The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-08-10
DONE BY FIENDS.
Train Plunged Through a
TreStIe.
MEN BURNED TO DEATH.
Said to Have Been the Work OF
Wreckers.
MEN BURNED TO DEATH.
MANY DEAD IN THE DEBRIS.
A Few Escaped Though Pinned
Down While the Fire Was Sweep
ing Toward Them.

LINCOLN, Nebr., Aug. 9.-Train No.
on the Rock Island, consisting OF an en-
CINE, combination baggage and express
car and one coach, plunged over a fifty
foot trestle over the tracks of the Union
Pacific and BurliD gton and Missouri about
five miles south of the city at 10 o'clock
this evening and was smashed to atoms.
All of the members of the crew were
killed and ten or twelve passengers are
supposed to be buried beneath the mass OF
glowing Goals and redhot iron. which is all
that is left of the train and trestle. There
is no possible way at this hour of ascer-
tanning the names of those in the ruins.
The trainmen killed are:
D. C. Standard, conductor, ST. Joseph.
Ike Depew, engineer, Council Bluffs.
William Craig, fireman, Fairburg.
Colonel Bills of the Second Regiment
was one of the passengers, but escaped
uninjured.
II. G. Foote of Council Bluffs, the brake
man, was the only one of the crew who
escaped. His story and that of the others
who survived indicate that the wreck was
due TO the work of train-wreckers, and
Walter Seidel, who lives near the crossing
and was the first one on the scene. states
that 4 fis hplate and the bar with which 1t
had been wrenched loose were found near
the trestIe after the wreck occurred.
The train was due in Lincoln at 10
o'clock, and was pounding along at
lively gait when the treste was reached.
There were about fifteen in the chair car,
all of whom were got out with more or less
injury.
In the smoker there were ten or fifteen.
and it is not thought single one escaped.
When the engine struck the broken rail-
she jumped the track. and bounding along
over the ties for a hundred feet, rolled to
one side and plunged down on the Union
Pacific track below, followed by the other
three cars. The brakeman tells this
story.
"I thought the trouble was In the smoker
| and rushed forward to see what | could
do, when the plunge came. Il was sick
ening sight The car was a shspeless
mass of bfoken pieces and wreckage. and
could see the crushed and mangled bodies
inside. By this time help had arrived and
we got out the baggageman and mailman.
The baggageman was squeezed be-
tween broken mbers and begging
for some one to save him from the flames
which were rapidly eating their way to-
ward him. His rescuers worked fran
tically with saw and axes while the hot
breath OF the approaching flames scorched
their hands and faces. When released the
flames were within a foot of the mans
head. The engineer and fireman were
found crushed under the engine, which
was turned upside down."
In the middle Of the excitement the
brakeman had presence of mind enough
to send men out 70 flag a freight train fol-
lowing on the Rock Island and another
approaching on the Burlington and Mis-
souri,. He also sent to the penitentiary
for assistance and from there the Fire
Department was notified. The chemical
was soon on the ground, but could do but
very little, and every stick OF both train
and bridge was soon reduced 10 a heap Of
smoking ruins.
The trestle where the wreck occurred is
about two miles south of the penitentiary
and five miles from the city. 1t was about
300 feet long and 60 feet high. and carried
the Rock Island track over both the Bur-
lington and Missouri and the Union Pa
eiic. The Burlington and Missouri track
is still open, but the Rock Island and
Union Pacific are blockaded with tangle
of iron and broken machinery.
A Burlington and Missouri freight train
which arrived soon after he wreck carried
the wounded to the city The news did
not reach Lincoln until after IL O'Clock,
and then procession of hacks and vehi-
cles started for the scene.
Among those said to have been in the
doomed smoker are five travelling men.
| but it will be some time before list of the
dead can be procured, for all that will be
| left in the morning will be heap OF ruins.