The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-10-02
NINE ARE DEAD;
SEVEN INJURED
In Fightful Plunge Of Southern
Train Through a TrsStIe.
SCENE A HORRIBLE ONE
Most Of the Victims Were Postal Clerks.
Inflated Fast Mail Snlfers Disaster
for Third Time Within the Year.

AVi Aulu 4lAllC WltNlH tuC lkdIs
While running at high rate Of
speed, No. 81, the Southern railways
southbound fast mail train, jumped
from trestle 70 feet high. hall a mile
north Of Danvllle, Va, Sunday after.
noon at $3.50 o'clock and was almost
demolished. OF the crew of sixteen
men on the train, eight were killed
and seven injured, and one was uu-.
hurt.
The known dead are: James 4.
Brodie, engineer; j. Thomas Blair,
conductor; A. G. Clapp. fireman, John
l.. Thompson, postal clerk; w. 7.
Chambers, postal clerk; ID. T. Flory,
postal clerk; p N. Ardanright. postal
clerk s, J. Moody, iagman; twelve
year-old boy, son of Postal Clerk
Thompson.
The injured are: Louis w. Splers,
Frank Z. Brooks, Percival Indemeyer,
Charles E. Reames, Jennings J. Duh
lop. NJ G. Maupin. ]. Harrison Thoup-
son, all of whom are postal clerks
All of the injured men are seriously
hurt and are in the hospital in Dan
vile. The recovery of Mail CLERK
Spiers is not expected, and other
clerks are thought to have received
mortal injuries.
The trestle where the accident &C.
Cured is 500 feet long and is located
on sharp curve. Engineer Brolie
was a new man on that division of tie
Southern, and it is said that he came
to the curve at q very high rate Uf
speed
The engine had gone only about 30
feet on the trestle when it spraug
from the track, carrying with it four
mail cars and an express car. The
trestle, a wooden structure, also gave
way for space OF so feet.
Cars Torn To Pieces.
At the foot of the trestle in a shall
, low branch with a rocky bottom.
Striking this the engine and cars
were reduced to a mass of twisted
iron and steel and pieces of splintesed
wood. AS the cars went down they
touched the sides of the Riverside cot
ton mill, which is very close to the
trestle.
All the dead men were killed IN
stantly, it is thought, and all were
greatly mutilated.
Several thousand people were soon
at the scene of the wreck and removed
the bodies from the debris. 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 be-
longed. Some of the bodies were
crushed to ghastly degree.
It seemed miraculous that any one
should have escaped, for each car fall
ing with the engine bounded from 1t
and completely collapsed after strik-
ing the rocks at the foot of the trestle
All unofficial opinions that have
been ascertained agree in giving only
one cause for the wreck-the high
speed of the train on the sharp curve.
No. 81 was running about an hour to
hind time; 1t is thought that the en-
gineer being unfamiliar with the road,
did not take into consideration the
danger Of coming ON the curve with
such great velocity.
The mail bags in all the mail cars
were torn open and the letters and
packages were scattered, but it is be-
lieved none is lost. Fire which appear
ed in the wreckage shortly after it oc.
Cured was quickly extinguished by
the Danville fire department.
In loss of life this is one of the most
the Southern, and 1t is the third time
that the fast mail has been almost on,
tirely demolished.
Within the last twelve months the
same train ran into large rock on
the track nSar Lexington, N. c., the
engine ruined, cars gutted and several
lives were lost
A few months ago the fast mai
struck a freight train head on neal
Charlotte, N. c., and was again almost
demolished.