The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-12-17
THE RANGE BLEW UP
FATALLY INJURED THE COOK ON
S. A. l.. PRESIDENTS CAR.
CAR ROOF WAS BLOWN OFF.
VICE PRESIDENT MITTENDORFF
HAD A NARROW ESCAPE.

Party of Baltimore Friends, Going
Denmark and Fairfax, the Range
Was Blown to Atoms-Wi1Iiam
Hall, the Negro Cook, Brought to
Savannah Unconscious and Will
Probably Die-Passengers on the
Train Thought They Were Held
Up When the Explosion Occurred,
and Looked for Masked Men ana
RevOIvcrs.
The explosion of range in the pri-
vate car of President John Shelton
Williams of the Seaboard Air Line be-
tween Denmark and Fairfax yester-
day, resulted in perhaps the fatal in
jury of William Hall, a colored cook.
The car was attached to train No. 81
and carried Vice President ]. w. Nit
tendorff of the Seaboard System, with
party of Baltimore friends.
Neither Mr.. Mittendorff or his guests,
most of whom are prominent Baltimore
bankers, were injured although their
escape was a narrow one. The force
of the explosion blew the roof of the
car off, and scattered the range in
every direction. The report of the ex-
plosion was heard by the passengers.
in the regular coaches, and many of
them at first thought that train rob-
bers were at work, and were using dy-.
Mantle on the express safe.
Vice President Mittendorff and his
friends had only been UP a short while
when the accident occurred, and Hall
was preparing breakfast. He was
| hurled into a corner of the car, where
| he was picked up by one of the por-
tiers. The explosion was in separate
compartment. in the end OF the car,
which probably accounts for the fact
that THE entire party escaped injury.
The train was behind time and was
running at full speed at the time of
the explosion AS soon as possible it
was brought to a stand still and an
examination was made. The negro
cook was unconscious and bleeding
from wounds on the head, face, hands
and arms. Resides being cut and lacer-
ated by pieces of the range he was
scalded in several places. The services
of a physician on the train were Sc.
cured, although little could be done
for the injured man. His wounds
were temporarily dressed and IT was
decided to bring him to this city for
| treatment.
The roof of one end of the car had
! been completely blown away but the
| body of the car was not badly dam
| aged, and an examination of the trucks
| showed that the run to Savannah could
| be made with safety. A telegram was
sent ahead notifying the officials here
of the accident and asking that ar
| engagements be made to have Hall
cared for at one of the hospitals. A
car to replace the damaged one was
also ordered in readiness so that Vice
| President Mittendorff and his guests
would not be delayed again.
The train. which was due here at
| 4:40 o'clock arrived at the Central
depot about four hours late. The in
| jured man was taken at once to the
Georgia Infirmary, and his injuries
were pronounced fatal. He was alive,
but unconscious, at an early hour this
| morning. Vice President Mittendorff
and his friends were transferred to
another car. and continued to Fitz-
gerald, where they will enjoy several
days in the woods with dogs and guns.
| The accident temporarily unstrung
in no way interfered with the plans
arranged for the hunt. Another cook
was secured in place of Hall and the
| sportsmen suffered little Inconvenience
| because of the accident. 1t is a part
of the programme for the party to stop
in Savannah on the return trip to Bal
| timore.
The explosion created excitement
! and CONSERVATION among the passen-
| gers and the report of uhe explosion,
| followed by the stopping of the train
between stations, caused many of
them to have visions of a holdup.
| Those in the coach nearest the pri-
waite car felt a distinct jar and sew.
eral of the passengers expected to be
| hurled into space, while others watch
! ed the car doors for masked men be-
| hind revolvers. One of the negro por-
ters on the train made known the
cause of the. sudden stop and several
| of the passengers went into the pri-
| waite car, and saw the unconscious
cook. Everything possible was done
for the negro and a hurried trip was
made through the train in search OF
| a physician. The passengers were
| greatly relieved when they learned the
| truth of the trouble and found that the
train was not in the possession of rob-
bers. 1t could not be ascertained how
! the explosion occurred. Nothing was
left of the range and the unconscious
| cook could not tell what had happen
| ed to cause the explosion
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