Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1911-09-27
TWO KILLED IN COLLISION.
Wreck Near Arlour's Buried Engi-
neer and Fireman in Debris.


Brookwood Bridge, Atlanta, at 8
o'clock Friday evening. One was
freight, the other an inbound pas
senger train.
The freight engine was battered
from the track and dropped into the
ravine, 80 feet below, burying its en-
gineer and fireman beneath 1t, crush
ing one and scalding the other to
death.
The passenger engine tottered un-
certainly for moment, and then
steadied square upon the track. In
that moment the lives Of score or
more Of passengers were saved
Many passengers were injured,
some Of them seriously. One mail
clerk sustained what the doctors say
may be fatal internal injuries.
The cause OF the sruesome mistake
that. put two trains going in oppo-
site directions on the same track at
the same time and made them meet
on the trestle may never be known.
An investigation will be conducted
by the railroad authorities, but the
secret may be buried with the dead
engineer and the fireman, who paid
the price Of it with their lives.
Passenger train, Southern No. II, !,
had the right OF way over the other.
1t left Chamblee for Atlanta some
twelve minutes late, but with clear
block ahead into the city, according
to it's conductor.
The freight train, pulled by engine
1905, was apparently on its way from
lnman Yard around to Decatur
street.
Engineer J. A. Farris was at the
throttle Of the freight engine. Be-
side him, firing, was N. NJ. Robinson,
making his first special run as a fire.
man-and his last. He was q son of
Lieut.. Robinson, of the Fulton coun-
ty police.
The inaccessibllity Of the place
where the collision occurred delayed
for hours the giving Of aid to the
wounded and the recovery of the
dead. The two trains, one of them
hideously headless, blocked the tres
tie. 1T was an hour until relief ar
rived from Atlanta. It was matter
Of hours after that before the relief
could reach the sufferers.
1T was half past 3 o'clock before
the body Of Fireman Robinson was
taken from beneath the fallen en-
gine-over five hours after the
wreck. Two hours earlier the man
gled remains Of Engineer Farris had
been recovered.
Two of the freight cars were load
ed with cotton. 1T had caught on
fire and burned slowly.
The freight engine, almost unrec-
ogniZable as such, lay twisted and
misshapen on the Seaboard tracks
below the trestle. On the other side
of the trestle, nearly in the creek,
was the freight engines coal tender,
battered mass.
At the very end Of the freight
train was wrecked car None Of
the other cars was off its wheels, but
this one, far back from the point of
tracked wreck. The force of the col
lision had seemingly snapped it from
the rails.
After the first shock Of the collis-
ion there was turmoil. Women
| shrieked and tainted in the dark
ness. ,he impact had extinguished
the lights. There followed a period
Of confusion and horror. No one
within the coaches knew just what
had happened or would happen next.
Any moment might see the coaches
| careen over the side of the trestle
and carry them all to death below.
Mail Clerk Seriously Hurt.
E. w. Hiott, one Of the mail clerks,
in the mail car near the engine, was
thrown against the mail rack and
stunned. Recovering, he realized
the collision and In his da2ed condi-
ton rushed to the side door, Whence
he would have thrown himself into
a sheer fall OF 40 feet or more had
| not his companion, w. A. Singleton.
seized him around the waist and
wrestled to save him. Singleton held
him until he recovered his senses.
Hiott was In the Atlanta hospital
Saturday morning. The physicians
| said he was suffering from internal
injuries that looked serious. and that
his shoulder was wrenched and bruis-
ed and his head lacerated.
Others on the train would have
| thrown themselves out into the dark
ness and fallen to death In the ravine
had there not been rational ones with
them who calmed them till the first
few moments Of panic were passed.
II. NJ. Lowery, Of Americus. one of
the passengers, bruised about the
head and forehead, was one of the
first Of the injured to reach Atlanta.
He says he was thrown over the seat
in front of him. The man on the
seat beside him was thrown almost
through the window. When he re-
gained consciousness he saw heaDs
OF people piled up in the car. Look
ing out of the window, he was lust
in time to see the freight engine fall.
Oconecans Injured.
Two OF the injured, Ed. w. Hiott
and w. A. Singleton, are former
Oconee boys. both well known In
Walhalla and other parts of the