The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-04-30

Yesterday afternoon at ESQ r. M, an
accident occurred on the main line of the
Wheeling & Lake Erie railroad, two
miles cast Of warrenton junction, that
resulted in the instantaneous death Of
one Of the tralnmtn and tho serious In
Jury OF two others, In addition TO heavy
property loss 10 the railroad company.
A train OF twenty-nlne gondolS coal
cars, emptles, was going west, hauled by
two heavy engines. Nos 81 and %. the
former the largest and heaviest engine
on the road. The train had been made
up at warrsn.on. the Junction point ten
miles aboYe Wheeling, where the steu-
benvllIe branch II the road taps the nan
line which runs down to Martins Ferry
aud Wheeling.
Two miles west Of Warrenton. bridge
No. 2s9 crosses Gardeners run, a small
, Itream usually dry, but now stream
fIfty feet wide and two or three feet
deep. The engineer OF the nrst engine
felt the bridge going down as his engine
was crossing. He Immediately threw
his throttle wide open and succeeded m
getting across in safety.
But the balance " the train was not so
The second engine went Down into the
creek and was followed by twenty-three
81 the EondoIas. The scene that followed
was one OF undesirable confusion ana
demolition. Unlike the scene that usu-
ally attends a passenger wreck there
were M groans Of the wounded. and the
crew OF the first engine. which got over
IN safety, feared from this that both the
engineer and fireman. who were known
20 be In the wreck. had been killed.
This fear was partly realized, untortu-
nateiy, The engineer. James D0ckstst-
ter, OF MasSIllon. had been unable 20 ex,
lric1te himself from the wreckage and
WAS pinned down by the mass or iron and
timbers that came dhwn ON the engine,
and Instantly killed. HlS head was
crushed 50 that he WAS beyond recng-
milton, The fireman. Edward Num-
also Of Massillon. was fortunate
enough 10 escape With broken
Lex and arm. in addition TO badly sc1ld-
"a body, However. Il was thought he
would recover from his injuries.
At frst IL was believed that thesc were
All who had gone down in the wreck. but
few minutes after the casualty, the
brakeman, Charles T. Keyser, OF Massll-
Ion, was seen TO emerge from the water
IN the creek, which had risen several
feet after the cars we're piled under the
bridge. He was m top Of the third car
IN the rear Of the second engine. Is
seemed almost miraculous that he should
escape with his life, Remarkable TO re-
late, his injuries are not 1t all serious
and his recovery is assured beyond a
doubt.
When the wreck occurred the conduc-
cor, whose name could not be learned.
yasin the cahOoie al the rear end OF the
train. He felt the jar when the train
bean TO 60 through the bridge. and
saved himself from injury by his pre-
ence OF mind. He lost no time In uncoup-
ling the caboose from the train. and then
applied the brake VIII ali his strength.
By this he succeeded in bringing the ca
bose 70 standStill almost at the brink
Of the wreck
The dead engineer. Dockstetter leaves
4 family. a wife and four children. at
AIaksillOn. The other trainmeu also have
families az the same place. Dock
stettnr'R body was taken 10 Massillon
last night. together with the injured
fralumen, Keyser and Mum.
The wreck delayed through passenger
and frelght traffic on the Wheeling &
Lake Erie last night. but II was expect
ed that the bridge would be repaired and
trahic resumed late last nigh; or early
this morning. The property loss to the
railroad IS considerable, probably $4,000
% $4,000.