The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09
ILLINOIS CENTRAL WRECK MYSTERY Frisco Officials Unable to
 Account for It MIR. LIGHTNER'S VIEWS. Trestle Was Only Recently Rebuilt and Was Thought to Be Excep-
 tionly Strong-Traffic
 Still Interrupted
MIR. LIGHTNER'S VIEWS

 southeastern division resulting from a wreck on Cane creek trestle near Cor dova, Walker county, Thursday at noon, will not be satisfactory before tomorrow morning. Such was the information given out at the Frisco offices yesterday. The utmost mystery surrounds the cause of the wreck. A. D. Lightner, general ex- ecutive agent for the Frisco lines, spent all of Thursday night on the scene with scores of railroad experts, and yesterday he declared that no man on earth knew what caused the wreck, which. he de- clares. is the most unique he has ever en- countered in his whole railroad career. It was learned yesterday that officials of the Illinois Central railroad, to which line the train belonged, and officials of the initial line, the Frisco had exhausted every possible means of unraveling the cause and were as much at sea now as when the scene was viewed immediately after the accident, Although not the slightest intimation has been given that the wreck may have been deliberate and prearranged, secret service agents for the two lines are said to have been engaged
 
 The tendency of their investigation is not known.
 Mir Lightner who went to the scene of the wreck, returned yesterday at noon. When seen he talked freely of the wreck and declared that 1t was almost impossi- ble to conceive of such an accident on the bridge involved. The bridge in. question was rebuilt In 1909 of concreate, steel and exceptionally heavy timbers yet it seemed to crumble to earth when the train load ed with Panama pipe started across. "The cause of the wreck yesterday on the Frisco line" said MT. Lightner "'jn- volving an Illinois Central freight train with cargo of pipe, cannot be explained at this time Absolutely all traces of the conditions have been completely swept away, and l venture to assert that all the railroad experts in this country could not decipher the reason. The bridge is e22 feet long. It was originally built of wood but was raised six feet on account of the back waters of the Warrior river enter ing the fill This was done in 1909. and the structure was completely rebuilt of con- | crete, steel girders and immense timber supports of mammoth size. It had a maximum height of 50 feet with less at other points. The bridge seems to have | become defective about 9 feet or 50 feet from the east approach and about sS feet of it made the opening for the cars which caused such damage.
 | The track across the bridge was of Ensley S5-pound rails and they are stick | ing right where they were before Not a | defect is noticeable and not clue is to | be found which would lead us to con olusion. l have never yet faced such a situation. Every car that went through | that hole is a complete wreck. The pieces are no larger than kindling wood, while the rolling stock Is absolutely good for nothing.
 As far as the injured men are con | oerned, they are resting well and we an- | ticpate that they will be out within a very short time. The wreck will be cleared, I hope, by midnight Saturday, but we cannot tell yet conclusively. In | the meantime we are detouring our trains | over the Southern railway with service as prompt as possible under the circum- stances
 In local railroad circles it is said rsil- road rivalry was feature which may have led up to the wreck. The train was | loaded with pipe for the Panama exposi- l tion. and it was the ambition of the Illi- nois Central to make a record run of the shipment. It is rumored, though not con | firmed, that the traInmen were operating entirely too fast over the bridge in the face of instruction not to do so. The off cials of the Illinois Central railroad jn- cluding E. F. Stovall, general agent, and A. s. Gift, general superintendent, are | still on the scene
 | Frisco passenger service yesterday was somewhat belated, but entirely satisfac- tory to the officials after taking all the circumstances into consideration.