Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1896-12-30
TEE WORK OF FIENDS.
Train in Alabama Plunges from a
Bridge 90 Feet Into
a River.

- y
here. at 100 o'clock yesterday morning,
and tWenty-One or more lives were lost.
That number of bodies have been re-
covered from the wreck and further
search may swell the list of dead The
wreck was accomplished by the removal
of a rail on the middle span of the tres
tie. This derailed the train. which
caused It to fall down the two spans
and precipitated it into the river, 40
feet below.
The Dead and Injured.
The railroad company furnished the
following list of dead:
JAMES BOILING of Guthrie, Ky, South
fF FR fSPEeSS W TfTTfage Of Birmingham en-
gineer.
4 P WHITE of Helena. conductor
r. WEBB of Birmingham.
BRUCE PHILLIPS of Blocton
l.. w. MARTIN of Brookwood Ala
MRS. HENRY HANDBERRY and TWO
CHILDREM, Birmingham
L. H. BLOANT of birmingham, colored
minister
MISS IDA POWERS of Blocton.
DIR. L. n. POWERS of Blocton.
MRS. EMMA POWERS and TWO chill
DREN of Blocton.
MRS. r. LITTLE of Blocton.
MIR. GARDNER of BIoctOn.
MRS. GARDNER Of Blocton.
MISS GARDNER of Blocton.
MISS GARDNER of Blocton.
ONE UNIDENTIFIED BODY. supposed
to be Tom Struther, a colored porter.
The following are the injured:
HENRY HANDBERRY of Birmingham, a
Louisville & Nashville conductor. Serious
f. E. ECKLES of Helena, slightly.
SAM SPENCER, fireman, arm broken.
ANDREW BRYSON of Blocton. fatally.
MRS POWERS CHILD OF Blocton
Mrs. WALKER, slightly.
Mrs. Walkers three children escaped
practically uninjured. The relief train
1T the scene of the wreck reached Biz
mneham at 8 o'clock last night bringing
ten corpses and three injured persons.
Ten other dead bodies were left at Bloc
ton and one at BroOkWOOd.
The wreck was the worst that has ever
occurred i'll the state, and the survivors
are 50 few and are so badly hurt, that
they are unable to give any detailed de-
scription of how if 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 returning to their homes along the
line Of the Birmingham Mineral road.
Conductor a. 2. Cornell. who prob
ably knew better than anybody else as to
how many passengers were aboard, is
dead. 1t is thought however. that there
We're not exceeding twenty-five or thirty.
But enc passenger purchased 4 ticket at
birmingham.
Robbed Dead and Injured.
DR. Ray, a Blocton physician who at
tended Gardner. one of the injured sur
viFors, telegraphed the statement made
by Gardner as to the cause of the wreck
Gardner says when he felt the cars leav-
ing the track he looked out and saw
three savage-looking men rushing from
4 hiding place down toward the waters
edge and that after the wreck they
went through the wreckage robbing the
dead and wounded, and then fed to
the woods They did their work quickly
and offered no assistance whatever in
the way of rescuing the imprisoned and
ever. has not yet been cOrr0bOrated. but
other facts tend to show that the wreck
was the work of train Wreckers.
A Pathetic Story.
Distressing and pathetic is the story
Of poor Mr.. Bryson, listed among the
fatally injured yesterday. numbered
among the dead today. He lived for
twenty-four hours in great agony. He
was bruised, broken, mangled and
burned almost beyond recognition, but
there remained for while Il lingering
spark Of vitality which enabled him to
relate his horrible experience and tell
his sorroWful story. When the train
made its awful plunge from above the
tops Of trees and shelving rocks.
the broken timbers and iron of
the bridge and train flying in
every direction, dashed men, wom-
rocks and trees. Down the deep abyss
III feet this Whirling mass went into
one common disordered heap. Poor
BrysGn did not at first go to the bottom.
He was caught between the limbs of q
tree about twenty-five feet above the
river bed. The leaping flames from
the burning cars brought him to con-
sciousness of his perilous position. Real
ling that he could not long survive i'll
that position he managed to extricate
himself and fell bleeding and mangled
10 the river bottom into two feet of wa
ter. He managed to pull himself under
meath large rock and protected to some
extent by the running water he escaped
the devouring flames. He survived a
short while and told to anxious friends
and sorrowing relatives this graphic
story.
Conflicting Statements.
Conflicting statements are current TO-
day as TO the number of dead bodies tax
Ell from the debris of yesterdays wreck
near Rl0ckton. The official list furnished
ut the Office Of the louisville & Nashville
railroad in this city show only twenty-one
dead so far recovered and eleven injured
of which at least two are fatal and six
serious. This official list is the same az
that furnished late last night. 1t is
claimed by some who witnessed the clear
ing Of the debris including several physi-
clans. that twenty eight dead bodies were
taken out. The relief train which re-
turned to the city last night stopped at
siding two miles outside the city limits
where it was met by undertakers' wagons
and ambulances.
The time of the arrival of this train
was known only to those who had been
engaged TO look after the dead and
wounded The dead were quietly and
quickly removed to the undertakers'
shops and the wounded were taken TO
an infrmary in this city. A representa-
tive Of the Associated Press. who visited
the scene of the wreck failed to find
bp
number already reported and the identity
of this number cannot be estab lshed at
present beyond the list of the railroads
VIII Give No Information.
The railroad officials would give no
definite information last night as to the
number killed whose bodies had been
recovered and brought to this city. At
the scene of the wreck this morning it
was learned that the bodies Of those
,,.hn reSided at Rlncktnn zyere akGn 20