The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-10-10
TRAIN DIVES
 INTO RIVER EElneer Kelley of Mo-
 bile Killed. ACCIDENT NEAR JACKSON Engine and Cars Plunge Through
 Draw Bridge. Body of Popular Railroad Man Not Recovered from the Water
 Brakes Failed on a
 steep Grade.

 No 122, with eight freight cars on southbound Southern Railway freight train from Selma to Mobile, went through draw bridge into the Tom bigbee River, mile south of Jackson this morning at 3:10 o'clock, and En- gineer Frank Kelley Of Mobile, who had charge of the engine, was killed.
 The negro fireman on the engine jumped just in time to save his life. and conductoh John V. Cobb and the other members of the train crew had narrow escapes.
 The train was an extra freight to Mobile, which left Selma Thursday afternoon about 5-o'clock. The cause of the accident Is believed to have been due to the slippery track caused by the heavy rains which visited the section around Jackson yesterday af- ternoon and night. A heavy rain is said to have been falling at the time of the accident.
 When the first eight cars behind the engine jumped the track through the open draw of the~bridge Into the river. the remainder of the train was hang ing on the very brink of the track at the draw. If the ninth car of the train had been pulled an inch further. it Is believed that the front trucks would have left the track and that the remainder of the train would have plunged into the river with all of the train crew.
 The Brakes Failed.
 After leaving Selma yesterday after noon, the extra freight train made an uneventful trip to Jackson, about 100 miles south of Selma, arriving at that place shortly before o'clock this morning. The draw bridge across the Tombigbee River Is mile below Jack son, and the track is down a steep grade. As is customary, 1t is thought that Engineer Kelley applied his brakes and tried to stop his train just before 1t came to the bridge, but on account of the rails being wet. the momentum caused the brakes to be ineffective and into, the river.
 The. draw bridge was open to allow 8 boat on the Tombigbee' River to pass. The. negro fireman, seeing that the train was going through tho draw. jumped and caught the end of one of the ties on the approach of the bridge. Engineer Kelley stuck to this throt- tie.
 Engineer Kelley lived in Mobile, where he leaves a family. lie was considered one of the best engineers on the Southern Railway. and his death was heard here this morning with sincere regret by many.
 While an emort was made today to recover the body of the drowned en- gineer from the waters of the Tom bigbee, the effort had not been success ful at a late hour, and 1t is believed that it will be several days before the body is recovered.
 Second Accident at Bridge.
 The accident at the Tombiggbee River bridge is the second of the kind to occur on that bridge since the comple- ton of the road between Selma and Mo- bile. About six years ago, and at about the same hour in the morning, a freight engine went through the open draw into the river, killing the en- gineer In charge. This engine has remained in the river ever since and is just a few feet distant from the engine which fell into the river this morning.
 A few days ago Master of Trains Madden visited the Tombigbee River and took measurements of the position fin which the first engine was lying. He then took up the matter of getting the engine out of the river with the officials of the road. 1t is now be- lieved that orders will be issued for the raising of both of the locomotives from the river.
 The eight cars which were pulled through the open draw into the Tom bigbee River were loaded with com pressed cotton and lumber. The cot ton will be badly damaged before it can be gotten out of the river, and the loss to the railroad will be heavy.