The semi-weekly messenger., 1904-02-19
LAID TO REST.
Remains OF Enginee- Bruce Taylor
Were Inferred At Myrtle Grove
Sound Yesterday-It Was Hours
Before Body Gould be Taken From
Wreck

i i
lor. the only person who was killed in
the head-on collision which occurred
| on the Coast Line near Pee Dee, S. ~
on last Saturday afternoon, were
| brought here Sunday afternoon. A
| large number OF the friends Of the dead
day afternoon to meet the remains.
The following pallbearers accompan-
| led the body from the station to his
late home No. I'll Castle street:
'Messrs. ]. v. Gurley. w. NJ. Williams.
9. E. Gordon, ]. 8 Grimes, W. II
Evans and ]. c. McAlister.
The funeral was conducted At .
O'Clock yesterday morning at the res
idence by Rev. j., p. King. Services
were also conducted at the residence
by the Masons.
The remains were CARRIED to Myrtle
Grove Sound and inferred in the family
burying ground. A delegation from
the Masonic lodge to which Mr. Taylor
belonged and also a delegation from
the odd Fellows accompanied the bod v
to the Sound. The Odd Fellows burial
service was read at the grave.
There were many floral designs, the
Odd Fellows. Masons and Brotherhood 1
Of Locomotive Engineers each sending
a pretty design.
FASTENED BETWEEN BOILER
AND CAB.
After the wrecking crew had arrived
1t took hours to get the dead man from
the wreckage. The wreck occurred ar
o'clock Saturday afternoon and il
was after II o'clock. mat night before
the body could be taken from the de-
bris. Engineer Taylor was pinned be-
tween the tender and the boiler, the
lower part of his body was horribly
crushed and his face and the upper por-
ton of his body were scalded. He was
sitting in an upright position in the
cab with his left hand on the throttle
and his right hand on the reverse
leaver and his eyes wide open.
If the accident had been on smooth
ground it would have been far easier
to have cleared the wreckage from the
track. but as it was it was exceedingly
difficult to get to the wreck on account
OF its being on the top of a high fill
After the wrecked cars had been re-
moved from the track it took several
hours to pull the engines apart from
their grim embrace. The track was
blocked from 3 o'clock Saturday af-
ternoon until II o'clock Sunday. just q
hours.
Yesterdays Fayetteville Observer
contained the following statement
n,
the engineer on No. 10:
Il left Florence on No 10 about 2:15
p. m, bound for Fayetteville. We
were going at the rate of 20 to % miles
an hour The wreck occurred at the
foot of Winona hill, on the Pee Dee
trestle; it is a crooked piece of grad
ing going down the trestle; as we
rounded the curve | saw the train
coming. l did not know what train Ii
@ hut II -
the brake to the emergency and tod
the fireman to jump. Then 1 pulled
the whistle wide open to warn the ap-
preaching train; the engineer could
not see me as soon as I saw him.
owing to the curve. If it had been on
an open grade. it might have been pre-
vented.
After I opened the whistle I got Oh
the lower step and then jumped off.
landed between two piles of lumber,
and not two car lengths from the
trains when they met. If had jumpe
on the lumber, L would have been> kill
ed. The engine was entirely demol-
| ished.
1T was a miraculous escape. I was
| injured only slightly. Ny back and
left knee were hurt, but not seriously
The fireman, negro. jumped and roll
ed down the hill to a swamp; he was
only slightly hurt.
| Accident was caused by the en-
| Eineer and conductor OF No. 3f7 not
| properly checking the register book at
| Pee Dee. But it was not through care
| lessness for the agent at Pee Dee told
| me that they checked UP the register
| three times-it was simply an unfor-
/ tunate oversight
| The engineer of 347, Taylor, did
not make any attempt to jump He
| seemed to have been paralyzed with
| fright. When we found him he was in
| his cab with eyes wide open-dead.