The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-09-28

one OF the worst wrecks on the At
lantic Coast Line railroad anywhere
| near Sumter within the year occurred
wednesday afternoon about o'clock
| as the fast passenger train between
| Augusta and Florence, No. 80, was
approaching the station at Lone star.
| The wreck occurred just after ttSS
engineer had blown the whistle
| the station and when the trai 6
still several hundred yards O -
The train was going at e
of speed which had just L to
slacken on the approach to the town
when the engine left the track and
was turned over completely. The en-
gineer was pinned down under the
cab and the fireman either jumped or
| was thrown from the engine and es-
| capped with bruises on his shoulder.
The mail and baggage cars were turn
| ed over on their sides and the ex-
press car turned diagonally across the
track. The front end of the passeng-
er coach for colored passengers left
the track, but part Of the coach was
left on the rails. The other passenger
coach and sleeper remained on the
| track. and passengers did not suffer
more than from severe fright, be-
| ing shaken up as the train came to a
| sudden stop and from the delay in be-
| ing transferred to the mprovised
train which was sent out from here
and on which they continued their
journey late in the night.
The injured were: Engineer ]. w.
Wysong Of Florence who had his foot
crushed and was cut and bruised
about the head and shoulders. He
was caught in his engine and had to
be dug out when help arrived. He
wasy carried through here. Wednesday
night on the special extra train
to Florence, medical attention hav-
| ing been given him at the scene Of
the wreck. III. s. Broom, the color
| ed mail clerk of Sumter, was also in
| iured. He had his back sprained and
was bruised. Others who were more
or less injured were NJ. O. Powell, Of
Florence, baggage master. r. j. Will
kinson, route agent for the Southern
Express Company, with headquarters
in this city, and the colored fireman.
All Of these received bruises which
| were not serious.
The wreck occurred about four
hundred yards south Of Lone Star,
only few yards from the trestle on
that side Of the town, where, had it
occurred. it would have proved ex-
tremely serious and it is probable that
a number of lives would have been
lost. The cause of the wreck had not
been ascertained up to Thursday
morning. 1t was stated. however.
that the engineer had said that he
saw a nut on the track as the train
was approaching and that this may
have caused the wreck AS the engine
left the track brakes were set and
the track was torn up for a distance
Of about 800 feet.
The first news of the wreck was
received here Wednesday afternoon
shortly after o'clock when the At
lantic Coast Line physician was wired
for and a special train and crew was
made up TO go to the scene and give
all the aid possible. The special train
leit here about O'Clock with Or.
Archie China and Il trained nurse on
board. At first the reports of the
wreck were grossly exaggerated and it
was hard to obtain any information at
all from the officials Of the road. as
they did not seem to be certain Of the
extent of the wreck, although the
information given out by them that
only few members Of the train crew
were injured afterwards proved II be
correct
! The wrecking train and crew from
! Florence passed here about IL o'clock
on their way to the scene and about
| 1890 Thursday morning the special
| train sent out from here TO the
wreck returned, bringing in the pas
Scngors and the injured of the crew.
! The train was run on through TO
! Florence, the train being nearly seven
hours behind the schedule Of the regu-
lar train.
IN" WrecNlng crew, reinforced by
hands at the Rcmini trestlo. imme-
diatoly set to work on their arrival
t" clear off the track ana to put II
back in repair So that trains could run