Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-06-11

u e.
day morning that he was satisfied he
put
THIRTY OR FORTY TRAMPS
off the train at McMechen, Moundsville
and Rose6y's Rock, but they jumped on
again as soon as his back was turned.
Fireman II. J. Wegman corroborated
this statement. and said he fired several
OF the tender and from the pilot Of the
engine. Three or four ramps jumped
on the engine at Roseby's Rock, but
two miles from the scene OF the accl-
dent and for several hours after the
mishap the wrecking crews and others
at the scene fully expected to find two or
three bodies Of knights Of the road In
the wreck, but in this they were dls-
appointed.
In speaking Of the accident and the
circumstances Immediately connected
with it. Fireman Wegman said yester-
day morning:
1--WE were not running so fast at the
time of the accident should say that
twenty miles an hour would ABOUT
cover fl CLAYTON was in the engine
cab with US. I was shoveling coal into
the furnace when | heard Duffy tooung
the whistle short and quick, like the
cattle blow. as though there was
SOMETHING ON THE TRACK.
As the last loot came from the whistle
I threw a shovel of coal into the fur
mace and then I felt the engine give Il
hard lvrch and felt her going over the
Ties. I jumped for the tender, but was
thrown back and had my shoulder ana
leg bruised / must have struck some
thing with my head as / came back Ior
my head is q little sore. Before / could
recover l went over with the engine,
but in some mysterious manner l was
not caught. l got on my legs and saw
that Duffy was pinned down under the
fre-bolG I called for help but the en-
sine was popping steam, and the fright
and The fear of an explosion had made
nearly everybody who escaped run.
got TWO men to help me, but we could
do nothing. as Duffy appeared 10 be
held down by the full weight OF the lire
box. and we had TO leave him. we
went over just at 1926 a. m. 1t was
very dark and we could see little or
nothing at first, but the cab took fire
almost at once AS to the cause OF the
accident. I am sure there was some
thing on the track, and that Dury saw
il. or he would never have given those
short whistles. ! examined the rails
where we went over, and there IS no
mark OF the wheel hange, and the en-
CINE went off the high side of the track,
TOO. An engine Of that weight ought
surely TO leave some trace Of where tho
wheel passed over the rails. The sec
ton foreman made
AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY
this morning. however. 1t was that
there had been some object, like spike
or a cutter driven between the ends
of two of the rails, at joint, just west
OF where we went over. The marks are
not only TO be seen on the rails but
there is O nick on The fish plate, where
the object was driven down tight. ii
looks very much like there was de-
liberate attempt to wreck train, and
/ think the parties were laying for NO.
8. and caught the special by mistake.
Whether there was any connection be-
tween this and the fire, which is said
to have been of incendiary origin, is
more than I can say
Bearing in mind this story of the
marks on the rail Joint, it is important
to note that about midnight Saturday
night. the night before the accident,
two or three men were seen at the same
place on the track by several young
ladies who were on their way home.
The men had a light, but when they
saw the ladies, both they and their
light very suddenly and mysteriously
disappeared
Officer John Shorts said: Il was in
the caboosa talking to Mr.. Faris and
several others when we felt the wheels
going over the ties, and then we went
sailing through the air. The shock
threw me partly through a window,
and then there was a recoil which
threw me back. Then came another
surge of the car, and Faris and / went
through the door together and landed
side by side in the willows. II is a
mystery to me that there was not
dozen men killed. There were seven
teen or eighteen men in the caboose, be-
sides some on the gondOla, and there
was a terrible lot of vags. ! kept fir
ing them off all along the line, or there
would have been a much larger loss Of
life Why, at one time there were
three of them on the pilot.
VIII Ransom, OF Moundsville, a
brother-in-law of Frank Farrell, who
was killed, related
a SINGULAR FACT
yesterday morning He said:
81 left Frank down street about ten