The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-02-04
A HORRIBLE FATE.
A WHOLE FAMILY DROWNED y
THE MISSISSIPPI
An Immigrant Car Plunged Into the
River at the Vicksburg Incline,
A Very Sad Story.

known to many in Shreveport that an
immigrant car had plunged into the
Mississippi river at Vicksburg and that
a family of six had been drowned in
sight of number of people who could
give no assistance. The Picayune's spc-
cial correspondent at Nicksburg gives
the details as follows:
Vicksburg, Miss, Feb. - II. land
of Newton, Miss, and all of his family
of six. hoated about, dead inclosed in 4
box car, which had broke loose from tie
switch engine on the Vicksburg, Shreva-
port and Pacific incline tonight shortly
after o'clock, and ran down the IT.
cline, over the transfer boat Delta and
into the Mississippi river.
| The accident is without a parallels in
| this section, and brave hearted railroad
men are now standing almost transixed
with CONSERVATION at the very awful
ness of the situation. The last heard of
| Land was his shrieks for assistance,
which twenty men, standing helplessly
by, could not give him. Acting Super
intendent Dabney, who was in the place
of Superintendent Ford, at the head of
force of willing workers, for hours
was endeavoring to remove the bodies
from the car as it foate" around the
river, sometimes showing itself halfway
above the surface of the water, and then
going under being drawn to the surface
again by the ropes the railroad men sue
ceeded in getting around it. He did not
succeed until 10 o'clock to night.
J. H. Land is supposed to be poor
farmer from Newton, who is thuoght to
have had his family in the emigrant car
with him when he was plunged to death.
| The river is hard to work in, and
great caution had to be taken so that the
men would not get mixed TIP in dread
| full eddy just where the car floats.
The big transfer boat Pelican, the
new boat which has not yet been in
service, lies just in the rear of where
the floating car lies, the old boat being
| still in service. The new boat is ready
to be commissioned next week.
Your correspondent, who was the
only newspaper man to go right to the
scene tonight, found Yard Master Dunn
who told the following story of the &C
cident
| Il was present when switch engine
No. 4o4, in charge of Engineer Mooney,
started to back half dozen cars down
| the incline How the cars broke loose
can not say, but they started and flew
down the incline, which is about 200
yards long, at rapid rate, and there
was no way to stop their flight. I heard
| screams from the man in the car, but
| whether there were more people in the
car with him can not say. The car ran
| over the transfer boat and clear through
her back end and dropped off her stern
| into the river, where it broke loose from
the others and hoated about in the river
i tor several hundred feet.
s'The men stood around and could not
do anything and it was awful not to be
able to give any assistance"
From man who says he say the way
bills of freight train No. 81, your cor
respondent learns that Land had his
family with him, and he had a car or SO
of stock moving from Newton, Miss, to
Monroe, La
Several doctors went down to the
transfer station, but they were of no
service, as no sounds were heard from
the unfortunates in the car after a short
time after the accident.
Acting Superintendent Dabney has
| the wrecking train on the scene, and is
now engaged in pulling out the cars in
the water, but it is thought that it will
be impossible to get at the car in which
| the people are until morning.
The Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pa
cifc transfer incline is peculiarly sit
uated place. 1t is about two miles below
the city proper, and the trains of this
road have to descend a precipitous in
cline and considerable trestle work be-
fore they get to where the run of sew
eral hundred yards to the transfer boat
is standing ont in the Mississippi river.
At this hour, 10 pm, three bodies,
those of a young man, an elderly man
and boy, have been renewed from the
car in the river. The search will be con-
tinued and the car pulled from the river
by midnight.