The record-union., 1897-06-28

KANSAS CITY, June 27.-Seven cof-
fins were forwarded to st. Louis to-
day from Missouri City. They con-
tanned the remains Of the victims of
last nights wreck on the Wabash road.
A corrected list OF the dead is as fol-
lows:
w. S. Mills, postal clerk, st. Louis;
O. NJ. Smith, postal clerk, St. Louis;
Gustave A. Smith, postal clerk, st.
Louis; Charles Winters, postal. clerk,
St Louis; F. w. Brink, postal clerk,
St. Louis; Edward Grindrode, baggage
man, st. Louis; Charles P. GreasIey,
brakeman, St. Louis.
The conductor of the train, G. c.
Copeland of St Louis. who was re-
ported last night among the dead, is
still alive. He was removed this morn
ing to the hospital at Moberly. With a
fractured skull and several broken
ribs, he fingers between life and death,
but the surgeons express ahope that he
Will recover. Conductor Copeland was
supposed to be dead when taken from
the wreck and his body, with a hand
kerchief drawn over the face, was
ranged in a row with the seven dead
corpses A few minutes later some
one observed a sign of life, and he
was quickly transferred to a stretcher
and given every possible attention.
OF the nineteen others injured, not
one is in a critical condition. Among
them all there is not one broken limb,
though many of them were thrown
three quarters of the length of the
coaches in which they were riding.
Mrs. w. H. Wilkinson of Kansas
City is the most seriously hurt. Two
small bones Of her left hand are brolI-
en-, and she suffered a severe 1aceration
of the thigh, as We'll as bruises about
the face and neck. The wounds of
most of the others are trivial.
All indications are that death came to
at least four of the five unfortunate
mail clerks almost instantly. Their
car pitched first through the break in
the trestle, and they must have been
drowned in the raging stream while
in an unconscious condition. The re-
mains of the four were carried from
the wreck and We're recovered some
distance down the stream. There
We're signs of life in the body of the
fifth mail clerk when rescuers dragged
him from the wreck, but he died few
minutes later on the bank Of the
creek
Last night is was feared there We're
more bodies in the stream, but a care
full search to-day proved that the IA
talties We're limited to those already
named To-day but a small stream
was flowing beneath the trestle where
the wreck occurred In ordinary
weather it is a dry creek bed. The
storm of last night, which was almost
a clOudburst, had swollen the little
stream to torrendal proportions. The
flood carried away a wagon bridge,
short distance above the Wabash tres
tie. The wreck of this bridge was
hurled down upon the railroad trestle
and carried away a row of wooden sup
ports in the center.
A neighboring farmer noticed the
perilous condition of the trestle and re-
solved to flag the passenger train.
which he knew to be about due. For
nearly an hour he stood there in the
terrific downpour of rain, only to fail at
last in his good intentions, for when the
Wabash Company's fast mail came
laundering on, the storm was almost
binding and the engineer, evidently,
could not see the signal which the far
mer so frantically waved across the
track.
The locomotive struck the trestle,
moment later the disaster was pre-
sented in all it's horrors. The engine
passed over, but the tender went
through with the tumbling bridge The
baggage car toppled off on its side, while
the mail car, which followed, pitched
into the stream end first. Every life in
this car was lost. The smoker, next be-
hind, followed.
It was in this car that Conductor Cope
land was riding. The other occupants
escaped serious injury. The chair car,
next behind, also plunged in upon the
mass of wreckage, end first, and all it's
passengers We're thrown to the forward
end in an indescribable heap. How they
escaped with no more serious injuries
is mystery which all the passengers in
this coach are puzzled over. The front
end of the sleeper, next in the rear.
jammed into the protruding end of the
chair car and was thus prevented from
following the others into the chasm. The
two Excelsior Springs coaches, in the
rear, remained on the track
The scene of the wreck, which is only
twenty miles northeast of Kansas City
near Missouri City station, was visited
to-day by many persons. A wrecking
train worked there all day, repairing the
trestIe and raising the shattered coaches
and tonight trains are moving over the
road as usual.
The postal authorities report that
probably nearly all of the mail car
ried on the train was lost or destroyed.
When the wreck occurred the five pos
tai clerks are supposed to have had all
of their pouches open and to have been
at work distributing the mail. The car
was so broken and splintered that most
of the mail floated Off The Wabash
train each evening carries all OF Kan
sis City's mail for the East and 1t is al
ways heavy and valuable.