The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-06-27


but was accomplished with the greatest diff
ficulty. Not a trainman was TO be found.
The crew were all in the wreck and only
the conductor of the Pullman and his por-
ter were there to help the passengers. They
took charge promptly ard rendered valua-
BILE assistance. The occupants of the
smoker who were in the rear end managed
to scramble out of the car and escaped
although it is pretty certain q number were
unable to get out The worst damage was
done in the chair car. Conductor Copeland
had just entered the front door of that
coach when it went down. The front
of the sleeper behind and under it sent the
occupants of the car in pile down at the
front. Chairs went tumbling down along
with the people, and beneath the mass
Copeland met his death. A heavy chair
struck him and crushed his head out of all
semblance to humanity. while score of
other people were piled above him. The
brakeman and news agent were in the
smoker and went down with it.
AN AWFUL SIGHT.
'It was the most awful sight l ever saw"
said j. w. Kelly, of Kelly Bros Cooperage
Company, of Kansas City Il was in the
front of the train going to Excelsior
Springs. We were directly behind the
sleeper and we stopped with a suddenness
that bumped us about bit We heard
cries and shouts and hurried out into the
rain to see what had happened In the
flash of the lightning we could see the
wreck piled up in the most awful shape,
while the raging waters went foaming and
tearing over and through the cars. 1 never
saw more frightfuI picture. Cries came
from all parts of the wreck and people were
climbing and hurrying out of it. Men with
blood streaming all over them came strug-
Cling out and women with clothing dis
heveled and covered with blood piteously
appealed for help. Everybody helped as
soon as one could see what could be done,
but it was something awful. Men were
pinioned down beneath great masses of
earth, limbs were broken and it was agony
unspeakable to get them out, but those who
could render assistance did all that was
possible. There is no telling how many
people are in the water. 1t was from six
to ten feet deep and the current was very
swift.
Il was sitting in the middle of the chair
car" said Mrs. Sally Matthias, when the
train went down. We felt no fear until the
coupling broke from the car ahead of us.
Then the front of the sleeper caught in the
rear of the car and threw us up in the air.
We went tumbling pell NELL in d promis-
cuous heap to the front end of the car 1
never heard such shrieks and cries in my
life before Then all was still for a mo-
ment The thunder was rolling dreadfully,
the lightning was blazing and rain falling
in torrents. There were a dozen men in the
car and all but three ran out as fast as
they could and left a dozen women there
all alone. Three men stayed and helped
out My friend, Miss Darcy, was under a
pile of seats in the front end of the car.
The men took off the seats and helped her
and the others out. Some of them were
dead and others were dreadfully injured.
We crawled out of one window and
walked part of the way on the
side of the baggage car and the rest of the
way the top of the mail car and got
back to land. Women who were hurt and
unable to walk We're carried by men over
that sort of walk back to land. Some of
the men were heroes but most of them
We're towards and ran out and left. The
walk taken in the rain during the storm,
when we knew people were buried in the
wreck beneath u.s. and when it was at the
risk of our lives, was something that l
shall never forget. 1 helped to get Miss
Darcy and Miss Merrick out and cared for
them afterwards
John Ennis, travelling salesman for Beck
man & McNight, was in the rear car of the
train, which was the only one that escaped
injury. 1t was likewise the only car in
which none of the passengers was injured.
Mr.. Ennis had an interview with a farmer
who had come from Missouri City in the
evening and was at the place where the
wreck occurred to flag the train. He
claimed to have waved a flag on the track,
but owing to the terrific rain the engineer
was unable to see the signal Mr.. Ennis
said the wreck occurred at 7:05 O'clock. The
engine passed over the trestle, which broke
Immediately afterwards, and the tender,
together with the front or through smoking
car was thrown backward into the gorge.
The farmer with whom Mr.. Ennis talked
said that at o'clock there was practically
no water in the gorge but at the time of
the wreck it was a raging torrent of ten
feet or more in depth. The farmer said the
bridge was clearly unsafe, which had i'm
peled him to stand in the storm in an at
tempt to flag the train. There were no
trainmen left unkilled on the side of the
gorge on which most of the cars were left
so far as Mr.. Ennis knows the engineer
and fireman being on the other side. The
passengers were left to take independent
action in rescuing the victims.
One of the most important things and one
which secured the safety of the remaining
passengers on the train was the tagging
of a freight train which followed the pas
senger train about ten minutes. This
freight train was tagged by passengers
three hundred feet. from the wreck Mr..
Ennis said a passenger in the train esti-
mated that there were at least forty pas
sengers in the smoking car and that not
more than ten We're rescued on this side of
the gorge Most of the smoker passengers,
if they were saved were found on the other
side. 1t was generally believed by the pas
sengers to whom Mr.. Ennis had talked That
very many of the passengers of the smoker
had been killed, but no one could give an
estimate of the number. The newsboy and
conductor were both in the front smoking
car at the time of the wreck and both are
believed TO have been instantly killed. Mr.
Ennis thought a conservative estimate of
the number killed would be twenty, and
that it was more likely more than less than
that number The mail clerk and express
messenger he thought were undoubtedly
killed.
THEY FLAGGED THE FREIGHT.
Edwin Zea, of Kansas City, and Z. w.
Harbold. travelling salesman of Emery,
Bird, Thayer & Co, were the men VINO