Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1898-06-30
TROOPERS IN A WRECK.
Section One of Col. Torrey's Troop
Train Te1escoped by Section
Two at Tupe1o, Miss.
The HEADQUARTERS CAR WAS BURNED.
-Four Troopers and a Porter Killed, Que Sol
dierDying and Fifteen Others, Including
Col. TOrrcy, Iniured-The Escape of
the Colonel From Death was Little
Short of Miraculous.

riders reached here about three o'clock
this afternoon. While standing at the
station section came around the curve
at 80 miles an hour. A man went up
the line waving flag frantically, but
Engineer Rawls apparently paid no ate
tention to him. The engine crushed
into No. l, lifting the caboose and
headquarters car on top of the engine
Col Torrey was sitting in the rear of
the last car, and was caught in mass
of crashing wood and glass. but was
thrown off the train, miraculously es-
Gaping. His head was slightly cut and
feet injured, but not seriously.
The car in section l, carrying Troop
c, suffered most, telescoping with the
one in front. In this car, two troopers,
VIII c. Wallace and Sam johnson, both
of Troop c, were killed.
Gordon, the colored porter of the
Pullman car Cranky, was taken out of
the wreck of his car. Both of his legs
were broken, and he suffered serious in
ternal injuries, from which he died a
few minutes after being taken out.
Cornelius Lenihan and Henry S.
Mapes, both of troop c, were fatally
Injured. Lenihan was hurt internally
and died soon after the accident.
Mapes' legs were cut off and his alb
domen pierced.
Private Gunner, of Troop L, was also
fatally injured, and died soon after the
accident took place.
In addition to these the following are
the casualties:
R. D. Staley, Troop NJ, elbow dislo-
Gated.
E. Perkins, Troop L, both hips
damned.
Wallace D. Hodge, Troop D, ankle
broken.
George C. Gardner, Troop c, hip hurt.
j. II. Farr, Troop c, both legs hurt.
Rudolph Widemar, officers mess cook,
back sprained.
Hiram f. Davis, Troop C, ankle
sprained.
Henry Steltz, Troop C, leg broken.
Will Grosvenor, Troop C, leg bruised.
Joseph Aaron, Troop c, back
sprained.
w. Ii. Robinson, Troop A, ankle dis
located.
Arthur Evans, Troop E, hip dislo.
Gated.
Joseph Wilkinson, Troop L, slightly
injured.
- Schenck, Troop c, leg badly
bruised.
One baggage car in section two was
thrown across the track and smashed
up.
The headquarters car took fire. A
bucket brigade was organized and
fought it. Some of the baggage was
saved. The soldiers worked like heroes
with axes and ropes in the rescue OF
comrades.
Citizens carried the wounded to
large, cool storeroom, where all the
ladies of the town attended them. The
Methodist church was also used as a
hospital. All the local doctors lent
their aid. None of the cavalry horses
were injured.
The frenzied cries of the wounded
soldiers, the shrieking of the engines,
the kissing steam and everything
turned upside down. This was the
frightful condition that presented it.
self to our citizens, who were hurrying
TO the scene of the accident, which oc.
Cured about 300 yards west of the Kan.
sas City, Memphis & Birmingham
depot. The frightful cries of poor Sam
Johnson will long be remembered. He
was wedged in and could not be reached
in time to save his life. The first sec.
ton had stopped to take water, and
had Just whistled to start on, when
the second section rounded the SHARP
curve just before the town is reached
and dashed into it, In the rear of the
first section was the sleeper Seville,
bearing the regimental staff, includ-
Col. Torrey. This car was COM
completely demolished, yet, strangely
enough, every inmate excepting the
colonel escaped unscratched. The chief
fatalities occurred in a coach Which
stood in the center of the first section,
which carried Troop C, from Laramie.
Wyo. This coach was completely
telescoped, and the soldier boys with
in were jammed and bruised beneath
the debris.
On the second section one baggage
car was thrown into the ditch several
hundred feet, but few Of its passengers
were hurt.
The sections contained Troops A, c,
E, l.. G and NJ, forming part of regi'
ment being transported to Jackson
vile, Fla. 1t is the Second United
States volunteer cavalry, and was
raised by Col. Torrey, its commander,
from the Rocky mountain region, in
Guiding the states of Wyoming, Colora-
do, Idaho, Nevada and Utah. The SOL
diers killed and fatally injured are
from the first-named state.
The intrepid Col. Torrey said: Tell
the boys I'll ride with them yet" He
was in the state room of the sleeper
Seville, separated from engine of Sec
ond section by short ca boose, and was
hurled 300 yards. When the train
stopped he found himself on the out
side, beneath the wreckage, and, al
though badly injured, he managed to
escape up the embanllment.
The wounded Will be left here for
further orders, and it is very probable
that the dead will be buried here. The
others will go forward tomorrow.
Surgeon Root, the hospital steward,
and detail of men will be left in
charge of the wounded.
The regiment had the mi sfortune tc
meet with a wreck in the yards at st.
Joseph, Mo-, Friday, in which two of
the train crew were killed, and at st.
Louis Saturday one of the soldier boys
was accidentally killed by being suffo.
Gated and falling from the train in the
long tunnel az :kat place.
The fault of the accident to-day
probably lies with the engineer of tn.
second section, who was running too
fast and near the first section. The
Pull