The record-union., 1896-08-25
Plunges Into a Number Of Freight
Cars and Wrecked.
Of Those Injured Four Are Not Ex-
peCted to Recover--Miracie That
Many Escaped Instant Death-The
Between Freight Trains Just Pre-
vious to the Coming of the Express.

PITTSBURG, Aug. 24.-The through
express train from Chicago on the
Pittsburg and Western Railroad, which
was due in this city at 2:35 p. m, was
wrecked at Valencia, small station
twenty miles west of here at IL 30
O'Clock to-day, and more than a score of
passengers We're injured, four of whom
may die.
Just before the passenger train
reached that place there was a collision
of freight trains which threw a num-
ber of freight cars onto the main track,
and the express train, coming along at
the rate of thirty miles an hour plunged
into the wrecked freight cars. Nearly
every car of the express was wrecked
and the escape of the passengers from
instant death is remarkable.
The injured are: Mrs. w. 3. Marsh,
Talmadge, o., skull fractured, will prob
ably die; John Curry, Pleasant Hill,
Pa, lower jaw fractured. throat cut.
will die; Mrs. J. w. Morse, Lodi, O.,
lower jaw, cheek bone and collar bone
fractured, recovery very doubtful; Miss
Madge Bennett, Allegheny, Pa, serious
confusion of left temple, nose cut and
bruised; Mary Bennett, head cut and
face bruised; Walter Smith, Akron, o..
scalp wound; Mrs. z. A Cramer, ApoI-
10, Pa, serious scalp wounds; Belle
Cramer, injured internally; Grant Cul-
bert Allegheny, Pa, right forearm
fractured, face and scalp wounds; Jen
ME Cramer, slight scalp wounds; d. B.
Schnatz, Harmony, Pa, scalp wounds
and spinal cord injured, not serious; G.
D. Huston, Newcastle, Pa, scalp
wounds; E. J. Smith, fireman, Beaver
Falls, Pa, scalp wound and ankle
sprained; J. H. Weakening, Newcastle,
Pa., leg bruised and scalp wound; Jen
ME Smith, Verona, Pa, face and head
badly cut; J. c.. Miller, Hazelwood. Pa,
engineer, leg badly squeezed; l.. L.
Gray, express messenger, Allegheny,
Pa, nose~broken and hand and wrist in
jured; DIR. J. L. Tierney, Chambersburg,
Pa, serious scalp wound; j. Edward
Grill. baggagemaster, side and face in
jured; Ms c. F. Hyle. Evans City, Pa,
head badly cut and bruised; ]. w. Nc
Millin, engineer, Bennett, Pa, feet
crushed; Charles Smith. fireman, Ben
nett, Pa, ankle sprained and head badly
cut.
The injured were brought to the Allie
gheny General Hospital by a special
train.
The Chicago express train does not
stop at Valencia. and was running
at about the rate of forty miles an
hour when the engineer first discov
cred the obstruction on the tracks. The
engineer reversed and applied the
brakes, but though the speed of the ex-
press was diminished somewhat, it
struck the freight cars on the main
track with frighful force, and freight
cars and engine rolled in a great mass of
torn wood and iron over an embank-
ment into the ditch below.
{ The engineer and fireman of the ex-
press. when they saw that a collision
was inevitable, jumped and escaped
with severe injuries. The tender, mail,
express and passenger coaches piled up
over each other and rolled down the
embankment on the wrecked engine and
freight cars. Clouds of steam and
smoke from the disabled engine envel-
oped the scene and added to the distress
of the injured pinioned in the wreck,
who feared the wreck would take fire
and burn them alive.
Meanwhile those of the express crew
and passengers who were not injured,
the crew OF the IfelSnt Train anu people
of Valencia who were near at hand
when the accident occurred, rushed to
the aid of the injured, and a special
train with surgeons was at once dis
patched from Allegheny to the scene of
the wreck. The freight cars which We're
struck by the express were heavily
loaded with long iron tubes These were
hurled through the sides of the day
coaches, and most of the injuries to
passengers were produced by them.