The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1894-08-11
TWENTY KILLED.
Fearful Railroad Wreck Near Lin
coin, Neb,
PLUNGED FORTY FEET TO DEATH,
Cars Take Fire and Add to the Horror Of
tho soono-Undoubted Evidence That
the Terrible Catastrophe Was the work
of Train wTsoksrs.


of Train wTsoksrG
LINCOLN, Neb. Aug. H. A wreck,
involving the loss of twenty-four lives,
occurred on the Chicago, Rock Island and
Pacific railroad where it crosses on a high
trestle the tracks Of the Union Pacific
and Burlington and Missouri River rail
roads Thursday night. All the indioa-
tions point TO train wreckers as the cause.
Train No s is an accommodation called
Forth Worth Accommodation. It was
about ten minutes late, and was making
1t Up when it struck the trestle that
crosses Salt Creek, about four miles from
the city. When it struck the trestle the
rails Immediately spread, and the engine,
drawing the two cars after went bumb-
ing along over the GROSS ties for about
fifty feet, and then, with a crash, fell forty
feet to the bed of the creek below.
The engine burst and glowing coal
spreading ignited the wooden supports
and coaches behind it, and in few mo-
ments the bridge dry as tinder from its
long exposure to the sun, was one mass of
flames. The Goals falling upon the coaches
lying in the bitches set them aflre, and
five minutes after the first warning the
entire mass Of cars, with their load of
human freight below, was mass of
flames.
The flames mounted high in the heav-
ems, coloring the entire southern sky a
brilliant red, and from below shrieks of
agony and pain were heard to issue. Will
ing hands were there to help, but little
could be done. The engine had fallen
first, then the combination car of smoker
and express coach fell partially upon
4 81 4, F-1 l,l Il
it, telescoped that car, thus pinioning
those unfortunates who were in the
smoker, so that it was impossible to save
them or for them to escape.
1t was nearly dark last evening before
the frightful mass of debris occupying
the ravine where the express was wrecked
had cooled sufficiently to enable the big
crowd gathered at the place to inspect the
charred mass in detail Occasionally q
charred skull or a partially burned hu-
man bone was raked from the bed of the
furnace, but nothing that would lead to
Identification was found.
The list of killed and injured as furn-
ished by the coroner swells the fatalities
to twenty-four. The dead are: ID. G. H.
Pinney, Council Bluffs; j. d. Matthew'S
commercial man, Omaha; Harry Moore,
Kansas City: Ike Depew, engineer, Coun-
Gil Bluffs; w. o. Hambell, lawyer, Fair
bury, Neb.; G. d. Stannard, conductor,
St Joseph; John Munger, grain dealer,
Omaha; H. r. Peters, merchant, Council
Bluffs; f. II. Zernik, lawyer, Lincoln;
Charles Unruh, mother and son, Jansen,
Neb.; A. B. EDDIE, merchant, Pawnee,
Neb.; NJ. Beaver, merchant, Pawnee, Neb.
| Andrew Henson, a farmer; five unknown
men; three unknown farmers. Those
marked as unknown are those passengers
| known to have been on the train by
Brakeman Foote, and unaccounted for.
Injured-Colonel c. j. Bills, Second
! regiment, Nebraska National guards,
| Fairbury, deep flesh wound in left leg;
! Henry c. Foote, brakeman, Council
! Bluffs, leg broken; Jay Mcdowell, Fair
| bury, legs cut and face bruised; @. II.
! Cherry, mail clerk, Kearney, badly
I bruised and cut: F, z. Scott, express mes
seuger, injured internally: Mrs. Fish, wife
| of a Burlington and Missouri engineer.
| badly bruised; O. S. Bell, travelling man,
! Lincoln, internal injuries; j.. E. Puetz
! travelling man, Lincoln, internal injuries
| passenger named Somrett, hurt about
! the head; Mrs Fritz and sister-in law
! Lincoln, bruised
From the confused tangle OF conflicting
stories told by excited eye witnesses il
! has been definitely asGertained that only
one man met his death in the flames, the
! others being crushed to death. One vic
! tim, whose name will never be known, lay
under the tender, the upper edge of which
| lay across his thighs, crushing them into
the gravel As Colonel Bills approached
he begged piteously to be released and
| saved from the flames. AS Colonel Bills
hesitated helplessly for a moment a gust
! of wind drove the flames and smoke upon
him, blistering his face and scorching his
I clothes Before he could recover himself
the flames had wrapped themselves about
the body and head Of their terrified vic
tim and stilled his screams.
There are two theories as to the wreck
! ing of the train. One theory is thai
strikers from South Omaha did the work
believing that a company of state troop,
who were to have boarded the train al
Fairbury were aboard The company
missed connection, however This is no
as generally credited as the other-tha
! the element that has been causing s,
much trouble in Oklahoma, who are bit
ter against the Rock Island, did the job
There is no question but that the dis
Rster was the work of train wreckers. j
! W. Glover section man, said today h
saw three well dressed men jump a freigh
and go west. He said that the men eacl
carried a long, brand new satchel Thi
gives rise to a suspicion that it may hav
been some of the Round Pond, o. T., enc
mics of the Rock Island,
The marks of crowbar on the eros
ties were TO be seen The wooden tie
were deeply dented where the crowba
had been inserted, and the rails lifte,
clear off the ties, and the spikes whicl
had been pulled out were lying arount
loose on the bridge.
The police have arrested a colored maj
named George Davis, who is suspected t
be connected with the wrecking The pc
lice say they have evidence sufficient t
convict. His motive is not known