The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-10-21
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the engineer and iiremen: mo. 81
will wait at Swansea until 3:15 for IS
and will not wait variation.
This order meant that train 30 wa
TO 90 to Swansea and wait there unit
3:15 only, and not the usual addition
al 5 minutes. The dispatcher here wa
eiven to understand that both conduc
tor and engineer understood the or
der. 1t now appears that either Engi
neer Petit or both he and Conductor
Taylor misunderstood the order read
ing Sweden for Swansea" Sweder
being 23 miles further down the road
A telegram from Savannah states tha
Conductor Taylor understood the or
der Alright and when he found that the
engineer had not stopped for Swanses
he jumped TO the emergency brake
cora and pulled ii, but it was too late
then, the other train being just around
the curve and moment later the
crash came. Conductor l'erkuson ol
the up train had copy OF the same
order which he had gotten at Living,
stone, lust below. His train would
have been at Swansea little ahead oil
the hour fixed, for he looked at his
watch the moment after the crash and
and it showed that the trains went to-
gether at exactly 3:04. Had No. 81
obeyed orders there would have been
no trouble whatever.
How Engineer Petit came to misun-
derstand the order no one will ever
know. He is a man of high character,
is regarded as one of the best engineers
in The South and is considered most
reliable man. He is an Augustan, his
brother being the secretary OF the
Electric Railway company there.
1t is strange coincidence that En-
eineer Bell, who was on the other en-
CINE, is double" brother-in.l law OF
Engineer Petit, the two having mar
ried each others sisters. Mr.. Bell is
brother of the agent of the Southern
railway in Augusta. The engines were
Nos. GO and 70, known as the twin
moguls.
The explanations given above ex
plain how the wreck came to occur.
There is one thing that will be looked
into and that is the provision OF the
South Carolina law that requires the
engineer and conductor to read the
order over in the presence OF the dis
patcher, whose duty it is to see that
they understand it.
The State railroad commission, un,
der section 1,634 of the State railroad
law, are required to investigate the
causes of any accident on a railroad
resulting in the loss of life" In &C.
cordance with this Commissionel
Thomas asked for a special TO take
him to the scene of the wreck. 1t was
gotten ready and when Cayce's was
reached orders came, evidently from
some Florida Central and Peninsular
CLERK, to send the train back. Mr..
Thomas sent this brief message and
there was no further delay:
II. A. Williams, Master OF trains, Sa
vannah, Ga:
demand to be taken to wreck un
der section /, ,G31 General Statutes,
Give orders. II. A. Thomas,
Railroad Commissioner.
The scene ofthe wreck was reached
in short time. Some distance away
the number of country people along
the dirt roads indicated that something
very unusual h; d occurred and their
countenances 81 owed the horror they
felt. The wreck occurred on a 2O.foot
embankment b;tween two hills about
$50 yards from one another. The
track runs through curve cuts in each
of these hills. The working crews had
been at work and only the interlocked
moguls were to Re seen on the EN-
bankment. They made striking
picture and illustrated very forcibly
the results of such a collision. Meth
er had left the track. The mail and
express car of No. 35 was at the foot oil
the embankment on the right hand side
completely overturned and smashed
beyond repair. Just in rear of engine
90 was mass of smouldering, sm"k
ing ruins, the remains of train IS.
On every side were pieces of broken
and twisted iron.
The honest, tender. hearted country
| folk busted themselves searching
among the smouldering ruins TO,
pieces of the bones of the cremated mer
and whatever else that might be saw
ed. Hard as they worked they could
only collect about a peck of the parch
ed bones of the three men whose
lives had been lost. The heart of ont
of the men was found. 1t preserved
| its original form, but was hard ant
charred black mass. Portions Of thu
shoulder andIthe hips of other victim
were all else that was recovered. Th'
watches of the three cremated mel
were found within radius of 10 feet
The remains thus gathered were PLACED
| in box made of an old desB rescued
from one of the baggage cars ant
nailed up. It is understood that th'
people of the vicinity desire to bur,
the few bones there. Baggagemastel
Lines overalls were secured in SOM
way. The express safe was burned
badly, but it is thought that its con
tents are safe. A valise and riil
were the only express packages saved
Only two or three pieces of baggag
were saved and the car was unusual.
full of trunks. Some handkerchief
and few partially burned article
which had been in the trunks wer
found.
The telegraph wire wss tapped nea
! the wreck and an instrument put IN
an open air office being established, In
Operator using one of the water cool
ers saved for chair.
The authorities did splendid work il