The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1899-09-12
TIE NEWBERRY HERALD AND NEWS sEP5rFMPEP - 80

ahu WAS an eyewitness to the disaster
He says when the rock train .reachc
the highest point Of the trestle an,
three cars had cotton on tho stcc
bridge, Go noticed that something hut
gone wrong with one Of tho cars mex
10 the cEginc. In second moro tho
crash camc, tho thrcc first cars with
Conductor Dawson going ahead on tho
bridge. In less time than it takes &c
tell 1t the engine seemed to fly through
the air towards the pier in the distance
being hurled forward by the falling
supports of the double-dccked trestlc.
Then the steam and dust rose and all
was quiet.
| The following freight train was at
once stopped ana the crow rushed
down to save life, if life wore left in
| those who had gone down with the
| train. The engineer and fireman were
found rs stated: both were beyond aid,
In short time The body of j. S. Mar
tin, negro boy, with the head horri-
bly, mutilatcd, being almost dccapitated,
was found. On the other side the BODY
Of Stewart Martin, the other colorcd
boy. was found.
When Jim Watson, who was stand
ing on one OF the cars felt the collapse
starting, he jumped to his right
through the air. Though it was about
~ feet to the ground, the negro struck
some willows, breaking his descent.
lie was bruised and more or less
hurt, but was able to get away.
The rcscucrs found that there was a
man under the pile of wrcckagc. 1t
proved to be the white fireman, MIR.
Will Bates. All hands went to work
and it took half an hour to extricatc
him. He was slightly bruised and his
nerves were out Of gear, but he was
uninjurcd. He soon climbed up the
bridge and came on to the city.
The dead were covered with bushes
and the news was sent to the city. In
short time force Of men arc at work
clearing the wrcckage preparatory to
the rebuilding of the trcstlc. Boats
were secured and the bodies were
| taken to the bank of the canal I'm
dcrtakcr VanMctrc was sent for and
by + O'Clock his wagons arrived and re-
moved the dead to their respective
homes.
| The dead engineer lived in a pretty
| little cottage home on Gcrvais street
nearly opposite the Coast Line depot.
| There his manglcd remains were taken
to the stricken young wife and three
little ones. He had brought the down
| passenger train in the day before and
q short time before going over to the
quarry yesterday morning was talking
of exchanging runs with some other
engineer. When his body was taken
from under his engine his watch was
still running though it was so hot that
one could scarcely hold it.
| The railroad commissioners carefully
examined the trcstlc and the timber
and looked carefully into all the de-
tails. They found that q largo portion
Of the timber in the wrcckagc was per-
fcctly new.
|
ed by the disaster; he knew that the
trestlc had just been put in thorough
| repair and was at loss to understand
the accident at first, but on getting the
news he Immediately arranged with
the Southern Railway officials for his
down passenger tram then approaching
| Ncwbcrry to come into the city over
the Southern's tracks from Ncwbcrry.
This the train did, reaching the cit"
only 10 minutes late.
| MIR. Childs at once went to the scene
Of the wreck and did everything in his
| power. He also wired for the Il. G..
L.. wrecking and construction force and
made arrangements for the running of
the passenger trains over the Southern
tracks to Newberry until the break can
be repaired. A force will Be kept at
work night and day until the conncc-
ton is rc-cstablishcd. The butt of the
bridge is not injured much.
The loss to the company so far as the
rolling stock and trcstling arc con-
ccrncd, will hardly exceed S., 900, but
the interruption to traffic and the ne
cessity of running over tracks will
make 1T much greater. Mr.. Childs
greatly dcplorcs tho loss Of life, but
feels that the company did not cause it
by any lack of attention to the condi-
tiOn Of its road bed or trcstle.
Coroner Green took charge of the
bodies and summoned jury of inquest.
AS soon rs the remains had been
viewed their removal WAS authorized.
During the afternoon the three cars
that escaped the plunge were brought
on into the city. Thousands of people
got within sight of the broken bridge
but only few Of them managed TO get
across on tho island.
This is by far the worst wreck that
has occurred so near the city in many
years.
Last night the coroner's inquest was
held in Magistrate Smiths office.
Only the testimony of Conductor Dow-