The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-06-28

Kansas City, Mo-, June 27.=Sevel
collins We're forwarded to St Louis to
e day from Missouri City. They con
[ tanned the remains of the victims o
last nights wreck on the Wabash road
a corrected list of the dead follows:
5 w S. Mills, postal clerk, St Louis
: o. NJ. Smith, postal clerk, St. Louis
Gustave a. Smith, postal clerk. St
: Louis.
! Charles Winters, posta! clerk. St
: Louis.
F. w. Brink. postal clerk. St. Louis
i. Edward Grindrobe, baggageman, St
, Louis.
Charles P. Greasley, brakeman. St
Louis.
The conductor of the train. c. 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 railroad hospital 1t Moberly.
With d fractured skull and several
broken ribs. he fingers between life and
death, but the surgeons express a hope
that he Will recover. Conductor Cope
land was supposed TO be dead when
taken from the wreck and his body,
with a handkerchief drawn over the
face, was ranged in a row with the
seven dead persons. A few minutes
| later, some one observed a sign of life,
and he was quickly transferred to a
| stretcher and given every possible at
tention.
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
1 City is the most seriously hurt. Two
small bones of her left hand are broken.
and she suffered a severe laceration of
the thigh, as well 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 end first through the break in
the trestle. and they must have been
drowned in the raging stream while in
an unconscious condition. The remains
of the four were carried from the wreck
and were recovered some distance down
the stream. There were signs of life
in the fifth mail clerk when rescuers
dragged him from the wreck, but he
died a few minutes later on the bank
of the creek.
Last night it was feared there were
more bodies in the stream, but care
1ul S6dfCu SDQdy pAOFStA Ina liz AeN~eNi
tiles were limited to those already
named. Today 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 cloud
burst. had swollen the little stream to
torrential proportions. The flood car
ried away a wagon bridge short dis
lance above the Wabash trestle. The /
wreck of this bridge was hurled down /
upon the railroad trestle and carried +
away ROW of wooden supports in the !
center.
\ neighboring farmer noticed the /
perilous condition of the trestle and {
resolved to flag the passenger train, /
nearly an hour he stood there in the I
terrific downpour of rain, only to fail I
at last in his good intentions. for
when the Wabash company's New York
fast mail came laundering on, the
storm was almost binding. and the
engineer evidently could not see the
signal which the farmer so frantically
waved across the track.
The locomotive struck the trestle and
a moment later the disaster was pre-
sented in all its horrors. The engine
passed over, but the tender went
through with the tumbling bridge The
baggage car toppled Off on its side,
pitched into the stream. end first
Every life in this car was lost The
smoker, next behind. followed. 1t was
in this car that Conductor Copeland
went down. Other occupants escaped.
The chair car, next behind. also
plunged in upon the mass Of wreckage. !
end first. and all its passengers were
thrown to the forward end in an in
describable heap. How they escaped
with no more serious injuries is a mys-
terry which all the passengers in this
coach are puzzled over. The front end
IF the sleeper, next in the rear, jammed
into the protruding end of the chair
ear, and was thus prevented from fol-
owing the others into the chasm. The
-wo Excelsior Springs coaches in the
ear remained on the track
The scene Of the wreck which is
)ut Il miles northeast Of Kansas City.
lear Missouri City station, was Wis
ted today by many persons. A wreck
ng train worked there all day. repair
ng the trestle and raising the shattered !
coaches, and tonight trains are moving
'var the road as usual
The postal authorities report that [
probably nearly all of the mail carried
n the train was lost or DESTROYED. +
When the wreck occurred the five S
'ostal clerks are supposed TO have had 5
il of their pouches opened and to have \
zen at work distributing the mail. a
ne car was so broken and sSlintered ?
hat most of the mail floated off. The \
Wabash train in the evening carries b
III of Kansas City's mail and il is n
lWayS heavy and valuable IL