Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1897-01-04
THE WORK OF FIENDS.
Train in Alabama Plunges from a
Bridge 100 Feet Into
River

river bridge, twenty seven miles from
| here, at 7:50 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 rail on the middle span of the tres
caused it to fall down the two spans
and precipitated it into the river, ITO
feet below
The Dead and Injured.
The railroad company furnished the
following list of dead
JAMES BOILING of Guthrie, KY, South
FRANK WHITE Of Birmingham, en-
gineer.
A. P. WHITE of Helena conductor.
R. WEBB of Birmingham.
BRUCE PHILLIPS of Blocton.
L. W. MARTIN of Brookwood, Ala.
! MRS. HENRY HANDBERRY and TWO
CHILDREN, Birmingham.
Il. H. BLOANT Of Birmingham, colored
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 Blocton.
MRS; GARDNER Of Blocton.
Miss GARDNER OIL blOCIOn.
MISS GARDNER of Bocton.
ONE UNIDENTIFIED BODY, supposed
to be Tom Struthere a colored porter.
The following are the injured:
HENRY HANDBERRY of Birmingham a
Louisville & Nashville conductor. Serious
K. e. ECKIES of Helena, slightly:
SAM SPENCER, fireman, arm broken.
ANDREW BRYSON of Blocton, Fatally
MRS POWERS CHILD of Blocton,
slightly.
MRS. WALKER, slightly.
Mrs. Walkers three children escaped
practically uninjured. The relief train
at the scene of the wreck reached Biz
mingham 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 in the state, and the survivors
are so few, and are so badly hurt, that
they are unable to give any detailed de-
scription of how it 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. p. Cornell. who prob
ably knew better than anybody else as to
how many passengers were aboard, is
dead. 1t is thought, however, that there
were not exceeding twenty-five or thirty.
But one passenger purchased ticket at
Birmingham.
Robbed Dead and Injured.
DR.. Ray, a Blocton physician who at
tended Gardner. one of the injured sur
vivors, 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 strengthening men rushing from
hiding place down toward the waters
edge and that after the wreck they
went through the wreckage robbing the
dead and wounded, and then fled to
the woods. They did their work quickly
and offered no assistance whatever in
the way of rescuing the imprisoned and
injured passengers. This story, how
ever, has not yet been corroborated, 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 a lingering
spark of vitality which enabled him to
relate MS horrible experience ana ten
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-
Ell and children against projecting
rocks and trees. Down the deep abyss
lii feet this whirling mass went into
one common disordered heap. Poor
Bryson did not at first go to the bottom.
He was caught between the limbs of a
tree about twenty-five feet above the
river bed The leaping flames from
the burning cars brought him to con-
seriousness of his perilous position. Real
ling that he could not long survive in
that position he managed to extricate
himself and fell bleeding and mangled
to the river bottom into two feet of wa
ter. He managed to pull himself under
meath a 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-
~ nf l.