The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1896-12-28
VICTIMS OF WRECEERS.
Awful Work of Fiends on an Ala
bama Railroad.
TWENTY ONE PEOPLE MET DEATH.
Tho Removal of u Rail on High Bridge
Caused the Train to Fall Distance of
( Hundred Feet to the Rocks Below-Only
Nine Escaped.

I
I Hundred Feet to the Rocks Below-Only
Nine Escaped.
: BIRMINGHAM, Ala, Dec. 2s-Fiends
In human form wrecked Birmingham
Mineral passenger train No. 40 at Cahaba
river bridge, twenty miles from
here,at 7'5O o clock yesterday morning and
twenty-one lives were lost. That number
of bodies have been recovered from the
wreck and further search may swell the
list of dead The wreck Is regarded
as almost certainly accomplished by the
removal of u rail on the middle span of
The tressle. This deraled the train,
which caused it to fall down the two spans
and precipitated it into the river, 10 feet
bslow.
n The wreck was the worst that ever oc-
eurr6d in the state, and the survivors are
so few and are SO badly hurt that they are
unable to give any detailed description of
how 1t 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 min
ing towns in this district who had round
trip holiday tickets and were retuteing to
ham Mineral railroad. Conductor A. p
Oonnell, who probably knew better than
anybody else as to how many passengers
were aboard, is dead. 1t is thought, how
ever, that there were not exceeding twen.
ty-ave or thirty Nine persons escaped
alive, but several of them will probably
die.
The i'll fated train was a loonl passen ger
which left here at 80 a. m, and was
scheduled to mako circuit of the Bir-
mingham Mineral, which Is q branch Of
the Louisville and Nash1ile, reaching all
the important mining towns in the dis
trict. The train, consisting Of an engine,
. baggage car and two coaches, left here
and went to Taccoa, on the main line of
bhe Louisville and Nashville. There it
switched off to the Birmingham Mineral
track and went to Gurneo, from Gurnes to
Blocton.
Six miles south Of Gurnee ia the Cahaba
river, u shallow mountain stream which
has depth at this time of only about
three or four feet This river il spanned
by an iron bridge with wooden trestles
on each side. Its entire length is 500 feet,
and the length Of the main span, whore
the wreck occurred is lO feet. The
bridge was built only four years ago and
was regarded rs q very strong structure.
The main span and the span just beyond
1t, both made Of iron, gave way and pre-
Cipitated the train into the river.
The first news Of the wreck WIS brought
30 Hargrove, a telegraph station four
miles from tho Cahaba river, by a farmer
who said that while passing near the place
h.ah hau nd J, (Nf1n bn an,
tha two spans of the bridge broken out.
He then discovered the burning wreckage
In the shallow water below, He could
hear the groans Of the wou nded and dying,
but without waiting to SEQ further he rode
his horse rapidly to Hargroye, where tho
operator telesraphsd to Birmingham and
Blocton for relief Meanwhile a few
country people gathered at the SCENE to
render what mid they could, but 1T was too
late to do much.
When the relief train from Birmingham
arrived nothing was left Of the wreckage
but tho smouldering ruins. Churred
pprpses were packed in between the iron
frame work where the seats had been,
most of the bodies having been burned
beyond recognition. Some had their heads
burned off and of others nothing was left
bnt the mere skeleton. AS rapidly as pos
sible the remains were taken out and laid
In row on the river bank. At 4 o'clock
twenty bodies had been found and no
more were in sight, 1t is possible, how
ever, that there are Others under tho
wreckage, and also that some may be hid
under the water.
OF the survivors Sam Spencer was the
only one Of the train crew that escaped
alive. He was the colored fireman. He
sumped from the engine while it was in
mid-air and landed in tho water some dis
lance from where the engine fell. His
only injury was a broken arm. He left
the scene for Bocton on foot almost i'm
mediately after the wreck apparently
crazed with fright.
OF the eight other survivors three were
children, oil of whom had their feet
burned and smashed and Il lady who had
both feet crushed. The other three were
Henry Handberry, conductor from Bir-
mingham, who was taking his wife and
bwo children out for ride around the cir
Quit, and VIII Gardner and Andrew Bpy-
son, miners from Blocton Handberry
was on the same seat with his wife and
children when the crash came. The latter
three were killed and he was pinned down
and would have been burned alive had he
not been rescued by Bryson and Gardner
These two men also saved the unknown
woman and three children, but by the
time they had rescued these five parsons
the heat had become so intense that they
were compelled to desist In their work Of
rescue.
1t is thought that fully three ,fourths Of
kI,a Il ii lnI nj chi In, tl,a
while the other five were pinioned down
and cremated. Gardner and Bryson were
both badly hurt, while Hsudberry will
probably die.
DR. Ray, tt Blocton physician, who at.
tended Gardner, one Of the injured sur
vivors, telegraphs tho statement made by
Gardner as to the cause of the wreck.
Gardner says that when he felt the cars
leave the track he looked ont and saw
three savage looking men rushing from
hiding place down towards 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
resouing the imprisoned and injured pas
sengers. This story, however,, has not yet
been corroborated, but several other facts
tond to show that II was the work Of train
wreckers,
An examination of the engine shows that
Engineer White had shut off the steam and
reversed before it went down, indicating
that he saw danger ahead rs he approached
the bridge, and tried to stop his train, His
oharred body WAS found with his hand on |
tho throttle. The survivors al ugres that !