The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-06-09

There is hardly anything new 10 re-
port of the Atlantic Coast Line wreck
near Sumter Wednesday,. except that
the immense washout IS now in no way
a hindrance to travel, as n trestle has
been built around it and all trans are
moving on schedule time.
The special train sent out from this
city Wednesday DOT Don to the scene
of the wreck returned last night about
midnight bringing back superintendent
W. \. Royal. Assistant superintendent
of Motive Power ALB. Corinth. Assistant
Engineer Of Roadway W. @. Forlong
and superintendent Of Signals j. c.
Higgins.
Shortly after his arrival Superimten-
dent Royal was seen by a Messenger
representative, who was Informed by
him that every thing is now all right
and that all trains are running through.
Superintendent Royal, Assistant ST.
| perintendent of Motive Power Corinth
and the two other officials reached
| the scene of the wreck Wednesday at
ternoon and stayed there directing the
work of clearing away the debris and
repairing the damage until yesterday
afternoon. superintendent Royal was
on the scene all the time ana he and
the others only obtained about an
hours sleep the entire time. Such is
the sturdy, manly and efficient COM
| position of the coast Lines officials.
1t was found necessary to build q
trestle around the WaShOut and this
was planned and carried out with dis
patch by a large force of WOrkmen, who
had been quickly transported 20 the
| scene. So remarkable was the time,
Notwithstanding the adverse situation
of the site. that the treStle was COM
| pleted about ) o'clock yesterday after
noon and the first train passed over
en- route for Sumter
The part of the road where the ac-
cident occurred had stood firm fOr
thirty odd years.
There are no other fatalities ana all
the injured are doing well.
The following is from the
| State of yesterday:
The train was within 80 feet Of the
! abyss when the engineer saw fat
reckoning to him out of the terrible
chasm. With great presence of mind
he applied the brakes and
threw the reverse lever back to its
furthest notch. Had he not done so
~ NtIShl dIIu impetus vi th1 tlAoAilC
would have carried it across, the coach
es would ha-a beeen piled in even
greater c~OnfuS-Jn than they were n
the loss of life would nave been far
greater. But with its feet tied by the
brakes, the locomotive settled ser2n1y
into the chasm, its nose buried far into
the sand of the side toward which it
had been approaching. The great driv-
ing wheels sank to their top rims in
the bed of sand, and the fires Wera inn
mediately e~XtinguiShed. The escaping
steam croqued a sad requiem through
the whistle, which a been the chron-
icler of the life and activity of the
engine now useless but not q ruin. fOr
it "a be rehabilitated.
Conductor Clemmons was one Of the
most popular passenger men in the
Coast Line service. He had been a res
dent of Columbia once, when he was
assistant to the yardmaster. His reg
ular run was on the line from Florence
to Augusta. but he was called out Tues
day night to bring this excursion into
Columbia. He treated the negro tx
curstonists with extreme kindness, and
while i'm the act Of accommodating
some Of them he was killed. It is e
ported by one of the passengers that
when Mr.. ClemmOns saw that the train
would prove a financial failure and a
burden on the negro preachers who
NIldIl = CT liz \ ~ lllob' Gil IL
fort to get two of the coaches taken of
to relieve the preachers Of their
pense. The train left Nichols with Oily
n passenger, and had less thar 1E
when it left Sumter"
The Florence Times Of yesterday If.
ernOO says:
Engineer Wilson was brought t.
the city last night, and carried to hi:
home. This morning his wounds were
re-dressed and he is doing nicely, Il
though he IS very painfully injured
When Engineer Wilson saw that the
engine was going down he climbed
upon the tender and thus avoided Icing
scalded to death. which would have
been inevitable had he remained in the
cab. AS the ngine went down int
the ditch the steam valves gave way
and the entire steam pressure in the
boiler was released through the cab
Mack Douglas. the fireman. was knock
ed through the cab window and cell to
the ground alive. but with painful in
jUries just in time TO escape the steam
from the boiler. he was thrown through
the window.
Until this morning the track vas
still impossible. and passengers had
20 be transferred. It IS probabIe that
the wreckage will require several days
70 be removed. it is thought the tracks
will b. fixed by the end Of today Tn.
nglne was literally buried IN the
mud and three cars almost as bad
The Coast Line has used every
means to take cake of the wOunIed
as we'll as possible and none o. those
who We're so unfortunate as to be n
jured have been neglected IN any way
by the company"