The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-08-11

| Lincoln, Neb., Aug. 10.-It was 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 suf-
ficiently to enable. the large crowd
gathered at the place in the hope OF
| learning something of the fate OF
friends or relatives, to inspect the
charred mass in detail, but any hope
they may have entertained of securing
from the great ash pile information 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 every vestige of combustible
matter being destroyed.
Occasionally a charred skull or a
partially 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
Inflated train, and time will be requir-
ed to determine just how many per-
sons were lost in the wreck.
Killed and Injured.
The list of the killed and injured as
furnished by the coroner tonight swells
the fatalities to tWenty-four, and are
as follows:
Killed:
DR. C. H. Pinney, Council Bluffs.
j. D. Matthews, commercial man,
Omaha.
Harry Marse, Kansas City.
Ike Depew, engineer, Council Bluffs.
w. o. Hambell, lawyer, Fairbury,
Neb.
c. B. Stannard, conductor, st. Jo-
seph
John Munger, grain dealer, Omaha
H. r. Peters, merchant, Council
Bluffs.
E. H. zerncke, lawyer, Lincoln, Neb.
Two unknown farmers.
Five unknown men.
Charles Unruh. mother and son. Jen-
sen, Neb.
A. B. Edlee, merchant, Pawnee, Neb.
M. Beaver. Pawnee. Neb.
Two unknown farmers from Jansen,
Neb.
Those marked as unknown were pas
sengers known to be on the train, and
unaccounted for.
Injured:
Colonel c. J. Bills, Second regiment,
Nebraska national guards, Fairbury;
deep flesh wound left leg.
Henry c. Foote,, brakeman, Council
Bluffs; leg broken.
| Jay Mcdowell, Fairbury; leg cut.
c. H. Cherry, mail clerk, Kearney,
Neb.: badly bruised and cut.
F. F. Scott, express messenger; in
jured internally.
Mrs. Fish, wife of B. & NJ. engineer;
badly bruised.
o. S. Bell, travelling man, Lincoln; in
ternal injuries.
]. e. Puetz, travelling man, Lincoln;
internal injuries.
A 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 pa
pers which escaped entire destruction.
He was prominent physician.
A Terrible Alternative.
From the confused tangle of conflict
ing stories told by excited eye-wit-
nesses, it has been definitely ascertain
ed that only one man met his death in
the flames. The low moaning which
had been heard in the ruins of the
reached it and the presumption is that
all its unfortunate occupants were
dead. One victim whose name will
never be known lay under the tender,
the upper end Of which lay across his
thighs, crushing them 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 he
was confronted by terrible alterna-
tive. To move the tender was an
utter impossibility and the long
tongues of hungry flames were reach
ing out greedily for their victim.
For an instant he thought that only
one of the mans legs was pinned
down and he thought about amputat-
ing it. Then he saw that both were
fast and while he hesitated he paused
la moment and a gust of wind drove
the flames and smoke on him, blister
ing his face and scorching his clothes.
Before he could recover himself the
long fiery tongues of flames had
wrapped about the victim and stilled
his screams.
AS the Rock Island has offered a re-
ward of $1,000 for the apprehension of
the wreckers, the county and state
will be asked to add to the reward.
One of the Fortunates.
NOlOllCl PlllS SlOTy Is DIS 1OllOWO.
jay Mcdowell and myself were
seated in the middle of the car, and
as we discovered that the train was
likely to go over the trestle, Mcdowell
started down the aisle. l called to
him to sit down and the next instant
the crash came. Ire engine went over
first and the smoker on top of it, and
the rear coach, in which we were
seated, damned down on the other.
The car was crowded with passen gers
and we were forced along the backs
of seats in front of us, and all but Nc
Dowell and myself were horribly
mangled. AS soon as possible we
climbed through a window and in
fifteen minutes succeeded III eXtcicat-
ing nine persons who were jammed IL.
the debris. Hearing tie sfrieks and
cries for help on all sides, l left Me-
Dowell and ran three miles across the
country to the penitentiary without
making a stop. l had Warden Beemer
telephone the police department ''and
they responded promptly and molly
with the patrol carriages and physi-
clans"
Impossible to Escape.
. Colonel Bills says that two men in
the front of the chair car were killed
and burned and that he had hold of one
trying to get him out, but he could not
manage it. He thinks it would be i'm
possible for single man to have es-
capped from the smoking car 1t fell