The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-28
HORROR ON A BIRMINGHAM ROAD
SIMILAR TO THE ASHTABULA
DISASTER.
FlENDS DID THE WORK.
SENT THE TRAIN AND ITS LOAD
DOWN TO CERTAIN DE-
STRUCTIION.
ALL FEARFULLY MANGLED.
BUT NINE RESCUED ALIVE, AND OF
THESE MANY WILL
TWENTY-sEVEN BODIES FOUND.
Relief Crews Find Nothing but
SmcIder1ng Debris When They
Arrive,
ALL FEARFULLY MANGLED.
TwENTY-sEvEN BODIES FOUND.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala, Dec. 27.-Fiends
in human form wrecked Birmingham
Mineral passenger train No. 40 at Ca
haba river bridge, twenty-seven miles
from here, at 7:50 o'clock this morn
ing, and 27 lives were lost. That
number Of bodies have been recovered
from the wreck, and further search
may swell the list of dead. The wreck
is regarded as almost certainly accom-
plished by the removal of a rail on the
middle span of the trestle. This de-
rallied the train, which caused it to
fall from the two spans and precipi-
tated it into the river, ITO feet below.
The
WRECK WAS THE WORST
that has ever occurred in the state,
and the survivors are so few and are
so badly hurt that they are unable to
give any detailed description of how it
all happened. 1t is not known and may
never be ascertained just how many
passengers were on the train. Most Of
them were miners and residents of
mining towns in this district, who had
round-trip holiday tickets and were re-
turning to their homes along the line
of the Birmingham mineral road
The railroad company tonight fur
nishes the following as the list Of dead:
JAMES BOILING, of Guthrie, KY, South
ern express messenger.
FRANK WHITE, birmingham, engineer.
A 7.
GEORGE CARNEY. Birmingham, hagman.
r. WEBB, Birmingham.
BRUCE PHILLIPS, Brocton.
l.. w. MARTIN, Brookwood, Ala.
MRS. HENRY HANDBERRY and two chill
dren, Birmingham.
R. H. BLOANT, Birmingham, colored min
lister.
MISS ADA POWERS, Blocton.
DIR. L. n. POWERS, Blocton.
MRS. EMMA POWERS and two children,
Blocton.
MRS. R. LITTLE, Blocton.
MR.. GARDNER, Blocton.
MRS. GARDNER, Blocton.
MISS GARDNER, Blocton.
ONE UNIDENTIFIED BODY, but supposed
| to be Tom Struther, colored porter
This makes twenty killed instead
of twenty-seven, as previously report
ed. This mistake, the railroad officials
say, arose from the fact that twenty
seven was the number reported as hav-
ing been removed from the wreck dead
and alive up to p. m. The following
are the injured:
Henry Handberry, of Birmingham, Louis
Vile & Nashville conductor; seriously. E. E.
Eckles, of Helena; slightly. Sam Spencer,
fireman; arm broken. Andrew Bryson, of
Blocton; fatally. Miss Booth, of Blocton;
slightly. Mrs. Powers child, from Blocton;
slightly. Mrs. Walker; slightly. Mrs. Walk
er's three children escaped practically unin-
! jured.
The following have been identified:
FRANK WHITE, of Birmingham engineer,
aged forty; leaves widow and five children.
A. P. CONNELL, of Helena, conductor, aged
thirty-six; leaves a widow and two children
GEORGE CARNEY, of Birmingham, flag
man; leaves widow and child.
| JAMES BOILING, of Guthrie, KY, South
| ern express messenger, aged twenty-five.
WILL WEBB, residence unknown; identified
| by name on watch.
MRS. HENRY HANBERRY, of Birming-
/ ham, and two children.
GEORGE WILLIAMS, of Brookwood Ala.
| L. w. MARTIN. of Brookwood Ala.
Seventeen other bodies have not yet
| been identified.
The ill-fated tram was a local pas
senger which left here at $50 a. m. and
was scheduled to make a circuit of
the Birmingham Mineral, which is a
branch line Of the Louisville & Nash
vile, reaching all the important mining
towns in the district. The train, con-
sisting of an engine, baggage car and
two coaches, left here at $50 g. m.
and went to Taccoa, on the main line
of the Louisville & Nashville There
it switched off to the Birmingham Min
eral track and went to Guernee, from
Guernee to Blocton. The Mineral
trains operate over the Southern rail-
ways Brierfield, Blocton and Birming-
| ham branch under a contract arrange
ment. Six miles south of Guernee is
the Cahaba river, a shallow mountain
stream, which has depth at this time
of only about three or four feet This
river is spanned by an iron bridge with
wooden trestles on each side. It's en-
tire length is 800 feet, and the length
of the main span where the wreck oc-
CURED is 10 feet. The bridge was
built only four years ago and was re-
garded as very strong structure.
The main span and the span just be-
yond it, both made of iron, gave way
and precipitated the entire train into
the river. The engine landed on its
side almost at right angles with the
| track. The cars piled upon each other
through the main span. The
ENTIRE WRECK TOOK FIRE
soon afterward and was rapidly burned
to the waters edge Nine persons
alone escaped alive from all who went
down, and several of them will prob
ably die.
| When the relief train from Birming-
ham arrived there was little need for
the army of physicians that had gone
along. The wounded were quickly at
| tended to and then sent to Blocton
for further attention. The work of TAX
| ing out the dead was entered upon.
| Nothing was left of the wreckage but
] the smoldering remains, which had