The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1894-08-23

The Former Is Killed. but The Lat.
ter Loses Nine Cars.

rious accident on the Minneapolis &
st. Louis road, about three miles east
of this city, about five o'clock last Fri
day morning. The COW is dead.
It appears that the animal broke out
of the pasture during the night, and
was taking nap on the track when
the night freight from the west, COM
posed of nearly thirty heavily loaded
cars,eam laundering down the grade,
and before the engineer could stop
the engine, or the brakemen apply the
brakes in response to the whistle, the
engine had run into the COW and
thrown her to one side of the track.
The engine passed by safely, but be-
fore the front wheels of the first freight
car passed the spot where the carcass
of the animal was laying, the latter
rolled back onto the track, and ter
rible wreck followed. The coupling
link between the engine and the first
car broke, the car left the track, and
the hind most truck was jerked out
from under it, but not before it was
dragged rod. Car $40 was thrown
from the track, and the wheels jerked
out from under it. Car 1866 also left
the track, jumped on top of 52O,crush-
ing it in, and then plunging into the
embankment, a distance of several
feet. In this latter car tramp was
sleeping on the wheat with which the
car was loaded, and he was pulled out
alive, kicking after he got out because
his hat and boots were gone. Car
1882 formed V with 1866 and was
badly demolished, as was also Car
100, which formed an opposite V with
1892. The next car was 3242, which
was resting on the road bed,its wheels
sunk deeply into the grade. Four more
cars were off the track, and badly
damaged by the sudden shock. All
of them contained wheat of the finest
grade, and all of them were so badly
demolished as to necessitate the shov-
cling of the wheat into other cars.
The loss of the latter was not great.
The rails were twisted into snake
like contortiohs for a distance of sew
eral rods, and the rotten ties had been
crushed into wood jelly and scattered
all around the track bed, all making
about as terrible wrecking specta-
Gle as has ever been seen in this west
ern country.
The engine took the news OF the
wreck. into Morton, and the train dis
patcher at Minneapolis was immedi-
ately notified. The wrecking train
sent up a few hours afterwards. In
the meantime orders were sent to the
Passenger train coming east to turn
the engine at Dawson and proceed
toward the wreck slowly, making the
train half hour late at Redwood.
Here the passenger cars were side
tracked and the engine proceeded on,
and pulled as many of the freight cars
as were on tracks back to Redwood.
The passenger train was pulled down
to the scene of the wreck, on the east
side of which the west bound passeng-
er was in waiting. Transfers of bag
gage and passengers were made, and
the east bound train went west and
the west bound started for the east,
reaching st. Paul two hours later than
schedule time.
The wrecking crew commenced work
Friday afternoon, but the debris had
not been all gathered up, nor the road
repaired, SO that the passenger trains
could go through on Saturday. Con-
sequently similar transfer was made
on Saturday.
The greatest loss is on the cars.
Nearly all the wheat was saved, but
the cars were badly demolished, and
there is but little salvage on them ex-
cept the trucks. The company can
hardly hold any of the employees re-
sponsible for the accident, as the train
being on down grade made it almost
next to impossible to stop it before
the COW was struck. The carcass of
the animal was buried shortly after
the accident occurred.