The Oskaloosa herald., 1903-12-17

Abba, Ia, Dec. 1t.-Five persons
were killed and nine injured in a pas.
4 senger train wreck on the main line
Of the Burlington railroad three miles
west of here at 8 o'clock Sunday
morning.
The dead:
MRS. w. e. MITCHEN, Abba
INFANT CHILD of Mrs. Mitchen
THOMAS BEATTY, Ottumwa,
FRANKLIN, residence un'
known.
UNKNOWN LABORER.
The injured:
G. f. Blair, Lamont; in serious con
dition.
Ward Ferguson, Mitchell, Nebr,; in
serious condition.
w. B. Martin, Chicago.
Caleb Allen, negro waiter on diner,
Chicago. 80
William Branch, cook on diner, Chi
cago
r. Price, cook on diner, Chicago.
s. II. Williams, porter, Chicago.
Il. T. Scott, Osceola.
e. T. Browning, Yates Center, Kan.
The infant child of Mrs. Mitchen
was burned to death, and it's cries,
as the flames approached and con-
summed it, were heard by the Mortified
passengers who had got out of the
wreck, but were powerless to aid the
child. 1t had dropped through the
splintered floor of the coach and was
burned with the bridge from which
it dangled, it's clothing having caught
in a stringer.
Ward Ferguson, 3 years old, drop
ped through the floor of the same
coach and fell into the creek beneath
the bridge, escaping the flames, but
suffering injuries from which he prob
ably will die.
Flames Add to Horror. ~.
The flames consumed five cars, the
locomotive and bridge near which
the wreck happened. The 1ocomo-
tive jumped the track just as it
reached the bridge and the train pass
ed over the structure before the en-
gineer, who had stuck to his post,
could stop it. All seven coaches left
The three-foot iron railing along the
side of the bridge ripped off the sides
of the five coaches and in doing so
scattered the Goals from the stoves,
instantly setting fire to the entire
wreck. Within ten minutes the
wrecked train was mass of flames,
\ threatening new danger to the people
who were scrambling through the
coach windows. ..
Mother Instantly Killed.
Mrs. Mitchen was instantly killed.
Her body was consumed afterwards
by the flames. She was the wife of
photographer in Ottumwa. Just be-
fore the wreck occurred little Ward
Ferguson left his parents in the front
Of the car and toddled back to the
seats occupied by Mrs. Mitchen and
her baby. The youngster stopped to
look at the baby and they were strik-
ing up an acquaintance when the
crash came.
When the side of this coach was
ripped off by the bridge, it SO splin-
tered the floor of the car that both
cnllurSn dropped through.
Baby's Awful Fate.
A beam crushed Mrs. Mitchen's
skull, but her babe was uninjured. In
falling through the bottom of the car,
however, its clothing caught on a
bolt or splinter, or on a girder of the
bridge, and there it hung, calling pit
eously for it's mamma, while the fire
which had started in the end of the
car near the stove and all along the
side, crept nearer and nearer to it
till it's cries were hushod in the sti-
fling flames. .....
Cause of Wreck Unknown.
The cause of the wreck is un-
known. The train was No. 8, west
bound, from Chicago to Omaha. It
left Ottumwa twenty-five minutes
late. The engine jumped the track
just before reaching the culvert a
quarter of a mile east of tower No
80, which is about three miles west
Of Abba. Official railroad reports Of
the wreck state that no cause for the
engine jumping the track has been
discovered. Nothing is said about
speed. The engineer was William
Wallace and the conductor was w. r.
Robinson. They live in Burlington.
About 500 feet of track was torn up.
The bridge would have been unin-
jured, practically, had fire not added
It's horrors to the wreck. The rail-
ing along the side saved the coaches
from being ditched with much great
er loss of life. The bridge was about
ninety feet long. i
The locomotive and coaches burned
as they stood on the track and with
them the bodies of the killed. The
three laborers were in the smoking
car and were burned 10 crisp. There
were eight Of these men together go
ing to work out in western Iowa The
other Ave were uninjured,
These are times when the careful,
housekeeper has a care for good
locks and bolts upon both doors and
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