The record-union., 1897-11-19
A Fast Passenger Train Wrecked
Near WiIIifOrd.
One Person Fatally and Thirty More or
Less Seriously Injured.
The Combination Coach, Chair Car
the First Named Plunged Into
a River and the Latter Two
Consumed by Fire-The Train
Crew Escape Injury.

| KANSAS CITY, Nov. 1S-Train No.
, ON the Kansas City, Fort Scott and
Memphis, which left Birmingham last
/ evening for Kansas City, was derail al
just west of Wiuiford. Ark, at o'clock
this morning. The combination coach.
/ chair car and sleeper went over the
bank, the combination car going into
Spring River. The chair car and sleep
er We're both consumed by fire.
| One passenger was fatally injured.
and thirty others more or less seriously
4 hurt. 1t is believed none of the latter
will die. The list of injured is as fol-
lows:
Fatally injured~J. L. Hoover. Pleas
ant Hill. Mo.
| More or. less seriously injured-Leo
| Pollock, Little Rock, Ark; Clarence
/ Murphy, Bakersfield. Mo-; c. A. Raw
enstein, wife and baby. Atwood, Ind;
| c. l.. Merriweather, Sulphur Rock,
Ark; Ed. Webb, Fernon Nook, Mo: j.
j. Altscheel, Little Rock. Ark; w. ].
| Grant, Salem, Ark, bruised and cut
| about head; NJ. T. Price, Beal, Ark,
injured about head; w. b. Stahl, Cor
inth, Miss, injured about head and
/ hand: W. II. Boatner, Lection Mo: NJ
c. Hogan, Oakland. Ark, injured about
head; Westerly Twins, Atwood, Ind,
injured about head; Mrs. A. D. Perkins,
Hiram, Ark, extent of injuries not
known; r. S. Guy, Monterey Ind, arms
hurt; Mrs. Prince, going to Fort Smith
extent of injuries not known, a son
hurt about face and arms; NJ Bailey,
Fair Play, Mo-, foot injured: w J.
Shesabel, Neadette, Ark. head injured:
Mrs. Arnitt, Mammoth Springs, Ark,
back sprained; j. n. Norton, Ashflat,
Ark, head cut and thigh hurt; John
Norton, his son, IA years old, hurt be-
tween the shoulders; Luther Horton,
l6 years old. bruised about knee; $. L.
Guthrie, Franklin, Ark, hip bruised:
John Leady, Hardy, Ark, head cut; J.
ID. Hill, Hardy, Ark, head cut; II. V.
Hill, Hardy, Ark, leg hurt.
No. is a fast through train from
the south. Between Williford and
Hardy the Memphis tracks parallel
Spring River. a little stream running
out of Mammoth Springs. The train
was composed of the engine, mail and
express cars, baggage car, ombinaltion
coach. chair car and sleeper The COM
blnatlon car has q partition in the
middle, one end being used as a smoker
and the other end for colored passen-
gers.
When near Williford the engineer felt
the train leap forward and found that
1T had parted between the two day
coaches. The last three cars bumped
over the ties, the chair car and sleeper
turning over. on the side and the
combination car finally going into the
river.
The most intense confusion prevailed.
The engineer backed up the front part
OF the train, and the work of rescue
was Immediately begun.
The terror of the passengers who had
gone down the stream with the COM
bination car was heightened by an alarm
from the chair car and sleeper. both
or Which soon took fire. The intens
darkness added to the confusion, and
1t was some time before an organized
effort at rescue was put into effect by
the train crew and those Of the passen-
gers who had been able to extricate
themselves without aid
The passengers in the burning cars
We're luckily rescued before the fire
had reached its hight, and but few in
those cars were injured.
1t soon became apparent that the
chair car and sleeper could not be saw
ed, and all efforts We're put forth to
help the unfortunate passengers of the
combination car in the stream Screams
and cries for help We're heard on all
sides, and because of the darkness res
cue was difficult. AS the flames from
the two burning cars became brighter
the rescuers were enabled to work to
bett advantage
LUCKILY not a person was drowned.
and 1T was not long before all had been
accounted for, and were being cared
for as best possible. A telegram to
Thayer, Mo-. twenty-nine miles distant.
brought relief train in an hour or so,
ana the injured We're taken to that city
and placed in a hospital
Shortly before noon to-day Chief
Surgeon Pettijohn of the Memphis road
and Claim Agent Crater left Kansas
City for Thayer. and will bring the
injured to this city.
The cause of the accident has not
been ascertained, but it is thought
some portion of the forward truck of
the smoker gave way. This will not
be known positively till the truck.
which is in the river, has been re-
covered.
The train crew escaped injury.
The wreck is the first one of a serious
nature in the history of the Memphis
road, and if Mr.. Hoover dies, he will.
according to the statement of General
Passenger Agent J. E. Lockwood. be
the first passenger ever killed while
riding on a train on that road.