The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-09-29
A Mail Train on the South
" ern PIunges Over a
TrestIe.
UETOABROKEN FLANGE?
OF the Sixteen People on the Train Not OneE
capped Serious InjurY---North Carolinans
Among the Dead---The Disaster
Near DanyilIe.

One of the worst wrecks of recent years
occurred at Danville, Virginia, on Sunday
afternoon. The following report is taken
frocm the Washington Post:
While running thirty or thirty-five
miles an hour train No. 81. on the Virginia
Midland branch of the Southern Railroad,
Jumped from a trestle seventy-five feet
high, half a nile north of Danville, Va
this afternoon, and was almost demolished.
The wrecked train was exclusively fol
mail and freight, consisting of four postal
cars and one express car, and was south
bound. OF the sixteen persons on the
train, nine were killed and seven injured:
The dead are:
ENGINEER j. A. broadly, Saltsville
Virginia.
FIREMAN A. j. CLAPP. Gibsonville
N. C.
CONDUCTOR J. BLAIR, Spencer
N. C.
MAIL CLERK ]. L. THOMPSON,
Washington, d. c..
MAIL CLERK S. CHAMBERS, Mid
land, Va.
MAIL CLERK D. T. FLORY, Midland,
Virginia.
MAIL CLERK P. N. AUGENBRIGHT
Mount Clinton, Va.
FLAGMAN J.. S.. MOODY, Raleigh,
N. c.,
FIREMAN JOHN HODGE, Raleigh,
N. C.
The injured are-Mail Clerks: Louis
w. Spiers, Manassas, Va; Frank, E.
Brooks Charlottesville, Va; Percival In
demauer, Washington; Charles f. Reames.
Culpeper, Va; Jennings j. Dunlap, Wash
ington, D. c.; NJ. c. Maupin, Charlottes
vile, Va, and j. Harrison Thompson, St
Luke. Va.
SEVERAL OTHERS MAY DIE.
All of the injured Gen are seriously
hurt and have been taken to the hosloltal
in Danville. The recovery of Mail Clerk
Spiers is not expected, and other clerks
are thought to have received mortal IN
juries.
The trestle where the accident occurred
is 500 feet long and is located on a sharp
curve. The lgine had gone only about
fifty feet or the trestle when it sprang
cars and an express car. The trestle, a
wooden structure, also gave way for a
space of fifty feet.
At the foot of the trestle is a shallow
stream with rocky bottom. Striking
this, the engine and 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 Cotton Mill, which is very close
to the trestle.
All the men were killed instantly, it is
thought, and all were greatly mutilated.
The skin and hair on the engineer and fire
men were torn off by the impact OF the
steam engine.
CROWD SOON ON SCENE.
Several thousand people were soon at
the scene of the wreck. No one on any
of the cars had made an effort to jump
and the bodies of all those killed were
found in the wreckage of the different
cars to which they belonged. Ladies who
drove out to the wreck from Danville
tainted at the sight of the bodies.
1t seemed. miraculous that any one
should have escaped, for each car falling
with the engine bounded from it and com
pletely collapsed after striking the rocks
at the foot of the trestle All the express
in the express car was practically destroy
ed except six crates full of canary birds
None of the birds were hurt, though the
crates were in the thickest of the debris
Unofficial opinion is that the cause OF
the wreck was the high speed of the train
on the sharp curve. Railroad men be-
lieve flange on the engine wheel broke.
Train No. 81 was running about. an hour
behind time.
FIRE QUICKLY EXTINGUISHED.
The mail bags in all the mail cars were
torn open and the letters and packages
were scattered, but it is believed none is
lost Fire, which appeared in the wreck