Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1903-10-02
PLUNGES OVER TRESTLE
Engineer, Fireman, Conductor. Mail
Clerks Killed.
NINE DEAD AND SEVEN INJURED.
Fast Mail end Express From New York for
New Orleans, Raining at High Speed,
Jumps the Track on Tres.le Over Creek
Near DanvlIe, Va. AMI Locomotive and
-Four Cars Fall rs Feet Into the Wat r.

Charlotte, N. c. Especially .-Whilc
running at high rate of speed train No.
o., on the Southern railway, the south
bound mail, one of the fastest regular
trains in the world, jumped from tres
tie Is feet high half mile north Of
Danville, Va, and was almost de-
molished Of the crew of 10 men, in
Guiding postal clerks, on the train,
were killed and 7 injured.
The express messenger, w. F. Pinkey,
was the only person on the train that es-
capped uninjured.
All of the injured men are seriously
hurt and have been taken to the hospital
in Danvile. The recovery of Mail Clerk
Spies is not expected, and other clerks
are thought to have received mortal in
juries
The trestle where the accident occur
red is 500 feet long and is located on a
sharp curve. Engineer Broadly was a
new man on that division of the South
ern, and it is said he came to the curve
at very high rate of speed.
The engine had gone only about so
feet on the treste 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 50 feet
AT the foot of the trestle is shallow
stream with a rocky bottom. Striking
this the engine and the cars were re-
duced to mass Of twisted iron and steel
and pieces of splntered 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 on the death list above
were killed instantly it is thought, and
their bodies were mutilated by the fall
The skin and hair of the engineer and
fireman were torn off by the impact OF
the steam engine.
Several thousand persons from Dan
vile went to the scene of the wreck soon
after it occurerd. 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, some of which
were crushed to a ghastly degree. 1t
seemed miraculous that any living beng
could have escaped. for each car falling
with the engine bounded from it and
completely collapsed after striking the
roche at tho foot Of the treStlc
All the express matter in the express
Car was practically destroyed, except six
crates full of canary birds. None Of the
birds was hurt, though the crates were
in the thickest of the debris.
Unofficial opinions agree in giving
only one cause for the wrcck-the high
speed of the train on the sharp curve.
Train No 81 was running about an hour
behind time. 1t is thought that the
engineer, being unfamiliar with the road,
did not take into consideration the dam
ger 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 believed none is
lost Fire which appeared in the wreck
age shortly after it occurred was quickly
extinguiShcd by the Danvlle Fire De-
partment.
In loss of life this is one of the most
serious wrecks that has occurred on the
Southern, and it is the third time that
the fast mail has been almost entirely
demolished. 1t will probable take sew
eral days to repair the damage to the
trcstle.