The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-09-01


And your eye upon the rail-"
Thus eafg Engineer Edwin Seafs9n
many and many a time, as he sat in the
cab of a great iron monster and manipu-
lated the throttle. Like a grim, herrlble
sequel. death came to him day aft
ernoon in a railroad disaster while he
shood firmly TO his post OF duty.
About O'Clock engine No. IA, pulling q
coal train of thirteen cars oven the Ten
nessee Coal Iron ard Railroad company's
road. jumped the track. at Pratt CITY,
hurting Engineer Edwin Searrson ami col
ofed fireman, Manuel Wilson, into ete--
nifty With hardly moments warning
Engineer SeaTson was pinioned under the
debris and killed instantly. Manuel Will
son was thrown clear of the wreck, but
survived onay a few moments.
Scarcely 200 yards away stood Mrs.
Searson on the front veranda of their
cottage home when the Inflated eng NE
jumped The track, carrying with it death
and destruction. When the news Of her
husbands tragic death reached her, she
fell in a faint and did not recover for sew
eral hours Not more than fifty feet to the
side stood No. 5, which b1Iags the miners
in each afternoon from the mines west
of Pratt City. About sixty miners were
on the rain and hey stood aghast as they
saw No. IA jump the track and careen
into deep ditch before they could speak
QlAFlah Al each other ThaU .bpd
from the tr;d n across 10 ths wreck and be-
gan the work of getting ghe body of the
dead engineer from under the engine. He
was killed instantly, and his face showed
no signs of agony. His right hand was
upon the throttle and his left upon the
airbra&e. The steam was shut off and
so firmly was his left hand fixed upon
the airbrake that The arm remained in
an upright position the undertakes ex-
perlencing much difficulty in getting 1T to
broken, bur in his left groin was an ugly
cash several Inches deep and as many
wide. This wound alone would have
caused Death, and had Ghe appearance of
timber, which came with gigantic force.
The body LAY i'm pool of boiling water
with steam kissing above 1T for nearly an
hour before it could be reached by the
rescuers, so great was the heat. The out
side skin was cooked and cinarred.
Manuel Wilson fell over the engine on
the cab, which was dashed fully five feet
away. His face was mutilated and a
groin as that Of this dead engineer was
probably what killed him. He was badly
scalded by the escaping steam and died
in a few moments after he was found
without speaking. He made an effort
for breath, quivered once or twice and
lay dead
A small wreck that occurred early in
the afternoon had something to do with
this disaster Several cars were de-
rallied on the main lins and in bringing
the last train of coal in town Engineer
Searson was forced to take the track
leading from the coal washer When
leaving the coal washer the track is down
grade. Just as thu bottom is reached
there is a heavy hill to climb, with a ditch
ABOUT nNe feet dep beside the track. AT
the top of the hill a junction is made
with the track leading to the mines west
of Pratt. The coal train had just begun
the ascent when Engineer Searson sight
ed train No. 5 bringing the mn=rs in
from their days labor. He knew he
could not stop on the steep grade and
whstled for the other train to stop and
1t had just come to a standstill when
the wreck occurred.
When about half way up the hill, en-
CINE No. IA jumped the track, followed
by the tender 1t turned in the oppo-
site direction and ploughed a pit sew
eral fett deep in the soft earth. When
1T stopped, 1t fell on the side, the steam
pipes breaking and enveloping the wreck
age in curtain of Kissing steam with
boiling water cruelty squirting out upon
the engineer and fireman. Two of the