The Savannah morning news., 1903-09-28
Nine DIE IN WRECK
AND SEVEN OTHERS ARE HURT,
SEVERAL FATALLY.
soUTHERN'S FAST TRAIN
yEAPED FROM 75-FOOT TRESTLE
NEAR DANvILLE, VA.

Accident May Have Been Caused by
Ignorance of Engineer-Trestle
500 Feet Long and on Sharp
Curve-Engineer New on Line and
Approached 1t at Too High a Rate
of speed-Enaine, Four Mail Cars
and an Express Left Track-Were
reduced to Mass of SpIinters and
twisted MetaI-Men Killed In
stantIy.
Charlotte, N. c., Sept. 27.-While run
ming at a high rate of speed No. 81,
the Southern Railways southbound
fast train, jumped from trestle,
seventy-five feet high, half mile north
of Danville, Va, this afternoon at 2:50
o'clock and was almost demolished. OF
the crew of sixteen men on the train,
nine were killed and seven injured.
The dead are:
Engineer j. A. Broadly of saltville,
Va.
Fireman \. G. Clapp, of Greensboro.
N. C.
Conductor ]. T. Blair of Danville,
Va, and Mail Clerks j. Thompson of
Washington; w. t. Chambers of Mid
land, Va; D. T. Flory of Nokesville,
Va; P. N. Ardandright, Mount Clinton,
Va; Flagman S. ]. Moody of Raleigh,
N. c.; boy IL years old, the son of j.
L. Thompson.
The injured are:
Mail Clerks Louis W. Spiers, Ma
nassas, Va; Frank E. Brooks, Char
lottesville, Va; Percival Indenmauer,
Washington Charles E. Reames, Gull
pepper, Va; Jennings ]. Dunlap,
Washington; NJ. C. Maupin, Charlottes-
vile, Va, and j. Harrison Thompson,
St Luke, Va.
The express messenger, w. F. Pinck-
ney, escaped uninjured.
All the injured men are seriously
hurt and have been carried to the hos
pital in Danville. Recovery of Mail
clerk spiers is not expected, and other
clerks are thought to have received
mortal injuries.
The trestle where the accident oc-
CURED is 500 feet long and is located
on a sharp curve. Engineer Brodie
was a new man on that division of the
Southern, and it is said that he came
to the curve at a very high rate of
speed.
The engine had gone only about fifty
feet on the trestle when it sprang from
the track carrying with it four mail
cars and an express car The trestle,
a wooden structure. also gave way for
q space of fifty feet.
At the foot of the trestle is shall
low branch with a rocky bottom.
Striking this the engine and the cars
were reduced to a mass of twisted
iron and steel and pieces of splintered
wood. AS the cars went down they
touched the sides of the Riverside cot
ton mill which is very close to The
trestle.
All the dead men were killed in
stantly, it is thought, and all were
greatly mutilated. The skin and hair
on the engineer and fireman was torn
off by the impact of the steam from
the engine.
Seveml thousand people were soon
at the scene of the wreck and removed
the bodies from the debris.
No one had made an effort to jump
and the bodies Of those killed were
found in the wreckage of the different
cars to which they belonged. Ladies
who drove out to the wreck from Dan
Vile tainted at the sight of the bodies,
some of which We're crushed to ghast-
ly degree.
1t seemed miraculous that any one
should have escaped, for each car fall
ing with the engine bounded from 1t
and completely collapsed after strik-
ing the rocks at the foot of the trestle,
All the express in the express car was
practically destroyed, except six crates
full of canary birds. None of the birds
was hurt, though the crates were in
the thickest of the debris.
An unofficial opinions that have been
ascertained agree in giving only one
cause for the wreck.-the high speed
of the train on the sharp curve. No.
81 was running about an hour behind
time. and it is thought that the engineer,
being unfamiliar with the road. did
not take into consideration the danger
of coming on the curve with such great
velocity.
The mail bags In all the mail cars
were torn open. and packages were
scattered broadcast. Fire appeared In
the wreckage shortly after. but was
quickly extinguEhed by the Danville
Ere Department.
Ia loss Of life this Is one u the most
serious wrecks that has occurred on
the Southern ana II IL the third time