The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-09-13

Charlotte, n. c.. September s.-The
wrecked train was running about forty
miles an hour when the trestle, which
rs about 800 feet long, spanning a
meadow near the Catawba river, gave
\ a The engine and some Of the cars
passed over, but were drawn
into the abyss and upon the other cars
II light engine and caboose, piled on
top of the train of wrecRage before
it could be tagged.
Mr.. Meares' Miraculous Escape.
Castor MeareS, the engineer of the
passenger train, escaped with some
bruises and "a painful scalp wound.
How he escaped death is beyond his
own or nyO elSe'S comprehension.
He said that he was driving at the
rate of forty miles an 1our as he
crossed the bridge. Just before the
engine had wep entirely clear of the
structure, he felt it sinking, but the
impetus carried the engine and all the
cars across except the first class pas
senger car and the Pullman, clear of
the yaWning gulf which was left
when the bridge collapsed, but the
engine and cars were swerved from
their course to the right, tearing the
rail loose from it's fastenings and
over an embankment to the meadow.
about thirty feet, below.
Lights i'm the Train Went Out.
: When the train went crashing over
the embankment, every light went out.
passengers We're thrown heads owe
heels against the sides of the coaches,
bleeding and bruised. Mrs. Black,
sitting with her husband, gave a short
cry, and when he managed to strike
a match and find her body, he diScov-
cred that she was dead. her neck hav-
ing been broken She was the only
passenger killed, or ever hurt serious
As the scrambling and shouting
went on in the darkness above the
noises, n brakeman. with his head
halfway out of the window, was heard
TO shout: My God, the freight train
is coming upon us" In less than a
minute the freight which had left
Monroe Is minutes behind the pas
Senger. came whining along the
tracks. struc the open space where
the bridge had fallen and plunged its
way through the passenger cars. The
woman whose identity could not be
discovered then met her death, the
freight engine having crashed through
the side of that passenger car in which
she was. and crushing her body into u
shapeless mass. The engineer of the
freight train must " met his death
instantly. He was found in the cab
of the overturned engine with his head
crushed. but few bruises upon his
body. When his body was dug out of
the debris this morning. his watch was
still running OF time. His fireman es-.
capped with a few minor injuries.
Black Wired for Help.
The wreck developed ut least one
hour. Mr.. Black, whose wife was
killed beside him. was the last man to
leave the coaches, and when he did, the
very first thing was to walk, with all
his bruised condition to Catawba
Junction, two miles away, get into the
telegraph office and send to Monroe
for help. He is a telegraph operator,
in the service of the Norfolk and
Western railway, and was going to
Atlanta with his wife to testify there
in a railroad suit. He hardly realizes
the blow he has sustained, and sat on
the bank nearby, with mournful eyes,
muttering to himself: My God, what
an ordeal for a man to bear"
A Pile OF Junk.
The mass of wreckage of the two
trains is like a huge heap Of junk.
Railroad men said today that they
had never seen such a complete de-
m~olishment of engines and coaches.
They are lying heaped and crushed
together. Looking at the conglomer-
alton, people wonder that any one
escaped. The wrecking crew from the.
Seaboard shops at Abbeviile, S. c., ar
rived about 10 o'clock this morning
and began to clear away n debris.
1t will take days to get the line In pass