The record-union., 1894-08-11
Special to the REcoRD-UNroS.

|
nearly dark this evening before the
| frightful mass of debris occupying the
ravine where the Rock Island express
was wrecked and burned a few miles
south of this city last night had cooled off
sufficiently to enable the large crowd
gathered at the place in the hope of learn
| ing something of the fate of friends and
relatives, to inspect the charred mass
in detail, but any hope that may have
been entertained of securing from the
ashpile as to the identity of those who
| lost their lives was soon blasted. The
tons of water thrown on the twisted relics
of the train and the bed of embers had
| been insufficient to prevent any vestige
of combustible matter being destroyed.
Occasionally charred skull or par
TALLY burned human bone was raked
| from the bed of the furnace, but nothing
more remained TO tell the tale of those
who went down with the ill-fated train.
and they will be required to determine
| just how many persons were lost in the
wreck.
! The killed and injured, as furnished by
the Coroner tonight, swels the fatalities
to twenty-four, and are as follows:
Killed = DR.. q. ID. Pinney, Council
Bluffs; J. D. Matthews. commercial man,
Omaha; Harry Morse, Kansas City; Ike
| Depew, engineer, Council Bluffs; w. O.
| Hamblell, lawyer, Fairbury, Neb.; c. d.
Stannard, conductor, st. Joseph; John
Munger, grain dealer, Omaha; ii. X.
| Peters, merchant. Council Bluffs; b.. IL.
| Zerncke, lawyer, Lincoln; two unknown
farmers; five unknown men; Charles
| Unruh mother and son, Jensen, Neb.;
| A. b. Edle, merchant. Pawnee, Neb.; NJ
| Beaver, PaWnee; two unknown farmers
| from Jensen. Those marked as unknown
| were passengers known to be on the train
and unaccounted Tor.
| Injured-Colonel G. j. Mills. Second
Regiment, Nebraska National Guard,
Fairbury, deep flesh wound on left leg;
Henry C. Foote, brakeman, Council
Bluffs, leg broken; Jay Mcdowell, Fair
bury, legs cut; G. Ii. Cherry, mail clerk.
Kearney, Neb., badly bruised and cut;
| +. +. Scott, express messenger, injured
internally; Mrs. Fish. badly bruised; o..
S. Bell. travelling man, Lincoln. internal
/ injuries; j. L. PuetZ. travelling man, Lin
coin, internal injuries. passenger
named Somerell, hurt about the head;
Mrs. Fritz and sister-in-law, Lincoln,
| bruised.
The body of Dr. Pinney was found in
the wreckage this afternoon, and al
though fearfully burned and merely a
mass of flesh, it was recognized by papers
which escaped entire destruction. He
was prominent physician.
From the confused tangle of conflicting
stories told by excited eye-witnesses, it
has been definitely ascertained that only
one man met his death in the flames. The
| low moaning which had been heard in
| the ruins of the smoker had ceased be-
! fore the flames reached il, and the pre-
sumption is that all its unfortunate occu-
pants were dead. One victim, whose
| name will never be known, lay under the
| tender, the upper end of which lay across
his thighs, crushing thsm into the hard
gravel. AS Colonel Bills approached he
| begged piteously to be released and saved
| from the flames. Colonel Bills is man
| Of nerve and decision, but be was con-
| fronted by a terrible alternative. TO move
the tender was an utter impOssibility !.
and the long tongue of hungry flames
were reaching out greedily for their VIC
| tins. For an instant he thought that
only one of the mans legs was pinned
down, and thought about amputating it,
! When he saw that both legs were fast,
and while he hesitated and paused for a
moment, gust of wind drove the flames
and smoke on him. blistering his face
and scorching his clothes. Before he
could recover himself the long fiery
tongues of flame had wrapped about the
victim and stilled his screams.
Colonel j. G. Bills was one of the for
tunate passengers, and his story is as fol-
| lows:
Jay Mcdowell and myself were seated
in the middle of the car, and as we dis
covered that the train was likely to go
| over the trestle, Mcdowell started down
the aisle. called to him TO sit down, and
| the next instant the crash came. The en-
| gine went over first and the smoker on
| top Of it, and the rear coach. in which we
IL cd n RI ntl
| The car was crowded with passengers,
and we were forced along the backs OF
seats in front of US, and all but Mcdowell
and myself were horribly mangled. AS
soon as possible we climbed through a
window, and in fifteen minutes succeeded
| in eXtricating nine persons who were
jammed In the debris. Hearing the
shrieks and cries for help on all sides,
| left Mcdowell and ran three miles across
| the country to the penitentiary without
making a stop. / had Warden Beemer
| telephone the police department, and
they responded promptly and nobly with
patrol carriages and physicians"
| Colonel Bills says that two men in the
| front of the chair car were killed, being
horribly burned. He thinks it would be
| impossible for single man to have es-
capped from the smoking-car. 1t fell
| head foremost on the engine, and the
chair car which followed flattened.
Il. III. Zehneck of Lincoln and Henry
| Peterson OF Council Bluffs are no doubt
in the ruins. They were at Sprague yes
terday and expected TO return last night.
The operator at Martell says two Ger
mans tagged the train at his station, a
mile from Sprague, and they are very
probably the men.
The work of clearing the tracks is pro-
crossing slowly. The Union Pacific is
now open and the Rock Islaud trains are
going out over the Burlington and
Missouri.
Conductor Stannard of ST. Joseph leaves
a wife and two sons; Ike Depew, en-
gineer, leaves wife and daughter; w. O.
Handle of Fairbury, well-known citi-
zen of that town. leaves wife.
| etThere are two theories as to the wreck
ing OF the train, it being conceded that
the train was deliberately derailed by the
removal of the rails for part of the way
across the trestle. There is plenty of evil
dence to prove that this is a fact. A fish
! plate and the bar with which it had been
| wrenched loose were found near the
| trestle after the wreck occurred. One
! theory is that the strikers from South
Omaha did the work, believing that the
! State troops, who were TO have boarded
the train at Fairbury, were aboard. The
company missed the connection, how
| ever. This is not so generally credited
as the other, thai the element that has
caused so much trouble in Oklahoma,
and who are particularly bitter against
| the Rock Island, did the job, though why
they should have come such distance to
wreck train that might have been
wrecked nearer home is not explained.