break Out In the Wrecked Car.
and Cremate Passengers aud Trainmen
-Rescuers Labor Under Great Dimculty,
but succeed In Saving Many Laves.
Ten Arr Dead.

The most disastrous wreck In tho
history Vt Nebra,k occurred at 1890
o'clock Thursday night, when the east
bound Oklahoma AMI Texas express on
;he Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific
plunged th,o.gh an overhead bridge
fifty ieet high INTO . creek below, kill
ng ten of the Passengers, a | Of the
rain e but brake . an, and wound
ing many others. The killed are:
Is NC 4.epew. engineer.
q. u. Standard, conductor.
Fireman, name unknown.
Three com lercial travellers. names
unknown
Two farmer names unknown.
Two women names unknown: SUD-
20 cd to be buried in the wreck.
Twelve others were badly injured,
ST nc Q haps fatally.
the uisaster occurred five miles
s"uth Of Lincoln. To add horror to
the awful a air the entire train was
consumed by fire, which followed the
plunge, and many bodies we're lost in
the wreck. The train was composed
D. an express, baggage, day car, chair
coach. and through g eeper for Chica-
go. An obstruction was on the track
at the point where it crosses a ravine
nigh over the ira ks of the Union Pa
zinc Railroad. The train was running
at a high tate of speed, and crashed
through the trestle t. the ground be-
low in an instant, carrying every wheel
from the track.
Flames Complete In Awful Work.
The flames began to envelop the
wreck within a few moments after the
train went down, starting from the
lamps in the baggage car and igniting
the debris. 1t was some tire before
the confusion. intensified by the
absence of the trainmen. VINO had been
fatal. m ngled at their posts of duty,
was sufficiently lessened TO enable the
surviving passengers to work with any.
thing like efficiency. The passengers
imi risoned in the day coach and chair
car, which we 9 under the heavy
sleeper and on top of the battered en-.
CINE. which was sending up clouds of
scalding team, added to the horrible
confusion b. the cries of alarm and
screams to be relea ed.
Those passengers in the rear of the
train who yer not injured in the
W. eek at once vent to work to save
their less fortunate &C mpanions. The
alarm was carried to the su, rounding
farmhouses, and shortly the entire
community was present aiding in the
work of rescue. This was attended
with the greatest difficulty as a result
OF the terrible manner in which the
cars were thrown together and twisted
into s. tangled mass that was not only
diff cult to. penetrate, but was ap-
preached at the greatest risk of the
resi- uers' lives.
Many of tho 9 lifted from the win.
dows and gaping holes in the burning
ears chopped by the were
saffering from the effects of the flames
as we'll as in uries from the ,umbiing
of the train into the ditch. In a short
time MEDICAL assistance was on the
ground from Lincoln, and the work of
cari.g for those most seriously injured
was begun in a systematic manner.
\ hos. ital was established in a
neighboring field and by the light OF
the burning coaches the groaning
victims of the terrible affair were
brought and laid in rows on the ground,
soma of them breathing their last
while in the hands of their
Relief expo ditioas were irmedia- ely
organized for a distan.e of several
miles along the tracks by the farmers
and people in the smaller towns. For
several hours there was no chance to
reduce the work to q system because
of the great excitement, the passen-
ge. s who escaped being killed outright
screaming over the agony of their
wounds and dragging themselves
around pleading for something to al
lay their sufferings. others seeking for
their companions and obstructing tho
work of rescuers by their crazy efforts
to enter the burning debris.