The Bourbon news., 1904-09-27
NET ON A CURVE.
Passenger Trains on the South
ern Railway Collide.
Sixty-TWo Persons Are Dead and Sew
eral Of the 1862 Injured May Die
One Of the Engineers Evident.
Iy Disobeyed Orders.

Knoxville, Tenn, Sept 26.-Running
on railroad In a supposedly high con-
| dition of maintenance, and having
about them every safeguard known to
| modern railroading, two trains on the
Southern railway, carrying heavy lists
OF passengers, came together in
! frightful head-end collision near
Hodges, Tenn, Saturday.
The appalling loss Of life and MAIN
ing Of the living resulted apparently
from the disregarding of orders given
to the two trains to meet at a station
which has for long time been their
regular meeting point.
The claim of failure to see either the
station or signals can not be set up by
the engineer of the westbound train
were he alive to enter plea Of de-
tense, as the accident happened in
broad daylight, and, according to the
best information obtainable, he had
the order in little frame in front of
him as his monster of iron and steel
rushed by Newmarket Station and
soon after came full upon an
Newmarket, in compliance with in
| structions to meet the westbound train
which carried the sleepers from the
east for Knoxville, Chattanooga and
other southern cities.
The possibility exists that the ill
fated engineer may have been asleep,
or that death had suddenly taken the
| ci OH iC hot 1r1rlYka
was reached. But nothing is known
save that the orders were not obeyed.
! The trains we're on time and not max
ing over 35 miles an hour, yet the i'm
pact as they rounded a curve and
came suddenly upon each other was
| frightful. Both engines and the major
portions Of both trains were demolish-
ed, and why the orders were disre-
| garded or misinterpreted will never
be known, as the engineers of the two
trains were crushed, their bodies re-
naming for hours under the wreckage
of the monster locomotives.
The death list as a result of the fear
full wreck had grown Sunday night to
81 and it will probably exceed 70 be-
fore Tuesday, as many Of the injured
are in serious condition and more
deaths will occur at the hospital. Sun
day there were six deaths at that in
stitution, the last one occurring at 8
o'clock Sunday night, when M. P. Cant,
a prominent North Carolinian, residing
at Shelby, N. c., passed away. Others
who died Sunday at the hospital were
the two colored firemen, two little
girls and Nep Miller, colored, of John
son City. To the list of dead there
must be added an unknown infant
found Sunday at the scene of the
wreck and two other unidentified
bodies.
A force Of $50 men toiled all day
long at the scene of the wreck. Before
o'clock Sunday morning the track
was clear for through trains, but it
required many hours to clear the de-
bris.
| Engineers Parrott and Kane were
found beneath their engines, but their
bodies were not badly crushed Small
| fragments of bodies were found in
many instances Sunday, but it is
thought that they belong to bodies al
ready found and brought to this city.
One little baby was found by the
wreckers, but that was ALL
The cause Of the terrible loss of life
in the heavy eastbound train was ex-
| planned Sunday. 1t seems that the
second coach ploughed its way into a
bank in such manner that the other
cars were jammed into it and pushed
on by the weight of the heavy Pull
mans. were crushed like eggshells.
Physicians at the hospital stated
Sunday night that of the long list of
injured which they have in their care
it is probable that not more than four
| will die. The complete list of injured
as given by the railroad officials shows
total of 162, but this includes all per-
sons who were only slightly hurt or
| scratched.
Columbia, s. c., Sept. ga tele-
gram has been received at Gaffney,
this state, announcing the death Of
Lee Hill at Jellico, Tenn, who was
killed in an explosion in powder mill.
The body was expected at Gaffney Sat
III uiuaJ ASHI OuI luSISdu CeleSIdA
was received stating that the body, ac-
companied by Scott Hill, his father,
Lee HilIs wife and four children and
a single sister were all on the ill-fated
Southern train which was wrecked
Saturday and that all were killed. The
bodies of all seven of the family are
expected to reach Gaffney Monday
morning.