The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-20
FREIGHT CARS IN BAD PILE-UP Western Road Tied Up for Several Hours. THE GREW ESCAPED INJURY Nine Cars Derailed, Three Smashed
 to Splinters. . Accident Hspve~s Near tAe vaaaiv.r Park Switch sAert wAiie Be
 fore 0Ceek Yesterday
 Morning.
TIE GREW ESCAPED INJURY

A western Railroad of Alabama was caussd at ,vandiver Park yesterday morning shortly before o'clock oy the breaking of the journal on . car loaded with. granite. Nine cars wsrs derailed, three being smashed to sptint- CTS, and four others so torn apart py the terrific impact, that they are un- 1t for use. Fortunately there were no braksmen on the roofs of the cars that piled up and no one was injured.
 The train, No, 2os, was familiarity known as the Fast Freight or Mer- ;ehandise Special and was flying ct enc rate of tewnty-fivs to thirty miles an Aour over the switch that connects the main track with the siding into Van- diver Park. Suddenly there was Q deasening crash and Conductor Pnckett and his brakemen were lurched against the walls of the oaboose in which they were riding.
 Four Of five negro women, half dressed, rushed from the cottages over looking the track and ran screaming toward the flat woods at the rear or the house, too ffghtened to stop to put on the skirts or bbcuses that etiquette demanded.
 Meantime, the trainmen half-dased and fearful lest there had been head- on collfsion, hurried from the caboose
 
 greater parr~of the train was intact There were some sixty-four cars in the SHkifs rar3d1s and the one which caused all the trouble was about the thirtisth. from the front. It's front journal had broken on the left side iet- ting down the box, piled high with s0.0oo pounds of granite.
 Before the air brakes could work, eight of the ears behind it. piled up on top of each other. carried along by their own impetus and that Of the twenty-five rear cars pushing against them. So great was the impact that six of these cars were crushed into q space of less than sixty feet. Before the wreckr arrived. the pile of debris. consisting of stone, iron trucks. splin- tered wood, dry goods and groceries reached a height of twenty feet.
 Another~cAf carrying stone, had its trucks torn on but otherwise was lit. tie damaged, The force of the tons of wreekage pushed forward before the ear brakes were releasd tore up the rails and ties as if they were So many pegs in the ground. Ona rail wal broken iu two pieces ana another on which the pressure had been more gfaduaa was curIed about like a ring The ninth car was merely skewed of . the track and was lifted back on with little dificulty.
 Three Trains Delayed.
 The wrecker arrived within half ar hour after the accident and by o'clock in the afternoon, had cleared the way SO that tracks could be laIl iH time for passenger traIn No. A from Atlanta, to pass. As 1t was, three trains were delayed. The train which leaves Montgomery at sos a. m., wal unable to get out and that from At. lantA arriving here at s:5s q. m, could not get in. Many of the passengers however. walked past the wreck and took eieetEie -@-ys f6 s-zn. TraiA No a1 Sf.ss leaves this city at l2:so p. rn was also held up.
 The damage Is mainly in the equip nent- The railroad oflcials on the spot place the loss in freight at IesA than S1.o00. Three of the cars In the Srnash- up were loaded with stone, thA rest with dry goods, tinware and. groceries. A number of glisening tin paiIs were scattered along the banks, together with large quantities of cheap straw hats for women. If the negroes in the vicinity do not come out next sunday with fancy top pieces. 1t will be be- cause they are waiting for Easter, as some of them got away wi!h their arms full.
 The depredations were quickly stepped by the arrival of Q s[ lad of kSNSSNASh "hO AhO AASAB til 1t was reloaded. That more f the Greigft--vSfy little of it, compar Ative- ly, being damaged was not lost, fV due entirely to the careful and con pact manner in which it was packed
 Superintendent Cox says that the ac' etdent was not caused by the stone cal being overloaded, but was probs ply due to some inexplicable weakness fl the journal or to a hot box. He Pei not fasten the blame on any one in spector
 A large part of the track for a g. tance of three or four hundred fee will have to be relaid. as. in additio to the damage done by the crash stretches of ties were dug up on on, side, when the wrecked pulled out the untrucked stone car.
 Engineers Bird and Dennis were in charge of two engines on the train.