The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-12-29
DROPPED TO DEATH
FEARFUL RAILWAY CATASTROPHE
IN ALABAMA.

SEAht UL hall w a i VA AO4 hOI III
IN ALABAMA.
louisville and Nashville Train Of Two
Coaches Plunges From Bridge Ninety
Feet High Over the Cahaba-Wreck Im-
mediateIy Takes Fire and Several of the
Missing Probably Utterly Consumed in
the Flames Some Frightful Expert
ences of yictims-The Killed and Injured
News of Accidents in Many Lands.
Birmingham, Ala, Dec 2S.-Conf1ict-
Ing statements were current this morn
ing as to the number Of dead bodies
taken from the debris of yesterday s
wreck near Blockton. The official list
furnished a. the Office of the Louisville
showed only twenty-one so far recovered
and eleven injured. of which at least
two were fatal and six serious. This Of
ficial list was the same as that furnished
at late hour last night. II was esd-
mated by some who witnessed the clear
ing of the debris yesterday, including
several physicians, that twenty-eight
dead bodies were taken out. The relief
train which returned to the city last
nigh. at O'Clock stopped at siding
two miles outside of the city limits,
where il was met by undertakers' wa
gols and ambulances. The time of ar
rival o. this train was known only 70
those who had been engaged TO look af-
ter the dead and wounded. The dead
were quietly and quickly removed TO the
undertakers' shops and the wounded
were taken to an infirmary in this city.
"A representative Of the Associated Press
who visited the scene of the wreck fail
ed TO find any evidence of fatalities in
excess of the number already reported
AMI the identity Of this number could
not then be established beyond the list
of the railroad.
4. Inc scene of the wreck this morning
IL Was learned that the dead bodies of
those who resided at Brockton were TAX
en- TO that place. The body of James
Bowling, express manager, was shipped
20 his former home, Guthrie, XIV. The
Birmingham Mineral accommodation
has no mail service on Sunday. and this
TACT explains the escape of Railway Pos
tai Agent Bass, who a first was re-
ported among the missing. Conductor
Robert Rutherford reported missing was
not on the train. Yesterday was his reg
ular trip, but Conductor Council was
cunning extra, in place of Rutherford.
A DAY IN AGONY.
Mr.. Dyson, who was listed among the
fatally injured yesterday, is numbered
among the dead today. He lived for q
hours in great agony. He was fright
fully mangied and burned. When the
train made its awful plunge Bryson did
not at first so to the bottom He was
caught between the limbs of tree about
twenty-five feet above the river. The
names from the burning cars below
brought him 10 consciousness of his
perilous position. He managed to extri-
cate himself and fell, bleeding and man.
gled, 10 the river bottom into two feet of
water. He then pulled himself under
meath large rock and, protected to
some extent by the running water, he e.
capped the flames but was not able 10
long survive his injuries.
SCENE OF THE CATASTROPHE.
The imemdiate vicinity of the fatal
disaster is the Alpine region of Alaba-
ma, picturesque, wild and rugged. II
has been the home OF outlaws and moon
sinners. Here. in this trackless country.
RUDE Burrows, the noted outlaw and
train robber, whose dead body the South
ern Express company paid so large a
sum for, held full sway and roamed #
will until, a few years ago. when the
price on his head furnished an incentive
Tor the avaricious and daring detectives
and manhunters. In these mountains.
along the banks Of the romantic Cahaba.
the brave but Inflated Rube for a while
found safe retreat and defied the pro-
greSS or civilization in the DEVELOPMENT
OF coal mines and the building of rail- |
roads. The outlaws and moonshiners
have retired and their trails are the road
beds Of railroads which skim along the
mountafnsfde and cross and recross the
deep and dark gorges reaching out to the
many openings along the great coal |
seams of this district
THE PLUNGE TO DEATH.
Yesterdays dispatches say:
The train was a small local passenger
which, starting from Birmingham at 6 |
q. m, runs 10 point near Gunery. then
goes over connecting link OF track con-
trolled by the Southern Railway. and /
known as the Blairfield, Blockton and |
birmingham road. The train returns To
the Louisville and Nashville tracks at
Blockton and makes the return trip TO
birmingham, after a circuit touching
numerous mining towns in that section. |
Between Gunery and Blockton. the
tracks cross the Cahaba river, an unim-
portant stream, which, except in times of
heavy rains, is quite shallow. The bridge
Is about ninety feet high with a 2OO-foot
span in the middle and approaches sew
eral hundred feet long.
Into the bed of the Cahaba the nm
fortunate passengers and crew were
plunged. That anyone escaped with his
life is little short of miraculous Almost
immediately the train. which consisted
OF an engine. a combination baggage and
express car and two coaches, took fire,
increasing the horror of the calamity.
AT HEADQUARTERS.
Louisville. Ky. Dec. 2S.-At the head
quarters of the Louisville and Nashville
in this CITY. the statement was
,nadn that the catastrophe resulted in
twenty dead and eight injured This Is
acccid ding to kilograms received by Su-
periatendent of Transportation George
+. Evans Mr.. Evans maintained that
the Hre OK was the result Of a carefully
planned scheme Of robbery and did not
the idea that il was due 10
cGre!essness on the part of the division
suro: inteEdent or his subordinates. He
said he could not see how the wreck ,
could have occurred except as a pre-ar-
ranged affair. The trains moved over the
bridge al very slow rate of speed and ,
Ii would take very serious disarrange-
nent Of the rails 10 cause the train TO
junp the track II
1t was reported early last night that :
las people had been killed in the wreck. {