The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-09-09
BADLY INJURED Placed ON IMPROVISED
BEDS IN BAGGAGE CAR OF RELIEF TRAIN


No. 81, on the Pennsylvania railroad
was wrecked at Wileys Station, o.
about four miles east of New Paris
this morning, probably fatally injur.
ing three men and injuring scores OF
passengers and members of the train
crew.
A spreading rail is said to have
been the cause of the accident which
would have been the most horrifying
in the history of the Southwest sys
coaches been steel.
/After the engine left the rails. hurl
Ing a culvert clear across a dry
stream bed, the coaches were thrown
in all directions to the north of the
roadbed and all we're overturned ex
cept the two rear Pullmans. These
also left the rails.
Injured in Club Car.
Most of the injured were in the club
car, which was just back of the com
bination mail and baggage car. OF the
thirty-three people in that coach, all
men, only one escaped uninjured
Most of them received only slight
bruises, but several were badly cut
about the head and body.
Several persons who were in the
dining car we're severely injured On.
ly one passenger in the Pullmans was
injured, George Wright, a Kansas City
manufacturer, enroute r, home from
New York, where the train left al
$50 o'clock last night. Wright is be
lieved to be- fatally injured. He Is an
old man and besides receiving injur
les, sustained a severe shock
A remarkable feature of the wreck
was that only two women on the train
were injured.
The relief train returned to Rich
mond about 2 o'clock this afternoon
and the most seriously injured were
taken to the hospital IN waiting ambu
lances.
Perfect self-possession was shown
by all the passengers and the least
seriously injured and those who had
escaped without receiving any hurts
assisted in caring for those who had
received severe injuries.
The badly injured were placed on
improvised beds in the baggage car
of the relief train. Those who receiv
ed slight injuries were placed in the
day coaches of the train after they
had received first aid treatments
l.. Jones of st. Louis, a passenger
stated that a farmer who lives near
the scene of the wreck, told him that
new rails had recently been laid on
the road bed and that it had been
freshly ballasted The farmer also
told him, Jones stated. that the rail
which spread had no angle bar at
taching it to the adjoining rail and
that the rail had been held in place
only by one bolt. The farmer stated
that he had noticed this defect just a
short time before the wreck.
AS the train was travelling about SO
miles an hour when the wreck occur
red, it Is believed that this insecure
rail was displaced by the vibration OF
the approaching train.
Threw CuIvert Around.
When the engine left the rails II
struck the east end of the culvert
which leads over a small branch, with
such impetus that the culvert was
thrown clear across the branch, the
east end of the structure dropping in
to the creek bottom on the west
bank, and the west end of the struc
ture being high in the air.
Miraculous Escape.
After smashing the culvert this ter
rifle blow the engine rolled down the
south side of the embankment and
turned over. Engineer Rogers and
Fireman Clark were not thrown out
and that they escaped being killed
outright is regarded as miraculous.
The coaches were thrown into the
field to the north of the roadbed. Had
they not been of steel there is not the
slightest reason to doubt they would
all have been telescoped. AS 1t was
the terrific strain they were subjected
to by the engines collision with the
culvert only served to throw them OFF
the track. They were all considera bly,
damaged except the two rear Pull.
mans. Persons in those two cars
stated they hardly noticed the force
OF the collision and were not thrown
from their seats
People in the coaches which were
overturned were rolled about and re
ceived their injuries from coming In
contact with seats and from flying
glass.
A short time after the wreck a re-
lief train with PHYSICIANS left Rich.