The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-12-09

Harry $. Everett, mniI clerk, Nash~
 vile. chin lacersted, not serious.
 Thrown from the main line by .
 half closed switch. the fast passenger
 train No. l. of the Louisville and Nash- vile Railway was partially wrecked at
 II o'clock yesterday morning in thel company's yards near Riverside
 Park. burying Fireman Tom Loving.
 a negro. beneath the locomotive and
 so hurting him that he will die; and
 tossing three mail clerks about their
 cars until their faces were cut almost
 beyond recognition. Not passenger
 was hurt.
 The speed of the long train of eight
 cars when it split the switch Is be-
 lieved to have been about twenty-five
 miles per hour. The switch was
 cooked" or only partially closed. but
 Engineman W. H. Duncan, in charge
 of the locomotive, did not know 1t un- til 1t was too late to stop the train.
 Both the red and the white of the
 switch standard showed. but when
 they became visible to the engineman
 he was unable to do more than slightly check the speed of the locomotive and the cars. He threw on the emergency
 brakes.
 Fifty-yards after passing the cooked" switch the locomotive crashed into the first of the long line of heavily-laden coal cars The travellers of the ioco- motive had taken the ties few feet from the split and the drivers and the trucK wheels of the tender and the succeeding cars followed. seeming to 4 lean from track to track untll the traia 1 waa hopelessiy divided.
 | When the collision occurred. the To- l comotive was thrown from the track and onto one side. pinning down poor | Tom Loving. The tender, seeming 10
 mass itself against the coal cars. was torn from it's trucks and overturned. Spectacular Wreck.
 The mail car, immediately ta the rear of the locomotive. was most specta-
 cularly wrecked and 1t Is marvellous that w H. Fisher S. J. Blair. and liar
 ry s. Everett, mail clerks. were not killed The car was whipped from the track like door swinging upon it's hinge, the cars behind it hurtling it l to a right angle with the track as their almost irresistible momentum carried
 them through the debris before them | The mail car was wrenched from us | trucks and half overturned. The baggage car. next in the train.
 was mashed against the tender of the l locomotive and its forward end spltn- | tered. The chair car next behind It
 was canted. but the remaining cars.
 day coach, two sleepers and diner | remained upright.
  | north end of the local South and North
 yards shortly after II o'clock. just op- | posite Riverside Park. When the train | struck the mail clerks were busy sort ing matter for the lay off here. and were very busy. They were tossed back and forth over and under work
 tables and about chairs until they were
 a bundle of bruises when they were ai- l lowed to stop.
 | The Injured Clerks. Fisher has bad cut on the forehead. | just over the left eye. that bled very l much, along with a number of other | Rashes on the face and a cut on the arm. Blair looked as if some one had hit him with a plank flat on the face. | His nose was mashed flat and his chin | and forehead broken and bruised. Everette had cut on the chin that
 was very ugly and painful. The only other person hurt was a passenger who | could not tell his name. He injured | one hand while trying to drag out the | negro fireman.
 While the wreck was on the Rirming- | ham division, under Superintendent | Brooks. 1t was also in the local yards. | of which Superintendent Mckinney Of | the Mobile and Birmingham division
 has charge. The wrecker of tho
 Louisville and Nashville and that of the | Western of Alabama was sent out at once, with Train Master Mizell in
 charge. and the work of clearing up l the debris was gone Into quickly. 1 Fortunately there were other tracks
 that could he used. Therefore, there
 was no delay of the other trains.
 The train was twenty-five minutes
 beh ind time and was coming through
 the yards at pretty good rate of
 speed. everything having been report
 ed all right when the train left the
 Alabama River bridge four miles north
 of the city. Besides this train. No. 9.
 the Birmingham accommodation. due at
 1O:1O, had come through the yards en-
 route to the Union Station about forty
 minutes before. and naturally suppos- | ing that the way was clear Engineer { Duncan was hurrying through the yards.
 Saw "Cocked" Switch. Just before reaching the first of the yard switches. just opposite the back l stretch of the old Riverside race track. Engineer Duncan saw that the switch
 was just half open. Immediately he threw on his emergency brake. but
 before he had time to reverse his ep- | zine they were on the switch and had split it. II all happened in the frac- | tion of a second. The big machine darted down one track while its tender and the first three cars behind started | down another. The couplings and
 bumpers snapped like pipestems. and the engine. No. 157, one of the mon ster Pacific Slope type. bought by the | IIouisvilIe and Nashville two years ago. bucked its way about twenty-fivs wards down the track and with a roar turned over on the left side. Roth Engineer Duncan and his fre-
 man. Tom Loving. were in the cab | when the machine went over. It was
 at first thought that Engineer Duncan