The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-08-05
IN THE BYERS WRECK.
L. Eckhart of Topeka, Tells of His Ex-
periences-Other Passengers

/
| Mr.. L. Eckhart of Topeka was one of
| the passengers in the chair car He
! was en- route to Seattle and was doing
| when the accident occurred.
| There was not an instant's warn
| ing, said he describing his experience
| to a News reporter. Il was lying there
in the chair half asleep when something
| hit me over the eye and everything was
| tangled up in a mass of splinters.
don't remember hearing anything but
! a crash and the next L knew 1 was
| picking myself up from between the
! chairs. 1 heard groans all around me
| and as soon as 1 found I was not much
| hurt l tried to help the lady who was
| sitting in front of me and who was
| pinioned down between the chairs by
| some of the wreck of the front end of
| the car. The whole front end of the
! chair car was hurled back into the car
| all splintered and twisted and that is
| what hurt the women, the flying splint-
| ers and pieces of wood and iron bruis-
| ing them. The woman in front of me
| was fastened tight by the leg and we
| had some trouble getting her out and
| then found her leg was broken. I got
| shaking. L will go on to Seattle if we
| do not have another wreck
| Mr. Eckhart was hurt by his head
| coming in contact with the chair in
| front of him as he was thrown forward
| by the force of the collision. He went
| to the hospital with the others and had
| his wound properly dressed.
Postal Clerk J. E. Reed, while quite
seriously hurt, was congratulating him
| self that he and his fellow clerk, w. H.
Rankin had not been instantly killed.
I'VE had all our work DONE" said Mr..
| Reed, 1.-The letters all pouched and had
been resting for some time. We were
| awakened by the rain and were talk
| ing and wondering if the rain had ex-
tended down into Kansas where it is
| so much needed. 1 remember going
| through Byers and was hesitating as to
| whether 1 would try and get another
| nap before getting into Denver when
| the crash came. There was a jolt and
| a jam that threw me off the bench on
! which 1 was lying and then we went
| down. 1t was fall of but eight or ten
! feet but it seemed to me that we fell
| mile. Everything in the car had blown
+ wide open as we went out. The first
| thing I knew I was out in the open air
| and Rankin was with me, within a few
! feet of me. 1t seems that the top of the
| car had blown wide open as we went
| down and we got out through the top
| in some way. The car was smashed in
| to kindling wood and 1 am wondering
| yet how it all happened and we got out
! alive. Both Rankin and 1 were pretty
badly bruised up, but we hardly dis
| covered how badly we were hurt until
! we were out of it. Even if we had not
been killed we would have been drown
| ed if we had been caught in the smash
up instead of being thrown out through
| the top of the car"
1T may sound funny, but the fact is
| the thing that bothered me was wheth-
er should drown or have my hand cut
| off, said Miss Minnie Edelman of Kan
| sas City, who was pinned down in the
chair car by having her hand caught
| me water was up to my chin and I
| could not move. L did not want to
| drown and then I thought how [ would
| look and feel with only one hand and
| was about recOnciied to being drowned
| when the men gave another pull and
| brought me out. 1t was only after I
| was safe out of it that 1 really became
| conscious of the frightful pain 1 was
| SUFFERING. L was not drowned and 1
| did not lose my hand, but I will have a
mark to remember the accident by as
| long as I live"
Conductor w. T. Lorts lives at 1850
| Lawrence street.
Il was making up my report said
| he, when the crash came I was out
| of the car in an instant and soon found
| out that the accident was not as bad
| as it might have been. All of the men
| who We're not hurt and some who were
| slightly injured turned in and helped
| get the injured passengers out. 1 did
| not realize fully what had happened
| until it was all over, and then I'll ad-
| init that L got very nervous over it.
| Poor John Ward" continued Mr. Lorts
with tears in his eyes, lone of the best
| engineers and noblest men that ever
| lived. 1t was tough for a man who
| had always been so careful to be kill
/ ed in an accident that could not have
| been avoided"
| w. H. B. Thornton of Chicago reg
! istered at the Albany hotel He was
| seen by a News reporter as with his
| one uninjured hand he was writing the
| news of his mishap and narrow escape
| from death to his wife in Chicago. Mr..
/ Thornton suffered a badly bruised left
| hand and forehead in the wreck.
| Il was in the vicinity of Limon on
| Monday buying some WOOL" said he.
! About 4 o'clock in the afternoon no.
ticed terrible rain storm raging to-
| wards Denver. AT 1:20 yesterday morn
| ing I boarded the Kansas Pacific train
| at Limon to come to Denver. I was
seated in the chair car along with be
On
| was asleep when the accident hap
pened. 1 was awakened with a severe
jar. I grasped the seat in front of me
| and the next instant came bump and
my arm was caught between the two
! chairs and severely wrenched. At
least four terrific crashes were felt and
| then the whole car seemed to be set
| thing down. Another crash and all the
| lights were out and everything was as
still as a grave. The silence lasted but
an instant, for immediately there
| arose the shriekS of women and the
cries of children and the shouts of men.
| Everything was dark and no one seem
ed to have any matches. The car
| Sloped downward at an angle of near
~ As degrees. The lower end was found
| to be submerged in water, but we We're
! able to crawl out and onto the plat
| form of the sleeper behind, which had
| remained on the track Lights were
| procured and several women eXtricated
from positions between seats. At the
| lower end of the car Miss Edelman
! was submerged nearly to the neck in
| water and was pinned fast between
the two seats. She was extricated in a
| dead faint and carried to the rear
| sleeper. The stream, which is said to
| be a harmless creek, was badly SWol-
len and it was impossible to cross over
except by the roof of the chair car
One end of this car was suspended by
a coupling to one of the sleepers and
the other end rested on the submerged
bank of the Stream. Had the coupling
broken the whole car would have sunk
in the swift stream and the passengers
within drowned like rats in trap. We
found the two mail agents seated on
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