The Lamar register., 1897-01-02
TRAIN WRECKED.
rARowN FROM a AloA rnEsTLn
r~enty-one Passenger. Lose Their Lives
an Aiabams Road Result Of
the Deliberate Work of villain.

Fiends In human form wrecked the Blr-
mlngham Mineral passenger train No, 40
at Cahaba river bridge. twenty
miles from here. at Ta50 O'Clock this
morning. and ,wenty-one ilyes were host.
That number OF bodies have been recUv-
cred from the wreck and further search
may swell the list Of dead
The wreck Is regarded as almost GER
tainly accomplished by the removal Of a
rail on the middle span OF the tresile. This
derailed the train. which caused II TO
fall down the two spans and pnecipliaied
| Il into the river. iI0 feet below. The
wreck was the worst that has ever occur
red In the stale. and the survivors
are 80 few and are 80 badly hurt that
they are unable To give any detailed de
scriptlon Of how 1t happened. II : not
known, and may never he asceriainsd'
just how many passenErrs we're on ths
train Most Of them were miners and
residents Of mining towns In his DIS
trict. who had round.Jrip tickets and were
returning - their homes along the hne
OF the birmingham Mineral rad
Conduc,or Connei. who probably knew
better than anybody else as 10 bow many
! passengers were aboard. + dead II IS
thought, however. there were not ex-
ceedlnr twenty-five or thirty. But one
passenger purchased ticket ai Blrmlns-
ham.
The train onslstcd Of the engine. pas'
gage car end two coaches.
The engine landed on lis side almost a.
right Angles with the track. The carr
piled upon each other through the mar
suan. The entire wreck took fire s1sn
afterwards and was rapidly burned to ;h'
waters edge. Nine persons alone escapsd
alive from all who went down. and ~
eral of them viii probably de
The first news Of the vreck wss
brought by a farmer 10 Hargroye. foni
miles distant.
When the relief train fom Birmlng
ham arrived there was little need for
the army Of physicians that had gone
along. The wounded had been at
tended to and then sent to Blocion for
further attention.
The work OF taking out the dead
was entered upon. Nothing was left
OF the wreckage but the smonldering
remains. which had burned to the wa
ter's edge Charred eorpses were
packed in between the iron framework
where the seats had been. Most Of
the bodies had been burned beyond
recognition. Some had their heads
burned on and OF Others nothing was
left but the mere skeleton. As rapid.
ly as possible the remains were taken
out and laid IN row on the river
bank
Or. Ray. a Blocton physician, who
attended Gardner, teleEraphs tonight
the statement made by Gardner as to
the cause of the wreck. Gardner says
he felt the cars leaving the track and
he saw three savage looking men
rushing from a hiding place down TO
wards the waters edge. mad 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 offer.
ed no assistance whatever In rescuing
the imprisoned and injured passen-
gers This story. however, has not yet
been corroborated. hut other facts
tend TO show 1t was the work OF train
wreckers.
An examination of the engine shows
that Engineer White had shut off the
steam and reversed before IL went
down Indicating that he saw danger