The Penn's Grove record., 1903-10-02
WRECK ON The SOUTHERN
Train Plunges at High Speed From
TrestIe Into a Stream.
MAIL COACHES ARE DEMOLISHED


Rocks, Crushed Into P~ieces-Tragic
Scenes Attended the Accident.
Charlotte, N. C.-While running at a
high rate Of speed train No. 81, on
the Southern Railway, the south
bound fast mail train, jumped from a
trestle seventy-fiye feet high, half a
mile north Of Danville, Va, and was
almost demolished. OF the crew Of
sixteen men, including mail carriers,
on the train, nine were killed and
seven injured.
The dead are: ]. A. Broadly, of Salts
Vile, Va, engine driver; A. G. Clapp,
OF Greensboro, n. c., fireman; J. T.
Blair, Of Danyille, Va, conductor, and
]. L. Thompson, of Washington, D. c.;
w. T. Chambers, Of Midland, Va; D..
I. Florry, of Nokesville, Va; P. N.
Ardanwright, Mount Clinton, Va, mail
clerks; a flagman named S. J. Moody,
of Raleigh, NC, and a boy of twelve
years, sol Of ]. L. Thompson. The ex-
press messenger, w. f. Pinkney, re-
manned uninjured.
IL AuJulcu dIC. LOulS W. RplCIS,
Manassas, Va; Frank e. Brooks,
Charlottesville, Va; Percival linden
mauer, Washington; Charles E.
Reames, Culpeper, Va; Jennings J.
Dunlap, Washington, D. c.; NJ. C.
Maupin, Charlottesville, Va, and ].
Harrison Thompson, st. Luke, Va,
mail clerks.
All of the injured men are seriously
hurt and have been taken to the hos
pital In Danville. The recovery of
Spiers is not expected and other clerks
are thoughtsto have received fatal in
juries.
The trestle where the accident took
place is 500 feet long, and is located on
a sharp curve. Brodie, the engine dri-
yer, was a new man on THAT division
Of the Southern, and it is said he went
to the curve at a 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
a space of fifty feet.
AT the foot of the trestle is a shall
low stream with a rocky bottom. Strik-
ing this the engine and the cars were
reduced to a mass of twisted iron and
steel and pieces of wood. AS the cars
went down they hit the sides of the
Riverside Cotton Mill, which is very
close to the trestle.
Several thousand persons 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 diff
ferent cars to which they belonged.
Women who drove to the wreck from
Danville tainted at the sight Of the
bodies. It seemed miraculous that any
n should have escaped death. for
striking the rocks at the foot Of the
trestle. The express matter in the ex-
press car was practically destroyed
except six crates Of canary birds.
None of the birds was hurt, though the
crates were in the thickest Of the de-
bris.
ALI unofficial opinions agree in giving
only n aus for the wreck-the high
speed of the train on the sharp curve.
The train was running about an hour
behind time. 1t is believed that the
engine driver, being unfamiliar with
the road, did not take into c~Onsidera-
ton the danger of coming on the curve
with such great velocity.
The mail bags in the mail car were
torn open and the letters and packages
were scattered, but it is believed none
is lost. Fire, which appeared in the
wreckage shortly after the accident,
was quickly extinguished by the Dan
vile Fire Department.
In loss of life it was one of the most
serious wrecks that have taken place
on the Southern. 1t is the third time
that a fast mail has been almost en-
tirely demolished.
The Inflated train was the regular
mail train which carried mail from
eastern points to the West and South.
west, coming over the Southern Rail.
way from Washington to Atlanta. Nc
passengers were carried on the train
between the two points, the train be
ing made up Of an express car and
three or four mail cars.