The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-10-21

10 go 10 swansea anu W2lt Luerc uuLl!
SIS only, and not the usual addition
al ) minutes. The dispatcher here was
given to understand that both conduc.
tor and engineer understood the or
der. It now appears that either Epol
neer Petit or both he and Conductor
Taylor misunderstood the order read
ing "SwedeR" for Swansea, " Sweden
being % miles further down the road.
4 telegram from Savannah states that
Conductor Taylor understood the or
der Alright and when he found that the
engineer had not stopped for Swansea
he jumped TO the emergency brake
cord and pulled if, but it was too late
then, the other train being just around
the curve snd moment later the
crash came. Conductor Perkuson ol
ne up-train had copy OF the same
order which he had gotten at Living
stone, just below. His train would
have been at Swansea little ahead OF
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 S:04. Had No. 80
obeyed orders there would have been
no trouble whatever.
How Engineer Petit came TO misun-
Gerstand the order no one will ever
know. He is man Of high character,
is regarded as one Of the best engineers
in the South and is considered a most
reliable man. He IS an Augustan, his
brother being the secretary of the
Electric Railway company there.
It is strange coincidence that En-
eineer Bell, who was on the other en-
CINE, is a double" brother-in law OF
Engineer Petit, the two having mar
ried each others sisters. Mr.. Bell is a
brother of the agent Of the Southern
railway in Augusta. The engines were
Nos. 90 and 70, known as .he twin
moguls.
The explanations given above eX,
plain how the wreck came TO occur.
There is one thing that will be locked
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 10 see that
they understand it.
The State railroad commission, un-
der section 1854 of the State railroad
law, are required to investigate the
causes Of any accident on railroad
resulting in the loss of life" In &C.
cordance with this Commissioner
Thomas asked for a special to take
him to the scene of the wreck. It was
gotten ready aud 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:
&. A. Williams, Master Of trains, Sa-
vannah; Ca:
demand to be taken to wreck un-
der section !, ga General Statutes
Give orders. II. A. Thomas,
Railroad Commissioner.
The scene of the wreck was reached
in a short time. Some distance away
the number OF country people along
the dirt roads indicated that something
very unusual had occurred and their
countenances showed the horror they
felt. The wreck occurred on 20foot
embankment between two hills about
$50 yards from one another. The
track runs through curve cuts in each
of these hills. The working crews had
been a.work and only the interlccked
moguls were to be seen on the en-.
bankment. They made a striking
picture and illustrated very forcibly
the results of such collision. Meth
er had left the track. The mail and
express car Of No. 35 was at the foot Of
the eembankment on the right handside
completely overturned and smashed
beyond repair. Just in rear of engine
90 was mass of smouldering, sm"k.
ing ruins, the remains of train 35.
On every side were pieces Of broken
and twisted iron.
The honest, tender hearted country
folk busted themselves searching
among the smouldering ruins for
pieces of the bones Of the cremated men
and whatever else tnat 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 one
of the men was found. It preserved
It's original form, but was hard and
charred black mass. Portions of the
shoulder andsthe hips of other victims
were all else that was recovered. The
watches of the three cremated men
were found within a radius of 10 feet.
The remains hus gathered were placed
in a box made of an old desk rescued
from one of the baggage cars and
nailed up. It is understood that the
people of the vicinity desire to bury
the few bones there. Baggagemaster
Lines overalls were secured in some
way. The express safe was burned
badly, but it is thought that its con-
tents are safe. a valise and rifle
were the only express packages saved.
Only two or three pieces Of baggage
were saved and the car was unusually
full of trunks. Some haudkerchiefs
and few partially burned articles
which had been in the trunks were
found.
The telegraph wire was tapped near
the wreck and an instrument put 10,
an open air Office being established, the
cperato, 'sing one OF the water cool
ers sa II ior chair.
The authorities did splendid work in
clearing and relaying the tracks and
By last night everything was in readl-
ness for the running of trains as usual.
By transfers there was no interruption
whatever to travel. The engineers
and Conductor Taylor, together with
all the others not referred TO above
went on to Savannah on a special.
The wreck took place about two
miles south of Swansea, and many OF
Swansea's people hastened to the scene
to give assistance The people were
first awakened by the crash. Soon
afterwards Conductor Perkuson arriv-
ed on foot and told the story. He
fastened to Mr.. w. B. Rast's residence