The Batesburg advocate. [volume] (Batesburg, S.C.) 1901-1911, 1903-06-10

through the whistle, which had been
The chronicler OF the life and activity
ol the engine now useless but not a
ruin, Tor IT. can be rehabilitated.
And what of the men who rode in
the cab? The bottom of the crevaSSe
was The width of the engine, without
the tender, and the latter was stand.
ing almost perpendicularly, it's front
end having entirely demolished the
cab and its rear end being held upright
by ii tangled confusion of trucks and
running gear. upon which three
coaches had been mounted From
this vortex of death-dealing iron il
would seem that the engine men would
nave been killed instantly, but the
fate which lured them also saved, for
with the impact of the application OF
the emergency brake, the fireman was
shot out of the cabe window as out of
a catapult. The engineer jumped to
keep from being caught in his cab,
and ran upon the tender. When the
engine settled and the tender carcened
upon its end. Engineer Wilson was
also thrown to the front and to the
side landed in bed OF sand. but so
near to the engine that he was scald-
ed trightfully. lie received several
facial abraSiunS and was hurt inter
nally. The fireman escaped with
slight bruises and ran all the way
from the Sccnce of disaster to Wedge
field to get help for those who were
injured.
THE CONDUCTORS DEATH.
The train consisted of refresh
ment car and five coaches. 1t was i'm
the former that Conductor Clements
met death. He had been sitting i'm
the middle passenger coach talking to
the only white passenger aboard, Mr.. |
+. w. *. kellain of North Carolina, |
travelling salesman. While they !
were talking two negro preachers, |
DENLY from Marion and MoSeley from |
Nichols, came up and asked the con-
ductOr TO assist them in some matter. |
They had just had time to walk |
through the two coaches in front and |
to get to the rctreShmcnt car when |
came the awful crash AS soon as !
Mr. kcllam could extricate himself |
from the tanglc OF passengers thrown |
upon him, he made his way out of the |
car, which was only partially dcrailed. /
and went in search OF the conductor, |
whom hc found lying at the bottom .
OF the ravnc of the llour of what had |
been the rcfrCShment car. now roof |
less and ShapelcSS and with it's run
ming gear 30 feet away. Mr.. kcllam. !
seeing terrible cash across the lett |
side Of the face Of the inSenSible con
ductor, felt of Mr.. Clements pulse
and Immediately realized that the ac-
comnodating and popular conductor
had taken his last train order
WORK OF RESCUE.
kCllam. making his way back to
those coaches which had not been de-
moliShed secured the axes and saws
and got the uninjurcd To work remov-
ing and cariffg,,I carsfg Ior The suiIeI.a1..- I1..-,.,l. IN.
nagman had gofc>Sack to3 warn the
regular passenger tl;ir-Mn -Mnlt tch was APP
preaching hard upon the HScIs of the
ill-Starred excursion. The porter was
hurt and helpless, his collar bone hav-
ing been broken. and there was no one
of the train crew left to look after
those who were hurt
The most miraculous part OF such
dreadful tragedies as this is the fact
That when it seems that no one could
escape alive there are really so few
casualties. In this particular wreck
there were many people who received
injuries, serious and slight, but there
were but five fatalities. The cars in
which the injured and the dead had
been riding were literally torn into
kindling wood, the destruction being
so complete that even upon close ex.
animation it would be almost imposSi-
ble to tell whether, two or three
coaches had their parts so mixed in
the mad confusion.